The Central Goldfields Shire will formally object the proposed repositioning of Maryborough into the federal seat of Mallee as part of a Victorian boundary reshuffle.
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Various electoral boundaries across the state will be altered to account for population growth.
The troubled shire wants to look at the options of belonging to neighbouring regional city electorates, Ballarat or Bendigo.
Maryborough was part of the Bendigo electorate in 2008 before being moved to the seat of Wannon.
Central Goldfields Shire chief administrator Noel Harvey has previously told Fairfax Media: “Moving around isn't a good thing to be honest. We are a very, very small part of a massive seat. In a seat that size to be brutally honest it’s hard to get the attention of a (federal) member, which we need. We seem to get pushed around a bit.”
The new alignments plan to move Maryborough into the seat of Mallee, held by Mildura-based Nationals MP Andrew Broad.
At a meeting this week the council resolved to lodge a formal submission to the Australian Electoral Commission objecting the proposed changes.
The submission will highlight concerns;
- Central Goldfields Shire will be placed in an electoral where it has limited ‘community of interest’ within the proposed electoral division
- The means of communication and travel within the proposed electoral division is prohibitive for many of its community members and a huge impost on not only council but community group and organisations.
A submission will be provided to the AEC by May 4.
