By JESSE GRAHAM
LABOR’S candidate for Casey has proposed a name-change for the division, writing to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) with a proposal honouring the area’s Aboriginal history.
Hovig Melkonian, who will stand in this year’s Federal Election, wrote to the AEC on Tuesday 12 April to suggest a name change for the seat for an upcoming redistribution.
Mr Melkonian wrote that while Casey’s namesake, Lord Richard Casey, Governor-General of Australia in 1969, was “an accomplished politician and diplomat”, he “had no connection to the people of the Yarra Ranges”.
He said the division had shifted its boundaries, after starting in Kinglake, at one point taking in Wantirna, before changing to its current boundaries, taking in much of the Yarra Valley and its surrounds.
Mr Melkonian suggested the AEC should change the division’s name to Billanook – “the name given to the Lilydale and Mount Evelyn region by the Indigenous Wurundjeri people”.
Citing the AEC’s guidelines for naming divisions, he said removing the name of Casey would “not significantly diminish the service of Lord Casey”, as the City of Casey was named after him; while the new name also paid tribute to the area’s Aboriginal heritage, another one of the AEC’s guidelines.
The name Billanook is also used as the name of a current Yarra Ranges Council ward – though new wards proposed by the Victorian Electoral Commission will merge that ward into others – as well as schools around the area.
Mr Melkonian said he had spoken to residents who associate Casey with the local government area, and not the Federal division.
“A new name for the Federal electorate will clear up the confusion and strengthen our community identity,” he said.
An AEC spokesperson said that Victoria would be undergoing a Federal redistribution in late 2017 or early 2018, and that the names and boundaries of divisions would be considered.
“Proposals to rename a division are not considered outside of a redistribution process,” the spokesperson said.
“There will be numerous opportunities for organisations or members of the public to make suggestions about names and boundaries.
“All suggestions, comments and objections are considered as part of the redistribution process.”
What do you think of the suggested name change? Do you have your own suggestion? Write a letter to the editor to editor@mailnewsgroup.com.au or to 244 Maroondah Highway, Healesville, 3777.
