A MOVE to split Moe and Newborough by state electoral boundaries has been met with disbelief.
The independent Electoral Boundaries Commission released its final decision on changes to seats across the state on Thursday, which shifts Newborough from the seat of Narracan and into the same district as Morwell, Traralgon, Churchill and their outlying towns.
But its close neighbour Moe would remain in the seat of Narracan, which encompasses west Gippsland and into the Melbourne growth corridor.
Newborough business-owner Richard Walsh described the decision as “madness”.
“For God’s sake, it’s the one town,” Mr Walsh said.
“We all look after each other, we all share the same facilities.”
Make Moe Glow member Marilyn May said the change would make elections difficult for Moe-Newborough voters.
“I think to split us like that is ridiculous,” she said.
The commission’s original recommendation was for Morwell to gain both Moe and Newborough from Narracan, but be stripped of its outlying rural towns including Yallourn North, Boolarra, Yinnar, Tyers, Glengarry and Toongabbie.
But The Nationals, along with community groups from Yinnar and Yallourn North opposed the move, prompting the commission to leave the towns within Morwell.
“They made a convincing case they had very close links with Traralgon and Morwell and the Morwell seat was where they should be,” commission secretary Paul Thornton-Smith said.
The boundaries review aimed to address changes in population across the state to ensure communities were equally represented.
The number of electors in the seat of Morwell is currently 5.9 per cent below the state average, while Narracan is 5.59 per cent above.
“We needed to enlarge Morwell in some way, but we also needed to keep Narracan down.” Mr Thornton-Smith said.
“We certainly preferred for Moe and Newborough to be together, but the numbers meant that we just couldn’t do it.”
Yallourn North Action Group secretary Margaret Gaulton welcomed the decision.
“We didn’t think it was practical to move to Narracan because our community of interest was with the three major towns of the Latrobe Valley,” she said.
“The present situation is working really well.”
Sitting Member for Morwell Russell Northe said in a statement he looked forward to serving the Newborough community if he was re-elected next year.
“It’s pleasing to note that the EBC have listened to and acted upon the concerns raised by The Nationals and the community, with respect to ensuring that many smaller communities currently located in the Morwell electorate actually remained in the same electorate,” Mr Northe said.
Local Labor member and president of the Traralgon branch Jadon Mintern said the inclusion of Newborough bolstered the party’s hopes of winning back the seat of Morwell, but it was “still a long way off”.
In the 2010 state election, Labor candidate for Narracan Tony Flynn gained more first preference votes than sitting member Gary Blackwood in all Newborough voting centres.
Mr Mintern’s initial analysis of the change indicates the swing towards Mr Northe would be reduced from a current 16 per cent to about 10 per cent.
The addition of Moe, as was originally proposed, would have been the ideal outcome for Labor’s election prospects, as it too proved to be Labor heartland in 2010.
Mr Mintern described the decision to break the towns as “bizarre”.
“It was one thing to split the Valley and have Moe and Newborough off in Narracan, but to split what is basically a broad town, I’ve never seen it before,” he said.
Labor is aiming to have its preselection completed by the end of the year.
Mr Mintern could not be drawn on whether he would put his hat in the ring.
The commission also abandoned a proposal to change the seat of Morwell’s name to better reflect the broader area it covered.
Suggestions were ‘Latrobe Valley’, ‘Hazelwood’, ‘Gippsland Central’ and ‘Galbraith’ seats, but the commission found as the boundaries were changed only slightly to encompass Newborough, the existing name remained appropriate.
The changes will come into effect for the 2014 state election.scharalambous@lvexpress.com.au
