NSW council amalgamations – proposals released

The NSW government has released its plans for council amalgamations following a lengthy of period of reviews and submissions by local councils. The government is proposing cutting the number of councils in the Sydney region from 43 to 25, as well as merging other councils...

WA state redistribution – map finalised

It's a couple of weeks late, but I've now completed my Google Earth boundary map of the new WA state electoral boundaries. Download the map here. You can also download the 2017 map for the Legislative Council. If you want to understand more about the redistribution, you can...

North Sydney by-election – results wrap

The Liberal Party has retained the seat of North Sydney at Saturday's by-election despite a substantial swing on primary votes. At the time of writing, Liberal candidate Trent Zimmerman is on 47.8% (down 13.3%) with independent Stephen Ruff second on 18.8% and the Greens' Arthur...

North Sydney by-election live

8:29pm - The Liberal vote has increased to 47.7% and the Ruff vote has dropped to 18.8%, with about two-thirds of booths reporting. 7:55pm - Just under half the booths have reported, and the Liberal Party's Trent Zimmerman is leading on just under 47% of the...

ACT redistribution finalised

The Australian Electoral Commission today announced the final boundaries for the ACT at the next federal election. They haven't made any changes to the draft boundaries announced in September. This means that the northern seat of Fraser will be renamed 'Fenner' after virologist Frank Fenner,...

NSW council amalgamations deadline looms

Yet another NSW government deadline looms today for local councils under the threat of amalgamation, and this time it looks likely to result in a number of significant amalgamations in Sydney and other large urban areas. The Baird government has pursued a deliberate strategy to...

Polwarth and South-West Coast by-elections

7:25pm - The Liberal Party looks set to retain both seats. At the moment they are on 47.7% in Polwarth, which should easily be enough. In South-West Coast they are on 36%, but with ex-Labor candidate Roy Reekie second on 17.7% ahead of the...

North Sydney by-election – December 5

The by-election for Joe Hockey's seat of North Sydney has been scheduled for Saturday 5 December. I've now posted the guide to the by-election, which is likely to see Liberal candidate Trent Zimmerman elected to finish Hockey's term. Read more

NSW redistribution – map complete

I've now completed the Google Earth map of the draft federal electoral boundaries for New South Wales. Download the map here. I've also produced a fusion table combining the map with the notional estimates of the two-party-preferred margin and primary votes for Labor, Coalition, Greens and others...

Increase to Queensland malapportionment on the cards?

I've missed a story which has been quietly bubbling along for the last few months which could see a bill introduced by the opposition Liberal National Party passed, increasing the electoral bias in favour of large rural seats in the Queensland parliament. There are...