The suggestion, contained in a submission to the Australian Electoral Commission, would see the seat of Murray abolished and a significant expansion of the Mallee electorate.

All areas around and to the North of Nhill, Rupanyup, St Arnaud and Rochester would be part on one single seat covering move of north-west Victoria under the Liberals’ suggestion.

Wannon would also increase in geographical size and by a few hundred voters to 109,959 and Mallee would contain up to 113,667 voters.

Both Wannon and Mallee will not have the minimum projected enrolled voters in 2019 and as such will not meet the AEC’s requirements for viable electorate boundaries.

After the redistribution is complete, whichever suggestions the AEC takes on board, all electorates must contain between minus 10 per cent and plus 10 per cent of 106,954 enrolled voters.

Stawell, Horsham and areas to the north currently sit within Mallee, represented by National Party MP Andrew Broad, who has his main electorate office in Mildura.

If Stawell and Horsham shift to Wannon, they would be represented with Ararat by Liberal MP and Veterans Affairs Minister Dan Tehan, whose main electorate office is in Hamilton.

The Liberal Party’s submission to the AEC argued that its suggestion would be more in keeping with the aims of the Commonwealth Electorate Act.

“Communities such as Horsham, Stawell, and Ararat have a greater connection to regional communities in the Western District such as Hamilton and Warrnambool than they do the communities on the Murray River such as Mildura and Swan Hill,” the submission stated.

“As such, it is appropriate that the communities of Horsham, Stawell and Ararat are in the Wannon Division.”

IN a separate submission Labor has suggested to move the West Wimmera region to Wannon and the Maryborough region to Mallee.

Labor also wants the Colac-Otway Shire moved from Corangamite to Wannon.

The Nationals want to move the entire Grampians National Park to Mallee and put Colac-Otway and Golden Plains shires in Wannon.

Victoria is undergoing a redistribution because the number of members of the federal House of Representatives it is entitled to has increased from 37 to 38 as a result of a determination made by the Electoral Commissioner in August.

The Liberal suggestion includes using seat gained by abolishing Murray and the extra seat allowance to create a two new seats in the suburbs of Melbourne.

Changes to federal electoral divisions as a result of redistribution will apply from the day on which a notice of determination is published in the Commonwealth Notices Government Gazette.

This notice will be published on July 13, 2018.

Electoral events will not be contested on these new federal electoral divisions until a writ is issued for a general election.