Residents within multiple towns are pushing for some state electorate boundaries to be moved to better reflect their local interests.
Community members have called for Cooroy, Eumundi, Verrierdale and Doonan to be included in the seat of Noosa instead of Nicklin and Ninderry, amid a review of Queensland’s electoral boundaries and names.
The Queensland Redistribution Commission (QRC) – which conducted a public consultation phase – revealed some people believed those locations “shared a stronger community of interest with the electorate of Noosa”.
Aurira Daniels said “People in Cooroy go to Noosa daily”, while Diana Morrison said “It makes sense for the Noosa state electorate boundary to be more in line with the Noosa Shire”.
Currently the outskirts of Cooroy are within the seat of Noosa, but most of the town is within Nicklin.
Marie Sulda said: “We need election unification boundaries to realign Cooroy as a whole to better serve our community. At present, we need to work with two MPs to try to get basic things like pedestrian crossings.”
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Meanwhile, Belinda Anstock said residents of Eumundi, Verrierdale and Doonan conducted their business and shopping in Noosa and had less affinity with their electorate of Ninderry, which was created in 2017.
Noosa MP Sandy Bolton acknowledged that some residents had expressed a desire for the state electorate and council area to be closer aligned.
“There is understandable confusion mentioned for the Cooroy community regarding which electorate they sit in, with the majority of the town being inside the Nicklin electorate, however their council and community of interest is the Noosa Shire,” she said.
“It is important to point out the crucial role of the factors in section 46 of the Electoral Act that must be considered in undertaking a redistribution, which is that the review must consider economic, social, regional or other community of interest factors, as well as ways of communication and travel within proposed electoral districts.”
Ms Bolton was among those to make a submission to the QRC.
“Should any alignment be required, it would be more appropriate to include areas that are already considered part of the Noosa community, including those that exist within the Noosa Shire and boundary (such as Cooroy, Black Mountain and Federal). This would also reduce the understandable confusion that exists for residents,” her submission said.
The Noosa electorate is 3.4 per cent under quota, which is the average number of enrolled electors that each electorate should contain, and is projected to be 8.9 per cent under quota by 2032.
The next state general election is scheduled for 2028.
