In response to Roy Butler’s article (The Courier, Tuesday, February 25.)
I read with dismay the misunderstandings contained in Mr Butler’s article.
Fact Check: At every National Party of NSW annual state conference since the last NSW electorate boundary adjustments about six years ago, a motion has unanimously been passed advocating for a review of the single lever that triggers a boundary adjustment: population.
The National Party continues to argue (no matter what party represents any particular electorate) that there must be more than one blunt trigger (population) that determines a boundary adjustment.
Electorates shouldn’t be allowed to balloon out to cover such vast areas as Barwon and Murray do, or Parkes for that matter.
The increasing size of rural and regional electorates makes it harder and harder to effectively represent the diverse needs of the people and communities within such enormous areas.
Many city parliamentarians have seen their electorate size shrink as the population within becomes more dense.
They would not tolerate such vast electorates, and nor should people in rural and regional NSW.
Several Sydney electorates are just seven km sq in their entirety – Barwon and Parkes take 12 hours to drive from one side to the other.
Please leave party politics out of this discussion as it is simply untrue.
For years the National Party has and continues to advocate on this issue.
It is not a recent topic of interest, nor should it be confused with Party politics. It’s about what is in the best interest of the people of rural and regional NSW.
Jocellin Jansson, Narrabri
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