The Parkes Electorate, of which Lachlan Shire is a part of, will grow with the addition of three new local government areas under the proposed redistribution for NSW.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced on Friday, 14 June, its 2024 redistribution proposal for NSW, which will see the Division of Parkes grow to include the Bland, Forbes and Parkes shire councils, while losing the remainder of the Gwydir Shire to the Division of New England.

It is believed the federal seat of North Sydney could soon be abolished under the AEC proposal. Independent Kylea Tink is the current sitting member.

The seat’s proposed redistribution will see the number of electorates in NSW will decrease from 47 to 46 for the next election. This means the boundaries of each federal electoral division in the state had to be altered to accommodate this change.

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said the changes aren’t too unexpected.

“Overall, the proposed redistribution is not a bad result for the electorate of Parkes – we’re gaining some strong towns in Parkes, Forbes and West Wyalong which I’m sure will only add to this great electorate,” he explained.

“I am sorry to see the upper half of the Gwydir Shire, which includes my hometown of Warialda, move to the New England electorate. That means that once I retire at the next election, I will no longer live in the Parkes electorate which is personally disappointing, having represented this electorate for so long and been so invested in it.

“The biggest challenge for whoever is the next Member for Parkes will be the increase in geographical size of the Parkes electorate.

“Each time there has been a boundary change, the Parkes electorate has grown, and this time is no different.

“The electorate currently covers a geographical area of 393,413 square kilometres – already well and truly the largest in NSW, covering 49 per cent of the state. These changes will see it grow even further to approximately 406,755 square kilometres which will make it more difficult to travel throughout the electorate on a regular basis, meaning more nights away from home for the next Member.”

Mr Coulton said the release of the proposed redistribution will enable The Nationals in the Parkes electorate to set a date for preselection.

“The party will now get on with the job of selecting a candidate to contest the Division of Parkes at the next election,” he stated.

“I look forward to working with whoever is preselected over the coming months to help them get to know this wonderful electorate.”

The changes to the Parkes electorate have been made to accommodate low or negative projected growth in elector numbers.

Enrolment in the current Division of Parkes on Monday 10 April 2028 is projected to be 109,528 electors, which is less than the minimum number of projected electors required by the Electoral Act. The Division of Parkes therefore had to gain at least 15,557 electors, or up to 24,629 electors, for it to fall within the permissible range for the maximum and minimum number of electors in an electoral division at the projection time.

The new division will see projected enrolment as of Monday 10 April 2028 be 128,178 people.