A NEW seat will be created in Werribee if changes to Victoria’s state electoral boundaries are approved.
The seat will be based around the Werribee electorate which existed from 1976-2002, including Werribee, Wyndham Vale, Werribee South and Little River.
Under the proposed boundary overhaul, changes will be made to the seats of Tarneit and Altona, which are held by Labor MPs Tim Pallas and Jill Hennessy respectively.
John Eren’s seat of Lara, which takes in Little River and parts of Wyndham Vale, will be moved south and will no longer include Wyndham.
Tarneit will be adjusted to cover the northern half of the Wyndham council area, taking in Truganina, Williams Landing, Laverton North, Tarneit and Hoppers Crossing.
Altona, the state’s second-largest seat, will be reduced, losing Williams Landing, Truganina, Laverton North and Hoppers Crossing.
Point Cook will remain in the electorate. It will be joined by the new suburb of Point Cook West.
The Electoral Boundaries Commission has proposed changes for both houses of State Parliament to ensure each vote has equal value.
Under Victorian law, electorates should contain roughly equal numbers of electors, not varying by more than 10 per cent from the state average.
Ms Hennessy said she understood the need for changes but urged the commission to ensure they were correct to stop Wyndham residents from being disadvantaged.
“Our communities live the consequences of underestimating population growth on a daily basis.”
Western Metropolitan Region Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury welcomed the new Werribee seat, saying it was needed given population growth in Wyndham in the past decade. He hoped the Liberal Party would benefit from the seat’s creation, saying it came within 400 votes of winning Werribee at the 1999 election.
Submissions to the proposals can be made until July 29, with final boundaries declared by October to apply at next year’s election.
The state’s electoral boundaries were last changed in 2005.
