The Tasmanian Liberal Government remains committed to restoring the size of Parliament from 25 to 35 seats in the House of Assembly, which will come into effect at the next State election.
As part of this process, I am today releasing advice from the Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner, Mr Andrew Hawkey, on the implications of restoring the House.
The advice also includes the implications of revising Tasmania’s existing electoral boundaries from five electorates to seven, including the impact on quotas, the costs associated with administering such a change, and the impact on ‘communities of interest’.
It is clear that restoring the House to five seven-member electorates would be the simplest and most cost-effective method that would involve minimal legislative and administrative changes.
By contrast, changing to seven five-member electorates would require significant legislative and administrative changes, with new names for every division and increased expenditure both during the change and at each subsequent election.
It is my intention to table legislation before the end of the year to restore the House of Assembly from 25 to 35 members with five electorates of seven members.
The Commissioner’s advice is available at https://bit.ly/3dh4y4e.