The NSW Electoral Commission has rejected a Liberal proposal to exclude Nelson Bay from the Port Stephens state electorate while shoring up Labor's hold on Maitland.
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The commission's Electoral Districts Redistribution Panel issued its draft determination for a state electoral district redraw on Monday.
The draft plan leaves Labor MP Kate Washington's Port Stephens electorate largely untouched, rejecting a Liberal submission to carve off Nelson Bay, Lemon Tree Passage, Anna Bay, Hawks Nest, Tea Gardens and Medowie into a renamed Upper Hunter electorate.
The most politically significant change in the Hunter is in fast-growing Maitland, where sitting Labor MP Jenny Aitchison loses Lorn, Bolwarra and Largs.
The redraw means two of the three Maitland polling booths the Liberals won in 2019, at Largs and Bolwarra, are now in Upper Hunter, which is held by the Nationals' Michael Johnsen.
A Liberal insider told the Newcastle Herald that the changes all but ended the party's hopes of being competitive in Maitland in 2023.
Maitland is one of seven seats in NSW projected to exceed the average voter enrolment by more than 10 per cent in 2023, prompting the need for new boundaries.
Under the proposed changes, Cessnock MP Clayton Barr loses the sparsely populated western half of his district to Upper Hunter.
The panel rejected a Nationals submission to shift Gillieston Heights and Lochinvar from Maitland to Cessnock, but it moved Broke, Millbrodale and Branxton into Mr Johnsen's dominion.
Labor had proposed moving Bolwarra Heights, Gillieston Heights and parts of Branxton and Singleton into Upper Hunter, which it wanted to rename Singleton.
"I would be really disappointed to lose communities that I have had the pleasure to represent over the past five years," Mr Barr said.
Ms Aitchison said she was disappointed to say goodbye to the nearby suburbs and towns on the northern side of the Hunter River which will now be at the southern extremity of sprawling state (Upper Hunter) and federal (Lyne) electorates.
Ms Washington was celebrating the draft ruling to leave her once-marginal district alone, even though losing the conservative-leaning retirement havens close to the water would have improved her prospects.
"The Liberal Party's shameless attempt to gerrymander the boundaries of Port Stephens has fallen flat on its face," she said.
"The proposal was always absurd, and the Electoral Commission has rightly rejected it."
In Newcastle, the panel's proposal leaves the boundaries largely intact.
A slab of New Lambton south of Alma Road shifts from Wallsend and Newcastle to Jodie Harrison's Charlestown.
Cardiff South moves from independent Greg Piper's seat of Lake Macquarie to Charlestown, which loses Redhead to deputy opposition leader Yasmin Catley's Swansea.
The Electoral Commission is redrawing the state's 93 electoral boundaries to ensure the number of voters in each seat remains roughly equivalent at the next election in 2023.
The Liberal source said redraws in fast-growing western and south-western Sydney could present numerous challenges for both parties.
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Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
