Gerrymandering is a curse. In Australia independent commissions draw political boundaries, state and federal.
Chapter 8: Drawing electoral boundaries
All elections involve boundaries that define which voters get to elect which candidates to represent them in legislative bodies. These boundaries define what in Australia are called electoral divisions or electorates.
Electoral boundaries
In federal elections for the Senate, the electorates are defined by the state and territory boundaries. Elections for upper houses in New South Wales and South Australia and for the single house of the ACT Legislative Assembly use their state or territory boundaries to define a single electorate.
For all other elections in Australia, including elections for the House of Representatives, boundaries have to be specifically drawn to group voters into different electorates. The 2019 federal election required boundaries to be drawn for House of Representatives electorates in all the states and territories except NSW and WA, which resulted in the overall number of electorates increasing from 150 to 151.
The laws concerning drawing electoral boundaries are important and controversial because those boundaries can affect who wins elections.
Hot Tip: Distribution and redistribution
The process of drawing electoral boundaries for the first time is called a ‘distribution’. After electoral boundaries have been drawn once, they can be adjusted in what is called a ‘redistribution’.
Who draws the lines?
In Australia, committees of public officials draw and redraw electoral boundaries. These committees are established by law to be independent of the government of the day, the parliament, political parties and other groups who might have an interest in drawing up electorates to suit their political purposes.
At the Commonwealth level, the Australian Electoral Commission oversees the process of electorate drawing and appoints redistribution committees for each state and territory. Each committee consists of the Electoral Commissioner, the senior electoral officer in the state or territory, the state or territory Surveyor-General and the state or territory Auditor-General. Similar committees draw up the boundaries for state and territory elections.
At various points, the process of drawing electoral boundaries involves publicity and public consultation. For House of Representatives electorates, the redistribution committees invite suggestions from the public before they begin to redraw boundaries and consider objections after they have released a draft set of proposed boundaries. Political parties make submissions to the committees to try to persuade them to draw boundaries in ways that will favour their candidates. The final decision on electoral boundaries, however, stays with the committee.
Having an independent body to draw electoral boundaries may seem an obvious way to avoid or reduce the manipulation of boundaries by governments and political parties. It is not a universal practice, however, even among western democracies. In the United States, for example, the state legislatures (the equivalents of Australian state parliaments) commonly draw the electoral boundaries for state and national elections. This means that American redistribution processes are much more involved with party politics than they are in Australia. The Democratic and Republican parties have both used their majorities in state legislatures to draw up boundaries that favour their own candidates over opponents.
Newman worked for multiple firms as an agency executive. She began her own consulting firm in 2005.[7] She also established her own nonprofit to combat bullying after one of her children was bullied.[7] Governor Pat Quinn appointed her to a regional anti-bullying task force and Sears Holdings Corporation asked her to establish a national anti-bullying coalition of 70 nonprofit organizations.
Newman has worked on several Democratic campaigns for public office. Between 2015 and 2017 she lobbied for gun control measures such as background checks.[8]
Career after U.S. House of Representatives
In April 2023, Newman was appointed chief executive officer of Little City Foundation, a social services organization serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Little City serves over 900 people through its residential facilities, day programs, and at-home assistance in northern Illinois.[9] Newman had a personal connection to Little City, having volunteered when she was young. Two of her cousins received Little City services.[10]
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