Mayor Jenny Whitney said that the Deputy Premier, Jackie Trad MP, referred the matter of quota tolerances in the Whitsunday LGA to the Local Government Change Commission for assessment prior to the upcoming quadrennial election.

“Data indicates that Division 2 is outside the level of tolerance permitted under the Act and that
Divisions 1, 4 and 5 are close to the ten percent variance range,” Mayor Whitney said.

“Council has considered boundary adjustment to address the issue of the out of tolerance electors in Division 2, improved Councillor - elector connectivity within each division and current and future high growth being experienced in Divisions 1 and 2.

“As a result of this, Council’s submission recommends that new divisional boundaries are instated within the Local Government Area.

Several studies have been undertaken into the population growth of the Whitsunday region, the
Norling Report 2013 is the most recent, most reliable and most informative. The population
assumptions within the submission and this report have been used to provide 3rd party analysis to for the Council submission.

The trends in this report clearly indicate that the southern area of the region will continue to grow at a faster rate than the northern and western area of the region. For this reason a simple single boundary shift is not considered to be the best solution long term.

The Change Commission may conduct its assessment in any way that it considers appropriate and is required as a minimum to invite submissions from the relevant Council and hold a public hearing to ask the public for its views on the preferred boundaries. A decision of the Change Commission is not subject to appeal.