The boundaries of the Barwon Electorate of which Lachlan Shire is a part of, will remain the same.

The Electoral Districts Redistribution Panel has made its final determination of the names and boundaries of electoral districts. The determination was proclaimed in the Gazette on 26 August 2021 by Her Excellency the Governor, the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC.

The Electorate of Barwon covers 356,310.71 square kilometres. It has a current enrolment base (as of 2020) of 54,093. It’s projected enrolment number for 2023 is 54,830. In the Lachlan Local Government Area, which covers Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo, Tottenham and the Lachlan Shire, there were 4,427 enrolments in 2020. It is predicted there will be 4,484 in 2023.

Roy Butler is the State Member for Barwon. He is a member of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.

He successfully defeated The National’s candidate Andrew Schier in the March 2019 State Election. Incumbent member Kevin Humphries had represented Barwon since 2007, but announced his retirement prior to the election.

The electorate was previously held by The Nationals with margin of 12.9 per cent. Mr Butler secured a 33 per cent swing towards him to claim the seat.

He lives on a property at Mendooran with his wife Jenny and three teenage children, where they breed and raise cattle.

“You may recall there was much discussion about completely redrawing the boundaries of the Barwon Electorate or the electorate also taking in the Local Government Area of Gunnedah to meet a quota,” Mr Butler said on a Facebook post, dated 27 August.

“The quota aims to meet the rule that every Member of Parliament should represent roughly the same number of people.

“The Barwon Electorate will remain with the same boundaries at the 2023 election but is under the quotient due to our population. If Barwon were to expand to meet the population requirements the electorate would cover over 50 per cent of the landmass of NSW. This is something a lot of people expressed issue with.

“The redistribution is a requirement in NSW after two State General Elections have been conducted using the same electoral boundaries.”

In preparing the determination, the Panel obtained and considered further advice from its demographer, I.D. Consulting Pty Ltd, on the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on enrolment forecasts.

The electoral districts specified in the proclamation are, until altered by a further distribution required under the Constitution Act 1902, the electoral districts of New South Wales.

The redistribution comes into effect for the March 2023 New South Wales state general election. Any state by-elections that take place prior to that election will be conducted on the electoral district boundaries in place for the 2019 state general election.

The electoral district of Lakemba has been abolished. The electoral district of Leppington was created. The following four electoral districts have been re-named: Badgerys Creek – formerly Mulgoa; Kellyville – formerly Baulkham Hills; Wahroonga – formerly Ku-ring-gai; and Winston Hills – formerly Seven Hills.

Under s 27(1)(c) of the Constitution Act 1902 (the Constitution Act) a redistribution of electoral boundaries must be carried out after two State General Elections have been conducted using the same electoral boundaries. The purpose of a redistribution of electoral districts is to ensure that, as far as practicable, each electoral district of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly has an equal number of electors (within a margin of allowance of 10 per cent more or less of the average enrolment in electoral districts at a specified future time). The last redistribution was completed in 2013 and the State General Elections of 2015 and 2019 were conducted on the electoral boundaries determined at that redistribution. On 11 December 2019, Her Excellency the Governor appointed the Hon Arthur Emmett AO QC as the Chairperson of the Redistribution Panel. Mr John Schmidt, Electoral Commissioner for NSW, and Mrs Narelle Underwood, Surveyor-General of NSW, are the ex officio members of the Redistribution Panel.