WA Labor’s powerhouse crown jewel of Collie would be pushed into the conservative stronghold seat of Roe under a proposal put forward by the WA Liberal Party.
The move has been met with strong opposition by State and local government representatives on both sides of the political fence, as well as the Collie region’s peak business body.
As the State’s Lower House electoral boundaries are being reviewed for the 2025 election, the WA Liberal Party proposed the move as part of its submissions to the WA Electoral Commission in April.
Under the proposal, the Shire of Collie would move from the Collie-Preston electorate to the Wheatbelt seat of Roe, which stretches from Esperance to Darkan and is held by Nationals member Peter Rundle.
A WA Liberals spokesperson said at a Federal level Collie had moved from the South West seat of Forrest to the O’Connor electorate in 2015 “without apparent detriment to its representation” and proposed a similar boundary shift at a State level in order to make “some incremental boundary changes” to maintain the number of regional seats.
“During the last Federal redistribution, no submissions made the case for this to change,” the spokesperson said.
But in a bizarre twist, even Mr Rundle disagrees with the proposed change.
“Adding Collie to the (Roe) electorate would add an additional drive of at least two hours … (and) would be considerably more difficult to manage,” he said, also noting the different communities of interest in the two electorates.
Collie Shire chief executive Stuart Devenish said the town had a “very strong association” with the South West region.
“The social, economic, environmental and functional relationships Collie holds with its namesake … are not replicated across (other) districts,” he said.
Collie Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Tara van Beuningen said the change could cause uncertainty for local operators.
“It is crucial that any proposed changes are thoroughly assessed and their potential impacts on the local business community are carefully considered,” she said.
WA Labor said it “strongly opposes” the suggestion, with former Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray describing it as “fanciful”.
The Shire of Collie successfully objected to an attempt by the electoral distribution commissioners to move Collie into Roe in 2019.
The commissioners’ proposed boundaries will be revealed in mid to late July, following which a 30-day objection period will be held.