Mountain Views
Mail Covering the foothills of the Yarra Ranges & Murrindindi Shires
5 Tuesday, 17 April, 2018
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Feast of poetry By Kath Gannaway The Art of Speech was celebrated in a three-day feast of poetry, workshops, storytelling, comedy. games, art, debate and music presented by Healesville Toastmasters Club at The Memo in Healesville over the weekend. A love affair with poetry from around the world performed by Kristof Kaczmarek, Konrad Olszewski, Suhasini Seelin and John Wood from Exit Theatre was one of many highlights. See the story on page 2 and a picture gallery of the event at www. mailcommunity.com.au 179853
Picture Kath Gannaway
Boundary shift By Peter Douglas, Derek Schlennstedt, Rowan Forster In what could prove an election-defining decision, the Australian Electoral Commission has announced a major shake-up of the Casey and La Trobe federal electorates. Under a draft proposal, released on Friday 6 April, the Casey electorate will shift further south-west and snap up La Trobe's hills-based communities, effectively aligning Casey's boundaries with the local government area of Yarra Ranges. Casey will gain major townships including Belgrave, Upper Ferntree Gully and Lysterfield. The sweeping changes to electoral boundaries come with a federal election potentially only 12 months away. Traditionally, Casey is a safe Liberal stronghold, while La Trobe is marginal, with Jason Wood claiming a narrow victory from Labor's
Simon Curtis in the 2016 election. Mr Wood confirmed he has been in close contact with Mr Smith, in an effort to ensure outstanding commitments would be met. "To me there's very much unfinished business on three projects I'm working on at the moment. One is the Ridge Walk, already committed $2.5 million and trying to get another $5 million federal funds," Mr Wood said. "The Mount Dandenong Tourist Road initial commitment we made is $10 million; this is safety of cyclist and widening roads in section include retaining walls. "I'm also right behind the Performing Arts Centre in the Sherbrooke community school. "The good thing is with the redistribution, if it did end up going that way, I'm working with Tony Smith who would take those areas and is very supportive of working with me on those three projects." Meanwhile, committee chair and electoral
commissioner, Tom Rogers, said the redistribution of the electorates was required to allow space for Victoria's new seat, Fraser The La Trobe electorate is projected to have 116,587 voters by August next year, which exceeds the maximum number permitted by the Electoral Act. "The high population growth in Victoria, together with the dispersed spread of electors has resulted in the Redistribution Committee proposing significant change to Victoria's electoral division boundaries," he said. He said McMillan, too, was in danger from exceeding its maximum number of electors. "A number of consequential changes were made across the state to not only the numerical criteria but also align communities of interest where possible," Mr Rogers said. Redrawn electoral boundaries have historically factored into election results, particularly when key towns and cities are removed.
The new federal electorate for western Melbourne, Fraser, is set to be established, taking the number of electorates from 37 to 38. Anyone with an interest in these proposals can make a written submission to the Australian Electoral Commission at FedRedistribution-VIC@aec.gov.au by 6pm on Friday 4 May. All objections will be published on the AEC's website at www.aec.gov.au from Monday 7 May. Comments on objections can be lodged until 6pm on Friday 18 May and will also be published on the AEC website from Monday 21 May. A final determination of the boundaries and names of the electoral divisions will be published on Friday 13 July. *The Mail has attempted to contact Tony Smith for comment and will endeavour to publish a response.
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