By Callum Ludwig
The next stage of the Victorian Redistribution of federal electorates is underway, with objections to the Australian Electoral Commission’s (AEC) draft decision now being considered.
The Star Mail took a look at the objections relating to the Outer Eastern seats of Casey, Aston and Deakin to see what voters still want to happen locally.
As recently reported by the Star Mail, there are a number of supporters for a name change for the Casey electorate, with the Voices 4 Casey group submitting their petition in the objections with 173 signatures when the group handed it in, with 16 individuals and groups including Yarra Ranges Council and the Millgrove Resident’s Action Group supported it in the submissions before the AEC draft proposal.
In the objections, Monbulk resident Tanya Vernes, Belgrave resident Hayn Lindemans, The Victorian Greens, Marimba Wilkie and Alex Nottle joined the calls for a name change for Casey, citing confusion with the City of Casey, the significance of William Barak to the region or both as their reasoning.
In terms of electorate changes, most objections noting Casey were largely in support of the electorate remaining largely the same and/or taking Wonga Park and some other northern suburbs, including General Manager of the McKenzie’s Tourist Services bus company Brad Sanders, the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party, Voices 4 Casey, Joel McAlister, President of Yarra Valley Business Lisa Crunden, Healesville Football Netball Club President Toby Millman, Coldstream Football Netball Club President Ash Rankin, Lilydale Football Netball Club President Anthony Simmons, Kilsyth Cricket Club President Shaun Goodwin and Clark McKenzie.
Objections to the proposal for Casey focused on the missed opportunity to extend into the southern border (Emerald, Cockatoo, Gembrook) rather than the proposed northern border (Wonga Park, Christmas Hills, Panton Hill and St Andrews) while others made other suggestions as part of significantly different proposals across all or many divisions.
One objector in particular was disappointed that Wonga Park would be leaving Menzies while two others proposed that Casey could even extend further to Warrandyte rather than into Nillumbik Shire.
In Aston, the objections focused on the proposed boundary with the Deakin electorate and subsequent transfers of parts of Ringwood, Heathmont, Bayswater North and Kilsyth South south of Canterbury Road.
Heathmont residents and community groups were particularly aggrieved by the proposal to adopt Canterbury Road as the new boundary rather than retaining the previous boundary of Dandenong Creek. The proposal effectively splits Heathmont into north and south, raising issues such as the Heathmont Tennis Club being represented by a different member than the Heathmont Station.
Heathmont residents David Harper, Prue Gill, Don Kordick, Margaret Harrington, Neil Harrington, David Gee, Joanne Hart-Parker, Donald Hamilton, Graeme Tonkin, Lynette Tonkin, Roland Ashby, Roslyn Ashby, Malcolm McDonald and Croydon resident Ann Albrecht were all concerned while the Heathmont Tennis Club and Maroondah City Council also opposed the change.
Other than the concerns regarding Heathmont, Aston was also put forward as a suggestion to be abolished by Colin McLaren and considered a more appropriate option for abolition by John Corcoran.
In Deakin, on top of the objections regarding the boundary with Aston, proposals for the northern and north-western boundaries have garnered split opinions from voters.
Mitcham resident Dr Paul Rival was pleased with the proposed changes for Deakin, praising bringing the remainder of Mitcham and Nunawading as well as Donvale, Park Orchards and Warrandyte South into the electorate. Dr Rival believes Donvale is primarily connected to the centres of Mitcham and Ringwood and Park orchards with Ringwood and to a lesser extent Croydon. He questioned the inclusion of parts Blackburn and Blackburn North rather than creating the western boundary at Springvale Road.
Donvale resident Clark McKenzie was also pleased with the changes, similarly citing the connection between town centres and acknowledging previous criticism of the Menzies boundaries stretching from Wonga Park to Bulleen before the proposed changes.
Negative responses came in from Wonga Park CFA Captain Aaron Farr and Manningham City Council with both citing the historical alignment between the Manningham LGA and the Menzies electorate while Mr Farr also cited the Greater Warrandyte groups of CFAs potentially having to communicate with four federal members under proposed changes (Jagajaga, Menzies, Deakin and Casey).
Chair of the Maroondah Business Group Jenny Newman was largely supportive of the changes in Deakin due to necessity but asked in future redistributions to prioritise the reuniting of the Maroondah LGA under one electorate if possible.
Another big talking point was the disappointment from a number of objectors in regards to the errors in the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ initial projections of 2028 voter enrolment which affected their initial submissions. Victorian Labor, the Victorian Liberals, an anonymous objector, Jeff Waddell and Colin McLaren all mentioned it in their objections, while Dr Mark Mulcair, Dr Charles Richardson, Mr Waddell and Victorian Labor had previously raised suspicion in the submissions process.
The error was not acknowledged and resolved until after the submissions period had ended, meaning all submissions from the public had used the incorrect projections.
In terms of the major parties’ objections:
The Victorian Liberals proposed no change to the Casey or Aston proposals from the AEC but recommended they extend no further into the Dandenong Ranges and Nillumbik Shire in future respectively. They only suggested that the portion of Burwood East included in the AEC proposal not be added to Deakin.
Victorian Labor proposed that Warranwood, Park Orchards, Ringwood North, Croydon and Croydon Hills instead go to Menzies to place Manningham Council areas in Deakin back into Menzies, the Dandenong Creek boundary for Heathmont and Ringwood be retained and Aston instead takes Bayswater North, Kilsyth, Kilsyth South and Croydon South from Deakin. Victorian Labor proposed no changes to Casey from the AEC proposal.
The Victorian Greens proposed that Cockatoo, Emerald and Gembrook enter Casey from la Trobe while making no alternative proposals for Aston or Deakin.
