2016

The Appeal against the Commission’s Order was dismissed by the Full Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday 10 March 2017. The Judgment of the Court is available on the Austlii website under the title of Martin v Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission.

The following information details proceedings relating to the Appeal:

At the directions hearing held before The Honourable Chief Justice Kourakis on 23 December 2016 orders were made requiring a Public Notice regarding the appeal against the Order of the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission be published on this website along with a copy of the Notice of Appeal and the Draft Case Book Index. Those documents are shown below on this page.

TAKE NOTICE that REGGIE BRIAN MARTIN (the appellant) has lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court
of South Australia against the Order of the ELECTORAL DISTRICTS BOUNDARIES COMMISSION  made on
7 December 2016 making a redistribution of the electoral districts boundaries of South Australia (the appeal).
The Notice of Appeal and a draft case book index prepared by the appellant may be viewed at the Registry of the
Supreme Court and www.edbc.sa.gov.au. Any person wishing to be joined as a party to the above appeal or any
other appeal which may be filed against the order should complete Form 17 – Notice of address for service (found at
http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/ForLawyers/Pages/SC-Forms-CivilSup2014-Current.aspx).
That form should quote file number SCCIV-16-1613 and be sent by email to supreme.registry@courts.sa.gov.au
by 13 January 2017. The appeal has been listed for a directions hearing on Monday 16 January 2017 at 10:30am
at the Supreme Court of South Australia, 1 Gouger Street, Adelaide  SA  5000. Any person who is a party to the
appeal or has given notice of an application to be joined must attend that hearing. The appeal will be heard by
the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia on a day or days between 30 January 2017 and 4 March 2017.
  

The following is a reproduction of section 86 of the Constitution Act 1934.

86—Order of the Commission
(1) The Commission shall cause an order making an electoral redistribution to be
      published in the Gazette.
(2) Within one month of the publication of an order, any elector may, in the manner
      prescribed by Rules of Court, appeal to the Full Court of the Supreme Court
      against that order, on the ground that the order has not been duly made in
      accordance with this Act.
(3) The Commission shall be the respondent to any appeal under this section.
(4) Where an appeal has been instituted under this section, the order shall not take
      effect until the appeal has been disposed of.
(5) Where more than one appeal is instituted against the same order, every such
      appeal may be dealt with in the same proceedings.
(6) In any appeal under this section, any person having an interest in the
      proceedings may, upon application to the Court, be joined as a party to the
      proceedings.
(7) On the hearing of an appeal under this section the Full Court may—
            (a) quash the order and direct the Commission to make a fresh electoral
                  redistribution; or
            (b) vary the order; or
            (c) dismiss the appeal,
      and may make any ancillary order as to costs or any other matter that it thinks expedient.
(8) The validity of an order of the Commission shall not be called in question except
      in an appeal under this section.
(9) An appeal against an order of the Commission shall be set down for hearing by
      the Full Court as soon as practicable after the expiration of one month from the
      date of the order, and the appeal shall be heard and determined by the Full
      Court as a matter of urgency.

Documents relevant to the appeal will be posted below.

Below are the maps of the 47 State electoral districts after the electoral redistribution. The new boundaries will take effect at the next State election on 17 March 2018.

The final Report published by the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission sets out its reasons for the electoral redistribution it has made.

Following the release of the draft report on 15 August 2016, the Commission received 130 submissions.  A great many issues arising from the draft report were raised.  The Commission considered each submission and conducted a further hearing to receive oral submissions from the major parties.

After further consideration, the Commission has now finalised its order.  Extensive changes to electoral boundaries have been made.  At the next State election 398,710 electors will find themselves in a different district.

Subject to any appeal to the Supreme Court of South Australia, the new boundaries will take effect at the next State election, on 17 March 2018.

Printed copies of the final Report are available for inspection or may be purchased for $35 from the Electoral Commission SA, Level 6, 60 Light Square, Adelaide.

Final submissions received by the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission in relation to the proposed electoral redistribution prior to the final order are available below.

The Draft Report, published by the EDBC, consists of its reasons for proposing that the electoral boundaries be altered.

Copies of the Draft Report are available for inspection or purchase for $30 from the Electoral Commission SA, Level 6, 60 Light Square, Adelaide.  Copies have been provided to all persons who made a written representation.

In accordance with section 85(6) of the Constitution Act, the Commission invites any person who has already made a representation to the Commission in relation to this redistribution, or any interested member of the public, to make any final submission in writing that he or she thinks fit about the draft order (including the reasons that support it), within one month.  The Commission will then consider all such submissions and it may, at its discretion, hear and consider any evidence or argument relating to any or all of those submissions.

Submissions must be lodged with the Secretary to the Commission, Mr John Aquilina, GPO Box 646, Adelaide SA, 5001 (telephone (08) 7424 7400; email EDBC.secretary@sa.gov.au) no later than 5.00 pm on Friday, 16 September 2016.

The Commission will then proceed to finalise its order.

The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission (EDBC) holds hearings as part of its proceedings. These hearings are open to the public and transcripts of proceedings are produced as a public record and are available below.

All documents that are tendered as exhibits during the Electoral District Boundaries Commission hearings are available below.

The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission (the Commission) travelled to regional centres to hear from interested persons and groups in relation to district boundary changes which were under consideration.

They included substantial changes to the districts of Giles and Stuart, including an option for combining the major centres of Port Augusta and Whyalla into one district and flow-on changes that would result with the town of Port Pirie being the regional centre of an electoral district including the northern outback areas of the State with the district of Frome being affected.

The areas south of Port Pirie and west of the Mount Lofty Ranges, including Jamestown, Clare and Kapunda, could then be amalgamated to form a proposed mid-north district.

In addition, the Commission sought comment on proposals for changes to the electorates of Chaffey and Hammond, to bring river towns such as Cadell, Morgan and Blanchetown into Chaffey and to move the south-western part of Chaffey into Hammond.

It also took views on a proposal to amalgamate the townships of Victor Harbor and Goolwa into one district and the flow-on effects in terms of the surrounding electoral districts.

The two maps below were provided to illustrate, by way of shaded areas, regions where proposed boundary changes were being considered, with a number of those regions labelled with geographic descriptors. The descriptors were not intended in any way to indicate proposals for the naming of electoral districts. However, the Commission received comments on the naming of electoral districts and is considering suggestions put forward.

Map 1 - Regional areas of the State

Map 2 - Adelaide region

The Commission produced 4 maps showing more detail of the boundaries under consideration and these were tendered as Exhibit 19 (4 maps depicting electoral boundaries under consideration for Country and Inner Country Regions).

Dates and locations for hearings conducted

Port Augusta, Clare and Murray Bridge were chosen for regional hearings because some of the proposed changes affected the electors in and around those centres. A public hearing in Adelaide was made available for any persons unable to attend the hearings in the regional centres. These hearings were conducted as follows:

Transcripts from the hearings and exhibits presented are available on the website from the following links:

Transcripts of Public Hearings
Exhibits 

The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission received 13 representations. Of these 12 were received by the closing date of 15 April 2016.

The 2016 EDBC brochure is available below.

The following is a proposed timetable for proceedings of the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission.