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Speaker 1: While we're yet to know exactly what date the federal

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Speaker 1: election is going to be called or exactly when we're

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Speaker 1: going to be heading to the polls, there is a

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Speaker 1: lot of work happening behind the scenes to prepare and

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Speaker 1: we know in the Northern Territory we're set for an

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Speaker 1: electoral boundary redistribution. Now my understanding is that some areas

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Speaker 1: of Palmerston which used to fall under Lingiari and are

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Speaker 1: currently held by Labour's Marion Scrimjaw, they're now going to

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Speaker 1: fall into Solomon. But joining me in the studio is

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Speaker 1: the man with all that information, the Australian Electoral Officer

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Speaker 1: for the Northern Territory, Jeff Bloom. Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Jeff, Morning Katie. Lovely to have you.

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Speaker 1: In the studio. Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, Jeff,

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Speaker 1: which suburbs are set to change in this redistribution?

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Speaker 2: So the suburbs that are coming out of Lingiarian into

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Speaker 2: the division Solomon are Farrer, Johnson, Zicole, Mitchell and parts

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Speaker 2: of Yarrawonga.

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Speaker 1: Yeah right, So that's a big chunk of Palmerston, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: It is it really is the rest of the of

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Speaker 2: Palmestan for like. So if we think about redistributions more broadly,

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Speaker 2: every seven years in each jurisdiction across Australia there is

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Speaker 2: a redistribution of boundaries or review of the boundaries. In

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Speaker 2: some cases boundaries change and perhaps in others not so.

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Speaker 2: But in the Northern Territory the boundaries are changing for

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Speaker 2: this redistribution, and the reason is that we had more

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Speaker 2: electors in the Division of Lingiari than we did in

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Speaker 2: the Division of Solomon. So since twenty seventeen twenty seventeen

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Speaker 2: to twenty twenty four when we started the redistribution process,

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Speaker 2: that was back in February twenty four, the number of

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Speaker 2: electors in Lingiari had increased more so, so we had

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Speaker 2: around nine thousand additional electors in Lingiari over and above

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Speaker 2: the numbers in Solomon. So we needed to do something

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Speaker 2: as a redistribution committee. And as a result of the review,

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Speaker 2: we basically said that the Division of Palmerston, sorry, the

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Speaker 2: entirety of Palmerston, so the local government area which is

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Speaker 2: Palmerston is all joined up and those suburbs come back

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Speaker 2: into Solomon.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So how many territorians, how many on the

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Speaker 1: electoral role are now going to sort of go from

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Speaker 1: Lingiari to Solomon.

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Speaker 2: It's around five thousand, so as I say, a disparity

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Speaker 2: of around nine thousand in total between the two divisions

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Speaker 2: and around five thousand people are coming across. One of

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Speaker 2: the other things that the Redistribution Committee has to think

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Speaker 2: about is what's going to happen in the future as well.

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Speaker 2: So we've got a seven year time frame here, so

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Speaker 2: we try to marry up the numbers as best we can.

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Speaker 2: It's not an exact match in terms of numbers in

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Speaker 2: each division, but as close as we possibly can, and

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Speaker 2: then we have to think about what happens over the

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Speaker 2: next seven year period. So where are the growth areas,

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Speaker 2: for example, and whereas more of the infield so Holts

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Speaker 2: is an obvious era and also in Lee Point if

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Speaker 2: all of those subdivisions go ahead, I don't know necessarily

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Speaker 2: whether they do or not, but the best information we have,

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Speaker 2: including from the Northern Territory government, around those growth areas,

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Speaker 2: has informed the fact that we have just put that

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Speaker 2: boundary where it is and joined up Palmston.

