When objections to proposed new state electoral boundaries closed at the end of March, the transfer of Calliope from the Gladstone electorate to Callide had received 35 objections, and the plan to move more of the Western Downs local government area, especially Chinchilla and Miles, to Callide, had received 178 objections.
Some 74 comments on objections have since been received in a period that closed on April 18.
One of those, from Andrew Kamler, identified that the abolition of Dalrymple had created “a fair bit of controversy, as well as many questionable flow-on effects with electorate boundaries”.
He said that while it was justified on numbers, the change didn’t take into account the impact on Callide, which placed towns without a common community of interests together.
Similar concerns were expressed by Jeff Waddell, who said the commission's proposed Callide “really is a 'bits and pieces' electorate”, with communities on both sides of the Great Dividing Range.
“If it wasn't for the Leichhardt Highway between Wandoan and Theodore, there would be nothing connecting either half of this proposed district at all,” he said.
Mark Mulcair said the plan to split the Chinchilla area from other Warrego Highway communities to the east and west could be resolved by placing it in the Warrego electorate.
”Whilst it would be ideal for Dalby to be placed in Warrego, I think at least it is a better fit in Nanango than Chinchilla is with Callide.”
Mr Mulcair said that while he had some sympathy with ex-Dalrymple voters finding themselves in an even bigger seat that is based on a town hundreds of kilometres away, the reality was that recreating it would force the commission to redraw all of rural Queensland.
Dalrymple disappointment
After promising to take a stand against proposed changes to electoral boundaries that would see the seat of Dalrymple abolished and the seat of Mount Isa extended to include Katter’s Australian Party MP Shane Knuth’s home town of Charters Towers, 39 objections to the idea were lodged with the Queensland Redistribution Commission.
The proposal had unhappy north Queenslanders signing a petition to oppose the changes, while Mr Knuth claimed it divided the crossbenchers that were supporting rural Queensland and added to the current Mount Isa electorate, making the new electorate of Traeger almost impossible to cover.
It would have many physical similarities to the federal seat of Kennedy, held by KAP’s Bob Katter.
Hitches in Hinchinbrook
The decision to transfer Palm Island from Townsville to Hinchinbrook was a concern to locals and both major parties, citing strong links between Townsville city and Palm Island and the lack of connection with the Cassowary Coast area.
“If Hinchinbrook had remained a rural, Ingham/Innisfail based district, I would probably agree,” Mark Mulcair said. “However, the committee’s proposals make Hinchinbrook a much more urbanised, Townsville-based seat, so the connection with Palm Island is much stronger.”
He expected growth patterns would see Hinchinbrook continue to contract towards Townsville at future redistributions.
Changes to the boundary between Hinchinbrook and Hill worried the Tully & District Chamber of Commerce.
According to president, Christine Boric, many Tully children attend Lower Tully School, but their parents will vote in a different electorate (Hill) to the one the school is situated in (Hinchinbrook).
With a mountain range, different climates and different problems dividing the Cassowary Coast and the Tablelands Regions it was argued that the Cassowary Coast Region was far more compatible with the Hinchinbrook Shire.
“We have been working hard to unify the region by forming the Cassowary Coast Economic Development group, but it seems the Commission is trying to work against us by changing electoral boundaries and separating us,” Ms Boric said.
Burdekin name change
The Kalamia Cane Growers Organisation was strongly opposed to renaming the Burdekin electorate to McMaster, saying it was a name that bore little significance to the region.
It has been named after grazier and co-Qantas founder Sir Fergus McMaster.
The group also argued for the Burdekin/McMaster electorate to expand in a westerly direction towards Charters Towers, with whom it has stronger economic and social ties.
Super-sized electorates
As expected, the Boulia Shire Council, supported by the Member for Gregory, Lachlan Millar, argued for its shire to be moved into the Gregory electorate rather than be on the bottom of the super-sized Traeger electorate.
None of the commentators were complimentary of the size of the new electorate based on Mount Isa, with Andrew Kamler saying that no matter what happens, Traeger will be oversized and Gregory was quickly catching up.
“Having these seats extend the whole width of the state should be avoided if possible,” he said.
Jeff Waddell said the new far northern boundaries could have been done better, offering the solace that, with the move to fixed four-year terms, redistributions could be held once every eight years.
After reviewing the latest comments, the Commission will make its final determination on May 26.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
