THE Labor Party's push to have five regional state electorates consolidated into four - in order to create a new seat in northern Adelaide and ensure elector number quotas are met - threatens to further erode the representation of country people in State Parliament.
The five seats singled out by Labor - Flinders, Giles, Stuart, Chaffey and Frome - are wonderfully diverse and represented by three Liberal members, one Labor MP and an independent.
To put it simply, we cannot afford to have one of these voices replaced by someone from Adelaide's suburbs.
We've seen what can happen when these regional voices are singing the same tune. Remember when four Liberals crossed the floor of the lower house in 2018 to push for more consultation on the government's mining legislation? Their actions got noticed far and wide, and without their unity, the motion would have been rubber stamped through the House of Assembly.
I understand boundary redistributions are and will always be necessary, and as long as SA's regional population keeps dropping, it's likely to be in the firing line.
Related reading: Proposed boundary changes labelled 'ludicrous'
Our system is designed to ensure that everybody's vote carries equal worth. This is an important principal, but it's also vital that everyone's voices are heard equally in the four years between each election.
It's fair to say the average Australian feels less connected to their local MP than they might have a few decades ago. It's a reflection of our society, but it's also something that changes like those proposed by Labor could exacerbate.
In my 15 years on the electoral roll, I've resided in four different state electorates - yet just one of these changes was due to me moving. Each time, I had a new representative I knew little to nothing about. I'd be reluctant to broach an issue with someone I had minimal knowledge of, especially if the travel time for a face-to-face meeting kept increasing.
Taking political persuasions out of the equation, how many of us believe country issues have been given the attention they deserve in Parliament in the past 20 years or so?
Whatever changes are made as part of the review, let's remember we all have a role to play if we want our voices heard in Parliament. We cannot expect our MPs to fight our battles or represent our views if they don't know what they are.
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