CHAPTER 2 COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL DIVISIONS
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
An Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Electoral Division is an area legally prescribed for the purpose of returning one member to the House of Representatives, Australia's Federal Lower House of Parliament. The derived Census Geographic Areas which approximate these official areas are known as Commonwealth Electoral Divisions (CEDs). The boundaries and census statistics produced for CEDs are CD derived (based on the method described in Chapter 1).
As a result of the expected timing of a federal election soon after the scheduled release of 2006 Census data, two CED classifications have been defined for the 2006 Census. The AEC's electoral division boundaries come into effect after a federal election and are current until the next election. On Census night ( 8 August 2006), the electoral division boundaries in effect were those dating from the previous federal election held on 9 October 2004. The CD derived CED boundaries for that election are called CED 2004. The next federal election must be held between 4 August 2007, and 19 January 2008 and new electoral boundaries will take effect from then. The CD derived CEDs for that election are called CED 2007.
The AEC's website www.aec.gov.au provides a reference source for federal election dates.
For the 2006 Census, 159 CEDs are defined to cover the whole of geographic Australia for both CED 2004 and CED 2007. CEDs do not generally cross State/Territory borders but there are two exceptions. Jervis Bay Territory is included in the Australian Capital Territory electorate of Fraser and the territories of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are included in the Northern Territory electorate of Lingiari. CED boundaries are generally different to State Electoral Divisions (SEDs).
CED names and codes
CED names are the same as those allocated by the Australian Electoral Commission. The coding conventions for CEDs are as follows:
- CEDs are sorted by name and then allocated a two-digit code starting from 01 that is unique within each State/Territory. Unique Australia-wide identification of CEDs requires a three-digit code comprising S/T code (digit 1) and CED code (digits 2-3); and
- the CED code 99 is reserved for those States/Territories that have Off-Shore, Shipping and Migratory CDs. CDs allocated to this code are not part of any official Electoral Division. They are provided as a balancing item for census statistics obtained for CEDs.
Example:
3 01 Blair
3 02 Bonner
3 03 Bowman
3 04 Brisbane
3 05 Capricornia
3 06 Dawson
...
3 99 Not Applicable
CEDs are renumbered after each census so the codes used for the 2001 Census may not necessarily match those used for the 2006 Census.
Please see Appendix 1 for a full listing of CED codes and names.
Maintenance
CEDs are only defined in the census year. Thus, any boundary changes that occur in official electoral boundaries after those represented in CED 2007 will not be reflected until after the next census. However, CD based concordances will be produced as redistribution of AEC electoral boundaries become effective.
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