By Tyler Wright
The Federal Labor government has put forward a plan to abolish the electorate of Casey, pushing neighbouring electorates into Upwey, Tecoma, Lilydale, Warburton and the Dandenongs.
The redistribution of federal electoral boundaries, which has occurred due to a decline in the state’s relative population compared to other states, will reduce Victoria’s representation from 39 seats to 38.
This means in the next election, there will be 150 members of the House of Representatives, down one from the current 151 seats.
In its suggestion published on Monday 27 November, the Labor Party has proposed the seat of Casey – which encompasses all towns in the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges except Gembrook and parts of Cockatoo-Emerald, which sit in the neighbouring electorate of La Trobe- be the one abolished.
The proposal will see the electorate of Aston – which currently lies exclusively in the Knox municipality – creep up into Upwey and Tecoma.
The seat of McEwen will expand into the Yarra Valley including Yarra Glen, Healesville and Coldstream, throughout all of the Upper Yarra and across to Olinda, Mount Dandenong, Belgrave, Selby and Casey’s share of Emerald-Cockatoo while shedding its share of Mitchell Shire.
On the other hand, the Liberal Party of Australia, who did not submit their official plan by deadline, has put forward the idea to abolish the electorate of Maribyrnong in inner Metropolitan Melbourne and creating a new seat called Peacock named after the first woman elected to the Victorian Parliament, Lady Millie Peacock.
Peacock would replace the seat of Melbourne and move the electorate north, taking in Richmond and Collingwood.
With Casey abolished, the Menzies electorate would need to move east under Labor’s plan, collecting the adjoining suburbs of Chirnside and Mooroolbark.
Deakin would also become anchored on Maroondah Highway and Canterbury Road, the two key links between metropolitan Melbourne through to the Yarra Valley.
Lilydale and Montrose, which sit at the end of these two roads, would then lie in the Deakin electorate, with Kooyong set to expand.
Casey MP Aaron Violi said the most disappointing thing about Labor’s proposal is the show of “complete disregard and lack of understanding“ about the community.
“To think that a township like Warburton or Seville or Belgrave has anything in common with a community like Mill Park or Doreen just shows a lack of understanding about the special and unique community that is the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong Ranges and the beautiful area that is made up of Casey,“ Mr Violi said.
According to the ABC’s Chief Election Analyst Antony Green, based on past redistribution timelines the process of drawing new boundaries should be completed by early July 2024, in time for use at the next election.
Mr Violi said he isn’t thinking about the possibility of running as a candidate in the seats of Deakin, Aston or McEwen to stay in the House of Representatives if Casey is abolished.
“The reality is it’s a political submission by the ALP; history says that the AEC [Australian Electoral Commission] as an independent organisation, while they look at submissions, they’ll make their own decisions, so I’m not thinking about that,“ Mr Violi said.
“I’m focused on making sure that I spend every day being a strong voice for the residents of Casey, make sure that our issues are heard in Canberra.
“I’ll continue to make sure people understand that we are a special and unique community and we map very closely or almost identically the Shire of Yarra Ranges for a reason.“
Mr Violi said the political parties and independents make submissions with their own political interests in mind.
“I do take it as a little bit of a compliment that the Labor Party feel that they weren’t able to beat me at the last election and they’ve decided to try and abolish the seat, but that’s the politics of it.
“We’re a unique community; the Upper Yarra, Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges, suburban areas of Lilydale, Mooroolbark, Chirnside Park and Kilsyth and Mount Evelyn.
“It’s a connected community whether it’s sporting clubs like the footy or the RDCA [cricket], there’s so many areas that are connected and a lot of our farmers live in our suburban areas and travel out to the farms to their wineries or to the tourism businesses that they work in, so to think that our community has anything in common with Mill Park or Doreen is just quite disrespectful to our community.
“The politics of it is understandable but disappointing that [Labor] have such disregard for our community.“
Multiple submissions have suggested the electorate name of Casey, a nod to Richard Casey who served as Governor-General of Australia for four years between 1965 and 1969, be changed to Barak; referencing Aboriginal leader William Barak who advocated for an Aboriginal settlement that came to be known as Coranderrk near Healesville in 1863.
Mr Violi said constituents have raised the idea of a name change to a local Indigenous person of influence.
“Richard Casey is a distinguished Australian who achieved a lot and the name was well deserved, so I would be very happy and very comfortable if it remained at the seat of Casey, but I can certainly understand and have some agreement with supporting a name change to an Indigenous name, particularly William Barak, or to recognise the Wandin family,“ he said.
“It was raised in some of the submissions that there is sometimes some confusion between the federal seat of Casey and the City of Casey as a local government area, so I can understand those.
“For me, whether the seat is called Casey or whether it’s called something else, the most important thing is that we have since 1977 had a seat that has been centred on Lilydale and the surrounding suburbs and the surrounding areas like the Yarra Valley and the Upper Yarra, and we need to continue to have that because it is a unique community that’s been recognised for over 50 years.“
Members of the House of Representatives elected at the 2022 federal election, and in federal by-elections since that time, will continue to represent their respective electoral divisions until the next federal election, the AEC has confirmed.
The public has until 6pm AEDT on Friday 8 December 2023 to lodge written comments on the suggestions.
The Redistribution Committee will then review all ideas, suggestions, and comments, and release the proposed division names and boundaries in early to mid 2024.
People can submit a suggestion online by visiting the VIC redistribution page at aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2023/vic, posting to the Redistribution Committee for Victoria, Australian Electoral Commission, Locked Bag 4007, Canberra ACT 2601 or via fax at 02 6215 9970.
