Joel Fitzgibbon has held the seat since 1996 and his late father Eric before him, but the future of the Hunter electorate is unclear under a a proposal to adjust federal electoral boundaries in New South Wales.
The Electoral Commission’s Redistribution Committee has recommended a decrease in the New South Wales entitlement from 48 to 47 seats in the House of Representatives.
“After careful consideration, the Redistribution Committee unanimously proposes the abolition of the existing Division of Hunter,” said Tom Rogers Chair of the Redistribution Committee.
“The Division of Hunter was created at Federation in 1901, and the retention of Federation names is part of published guidelines for the naming of federal electoral divisions.
“Accordingly, the Committee proposes retaining the name of ‘Hunter’ by withdrawing the name of ‘Charlton’ and renaming that Division as ‘hunter’.”
Mr Fitzgibbon is yet to comment on the changes.
Under the proposal just under half the electors in Hunter would still be located in the seat, those in the northern part of the seat would go to New England, whole about 40 per cent would go to the seat of Paterson, now held by Liberal MP Bob Baldwin.
“The consultative nature of the redistribution process continues, with individuals and organisations now able to lodge objections to the Redistribution Committee’s proposed electoral names and boundaries,” Mr Rogers said.
