Perth Voice Interactive

A LABOR and Green leaning chunk of Mt Lawley will be pulled out of the Perth electorate and shipped over to the northern neighbouring district, making it harder for the Labor party to retake their traditional urban seat at the next election.

The electoral commission’s proposal (supported by a Liberal party submission) means Liberal MP Eleni Evangel’s 2.6 per cent two-party preferred margin over Labor at the last election is likely to grow, because booths like Mt Lawley Tafe that collected more Labor and Greens votes in 2013 will now be in Michael Sutherland’s Mt Lawley electorate.

The Mt Lawley Liberal is well placed to absorb the influx of more lefties, with a healthy 59.4 per cent of the two-party preferred vote at the last election.

The proposed change—open to objections until August 24—is intended to bring the Perth district back into line with the maximum number of people in an electorate.

It also means Vincent city council’s area will now be split between two state MPs.