Member for Dalrymple Shane Knuth is refusing to rule in or out appealing today’s final determination to remove the electorate of Dalrymple.
The Queensland Redistribution Commission this morning unveiled its redrawn electoral districts, almost a year since calling for public suggestions on the restructure. Full story here.
Now, there will be a three-week appeals process before the boundaries are fixed and they will come into effect when the writ is issued for the next state election.
“We’re disappointed because there never needed to be massive changes like this,” Mr Knuth said.
“We made a submission that suggested only minor adjustments to make the change needed; this destructive overhaul was completely unnecessary.”
Mr Knuth said constituents could accept a politician being voted out of office, but were angered by someone being forced out through a redistribution.
Under the changes, Dalrymple will be broken into three electorates – Traeger, Hill and Burdekin – costing residents vital political representation.
The Charters Towers region will be absorbed into the supersized Traeger electorate, which is about double the size of the United Kingdom.
Mr Knuth, along with an overwhelming number of constituents, said the seat would be unworkable and unmanageable.
“The Member for Traegar will have the virtually impossible task of representing tens of thousands of people across a vast range of industries from the Northern Territory border to Paluma,” he said.
Dalrymple residents lodged a 1,000-signature petition to the Redistribution Commission, along with 57 other objections condemning the removal of Dalrymple and impact on rural and regional Queenslanders.
“According to the Commission, it’s all about numbers, but as we keep saying, the changes could be made without having such a detrimental impact on constituents,” Mr Knuth said.
However, he said he remained the Member for Dalrymple until the next election and would continue with business as usual.
“I will be looking into all the options and opportunities available to me before making a decision about my next steps in the next few weeks,” he said.