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Speaker 1: Do we know what's contributed to the growth of Lingiari

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Speaker 1: in terms of like I'm sort of surprised to hear

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Speaker 1: that it's grown as much as it has in terms

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Speaker 1: of the number of people on the role.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we've been very successful. The AAC has been

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Speaker 2: very successful in lifting up the number of eligible people

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Speaker 2: on the electoral role. So more broadly, in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: we have just a little over ninety four percent of

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Speaker 2: eligible territories on the electoral role right now, never been

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Speaker 2: achieved before, so we're very proud of that. In terms

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Speaker 2: of Lingiari, of course, we have many remote communities in

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Speaker 2: that division, and we've also had an enrollment program called

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Speaker 2: Federal Director and Enrollment Update that we now have the

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Speaker 2: ability to apply at our community level. So a lot

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Speaker 2: of those community people that weren't on the role in

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Speaker 2: earlier times are now on the electoral Yeah, so that's

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Speaker 2: part of the reason that the role is lifted up

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Speaker 2: in Lingiari. And again we get to the redistribution, we

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Speaker 2: see we've actually got to changed that boundary.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, fair call, Jeff. In terms of the people that

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Speaker 1: are now going to be voting in a different electra,

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Speaker 1: will they be notified, how are they going to how

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Speaker 1: are they going to learn who you know, like which

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Speaker 1: candidates they're sort of they're voting for. I know we

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Speaker 1: do our best on air to make sure people know,

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Speaker 1: but I'm assuming you guys will indeed notify people and

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Speaker 1: let them know.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. So the good news is that people

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Speaker 2: don't necessarily have to do anything. We will reach out

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Speaker 2: to them. We'll email and write a letter to them,

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Speaker 2: just telling them about the change. So what's happened. And

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Speaker 2: for those people that are now in a different electoral division,

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Speaker 2: so we think about the twenty twenty two federal election,

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Speaker 2: those five thousand people will have voted using a House

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Speaker 2: of Representative ballot paper for Lingari. Yeah, it'll be a

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Speaker 2: Solomon ballot paper that they're issued with you. Now, the

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Speaker 2: Senate ballot paper is for all territori ins it. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and that's a territory white ballot paper. But they'll have

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Speaker 2: a different House of Reps ballot paper. They'll be voting

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Speaker 2: for different candidates in the division of Solomon. And I

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Speaker 2: also add that there's another consideration for the Redistribution Committee,

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Speaker 2: and that is communities of intro So if you think

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Speaker 2: about people that live in Palmerston, in those suburbs that

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Speaker 2: have now come back into Palmerston. They think of themselves

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Speaker 2: as living in an urban area part of Palmerston satellite city,

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Speaker 2: as opposed to being rural or remote. So as a

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Speaker 2: community of interest, they're back in that the electric is

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Speaker 2: part of Solomon, so it makes sense in terms of

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Speaker 2: community of interest.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, fair enough. Now to anybody out there listening this morning,

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Speaker 1: if they're not sure that they are on the roll

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Speaker 1: and enrolled in the correct area before the federal election,

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Speaker 1: what do they need to do?

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Speaker 2: So people can go online to the AAC website and

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Speaker 2: check their enrollment if they're enrollments not updated. So of

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Speaker 2: course people move in and out of the territory, so

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Speaker 2: if you've arrived from somewhere else you need to change

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Speaker 2: your address, you can jump online now and do that.

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Speaker 2: So checker enrollment online update is appropriate. Of course, once

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Speaker 2: we get to the election itself, so the issue of

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Speaker 2: the Written, which starts the whole process, we have a

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Speaker 2: seven day period after that for the role to close.

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Speaker 2: So I guess the ear advice is jump on now,

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Speaker 2: do it now, get on the front foot. But you've

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Speaker 2: still got that tiny little window after the issue of

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Speaker 2: the Written and the elections in earnest, Well.

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Speaker 1: We're all waiting to hear what date that is. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure for you guys, you're going to be busier than

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Speaker 1: anybody else, so I'm sure that you're waiting to hear

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Speaker 1: exactly when that happens. Too. We will make sure that

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Speaker 1: our listeners are well and truly aware. Jeff Bloom, the

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Speaker 1: Australian electoral Officer for the Northern Territory. Lovely to catch

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Speaker 1: up with you this morning. Thanks so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie, thank you