Gunnedah shire could be part of Barwon electorate if Electoral Commission decides it

Gunnedah's councillors have written to the Electoral Commission to request that Gunnedah Shire Council remain in the Tamworth electorate, as the commission is in the process of redistributing electorate boundaries.

Councillors unanimously supported the motion to submit their recommendation at Wednesday's council meeting.

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Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey cited numerous reasons why it was important for the shire to remain within the Tamworth electorate.

"We believe the Gunnedah shire should stay in the seat of Tamworth because so many of our businesses and residents rely on the area that we currently are in," Cr Chaffey said.

"When you talk about health, the Hunter New England Health region is what we formally are in with Gunnedah hospital, and our largest base hospital and largest medical centres are in Tamworth.

"For residents and our businesses that rely on daily air services to capital cities like Sydney and Brisbane, the closest facility we have is Tamworth, 45 mins drive from the centre of Gunnedah.

"Gunnedah also falls within Oxley Police District and their headquarters are based in Tamworth as well."

Cr Chaffey also pointed out that Gunnedah Shire Council was a part of Namoi Unlimited with five other local councils, "four of which are in the seat of Tamworth".

The seat of Barwon currently covers more than 356,000km, which is 44 per cent of NSW. It is already the state's largest electoral district, represented by Shooters Fishers and Farmers' Roy Butler.

"If we were to include Gunnedah into the Barwon state electorate, that would make it even larger and more complex for the sitting member to spend time in our shire and advocating on the needs of our community," Cr Chaffey told the NVI.

The Electoral Commission will now take the submission into account and will publicly announce a proposed redistribution.

Further objections can then be made by council, if necessary, before the final decision.