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Feature
How diverse are Australia’s electorate names? Here’s how your seat compares
Who is being honoured in our federal electorate names? Advocates say stark disparities still remain. Search for your seat in the map below.
Published 11 September 2023 5:32am
By Emma Brancatisano, Kenneth Macleod
Source: SBS News
Image: Who, or what, are Australia's federal electorates named after? Click on the interactive map below to find out. (SBS News)
Australia’s current parliament has been hailed , but the names of the electorates our MPs represent paints a different picture.
At a federal level, electorates are usually named after deceased Australians who have made an outstanding service to their country. Some are named after places.
In 2023, around 62 per cent of the country’s federal electorates are named after one or more men, and 11 per cent are named after a woman. About 5 per cent are named for one or more Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander persons.
Search the map below to see who or what your electorate is named after, and read on to explore how this compares to others across the country.
Gender equality advocates have long been drawing attention to who is being honoured, and pushing for new electorates to be named after women - in particular, Indigenous women.
How and when are electorate names decided?
Determining the names of federal electoral divisions - or electorates - is part of the federal redistribution process within a state or territory, according to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
This can be an opportunity to rename an existing electorate or name a new one.
“The AEC does not decide on the names of federal electoral divisions,” an AEC spokesperson said.
“Electoral divisional names are put forward and decided by two independent bodies brought together for the purpose of conducting redistributions and membership is specified in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act).”
The AEC has developed guidelines for naming electorates, which the spokesperson said are “longstanding and have been part of previous parliamentary consideration on redistribution”.
The guidelines state that divisions should “in the main be named after deceased Australians who have rendered outstanding service to their country”.
Every effort should be made to retain the names of original federation divisions, and the names of former prime ministers should be considered when new electorates are created.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names should be used where appropriate and as far as possible existing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander divisional names should be retained," the AEC says.
The AEC notes that relevant committees are “in no way bound by the guidelines”.
Naming practices through history: a 'marker of power'
Clare Wright, professor of history and public engagement at La Trobe University, described electorates as “symbolic real estate”.
“Naming practices really are a marker of power - and always have been,” she said.
She used the example of Europeans re-naming mountains, rivers and plains owned by First Nations Australians, which she called an “act of colonial dispossession”.
In Australia’s first federal election in 1901, not one of the 75 House of Representative seats was named after a European woman nor a First Australian, Wright said.
Since then, the makeup of parliament has expanded and changed, allowing for new names to be created. But Wright maintains a “pattern of naming” has emerged, leaving women still disproportionately represented.
How diverse are our electorate names?
The House of Representatives has 151 Members of Parliament (MPs), each of whom represents an electorate.
SBS News has compiled the above map using AEC data.
Of the 151 electorates, 35 are named after locations or geographical features (23 per cent) and 116 are named after one or more people (77 per cent).
Of those honouring people, 93 are named after one or more men (80 per cent or 62 per cent of total electorates), 17 are named after a woman (15 per cent or 11 per cent of total electorates) and six are jointly named after men and women (5 per cent or 4 per cent of total electorates).
Eight electorates are named for one or more Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander persons (7 per cent or 5 per cent of total electorates). There are 24 electorates with a connection to an Indigenous person or word.
The number of federal electorates named after men, women or locations, as at September 2023. Source: SBS News
Data compiled by SBS News based on AEC name derivations of each electorate shows that an overwhelming number are named after politicians, followed by explorers, lawyers, farmers and writers.
“I think it’s completely unacceptable that there is still such a cavernous gender gap,” Wright said.
“Even though times have changed, and who we might consider a credible and commemoration-worthy Australian has changed, it’s fairly true to say that electorate names have not kept up with that pace - and perhaps community expectations - that there is going to be more equality as we close other forms of gender and racial gaps.”
The AEC spokesperson said recent distributions have resulted in more electoral divisions being named after women and Indigenous places.
“The five most recently completely redistributions have resulted in electoral divisions being named for eight new individuals, four of whom were women and four of whom were Indigenous people,” they said.
“Interested persons or organisations are able to propose alternative names for existing electoral divisions at specific points in the redistribution process.”
A recent Victorian case
In 2020, gender equality advocates campaigned , with Indigenous rights advocates Margaret Tucker and Aunty Eleanor Harding, war correspondent Louise Mack and feminist activist Zelda D’Aprano among those who were put forward.
The new electorate was named after former prime minister Bob Hawke.
“Naming the new Victorian electoral division for former prime minister Hawke is consistent with the naming guidelines,” the spokesperson said.
'Not enough recognition of our Aboriginal women’
Aunty Pam Pedersen, 80, is a Yorta Yorta Elder, Aboriginal community leader and accomplished sportsperson.
She is the youngest daughter of Aboriginal leaders Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls and Lady Gladys Nicholls, who are the co-names behind the electorate of Nicholls in Victoria. Aunty Pam was recently approached by a Melbourne high school with a request to name one of its student houses in her honour.
“To recognise our Aboriginal people, it’s wonderful,” she told SBS News.
“There’s not enough recognition - especially of our Aboriginal women and what they have achieved. So I would like to see more of our people recognised.”
Antoinette Braybrook, chief executive of Aboriginal community organisation Djirra, said the numbers “speak to how historically we are not valued and recognised as the First Peoples of this country”.
She said she was disappointed Aunty Margaret Tucker was not chosen in Victoria.
“At every opportunity, the inequality in the recognition of women's contributions to society should be addressed,” she said.
“Visibility of Aboriginal women, their sacrifices and contributions to this nation is the first step towards a different future for this country – one where First Nations women are celebrated and heard.”
What's next?
According to the AEC spokesperson, redistributions of NSW, Victoria and Western Australia started on 9 August, and a redistribution of the Northern Territory is set to start within 30 days of 7 February next year.
“Each time, there is a decision that needs to be made by a body of decision makers about which of those [late] Australians who have made a contribution to Australia are going to be honoured for that contribution,” Wright said.
Naming practices are part of a broader push to recognise gender equity in public spaces involving various grassroots campaigns, such as Gender Equity’s
Last week, the Victorian government announced that 70 per cent of the state's new roads, place names and landmarks will commemorate women by 2027. The government's gender equity strategy will also halve the pay gap in the public service.
The move was welcomed by Gender Equity Victoria, which acknowledged that “grassroots community activity has become policy”.
While Wright remains optimistic about the future, she said change is not inevitable and will require collective action.
“Power will in general hang onto and reproduce the status quo - so there needs to be interventions that are made,” she said.
