Electoral boundaries

The electoral district boundaries in New South Wales are decided by a distribution process that ensures a similar number of electors in each district, with a 10 per cent difference in the average allowed.

Over time, voter movements and the enrolment of new voters can cause the electoral population in some districts to grow while others may decline.

This can cause a population imbalance between districts, so electoral boundaries are sometimes modified in a process called redistribution.

A redistribution is carried out:

• when the law changes the number of members of the Legislative Assembly (presently 93)

• after every second state election

• when more than a quarter of the electoral districts do not have an equal number of voters (within a margin of five per cent more or less for a period of more than two months)

• at other times as provided by law.

Redistributions are conducted by an Electoral Districts Redistribution Panel consisting of:

• a current or former Judge appointed by the Governor as the Chairperson of the Redistribution Panel

• the Electoral Commissioner

• the Surveyor-General of New South Wales.

A redistribution of electoral districts was conducted in 2021. New district boundaries are in effect for the 2023 and 2027 NSW State elections. 

You can also access interactive electoral district maps on the NSW Electoral Map Viewer in the NSW Government Spatial Collaboration Portal.

To access the maps, click on "View Application" at the top right of the Terms of Use page. Tools and tips for using this application can be found in Before you start – Electoral Map Viewer guide.

Councils divided into wards have to ensure the number of electors in each ward is approximately the same.

A review should generally occur once every term in the year after an election.

If a review is undertaken and a council needs to adjust its ward boundaries, due to a difference of more than 10 per cent in the number of electors between wards, the council must consult the NSW Electoral Commission.

A council can only divide its area into wards, or remove all wards in its area, if approval is given at a referendum. All enrolled electors in a council area must vote in a referendum and the result of the referendum is binding on the council.

Boundary changes affecting local government areas that involve amalgamation may occur by referral by the Minister of Local Government to the Local Government Boundaries Commission.

The council of an area that is divided into wards is required by section 211 of the Local Government Act 1993 No.30 to keep ward boundaries under review. If an alteration to ward boundaries is undertaken, the council is required, among other things, to consult the Electoral Commissioner.

 The most efficient way to ascertain if there is a variation of greater than 10 per cent is as follows:

1. Find the difference between the ward with the most electors and the ward with the fewest electors.
2. Divide that difference by the number of electors in the smallest ward (that is, the ward with the fewest electors).
3. If the result is more than 10 per cent, follow the ward boundary alteration processes.

For example: a local government area where the largest ward has 10,000 electors, and the smallest ward has 9,000 electors:

• Ward A: 10,000 electors (largest ward)

• Ward B: 9,000 electors (smallest ward)

• Ward C: 9,400 electors

• Ward D: 9,600 electors.

Difference between Ward A and Ward B: 10,000 – 9,000 = 1,000

Difference as a percentage of Ward B (smallest ward): 1,000/9,000 = 0.111 (11 per cent)

In the example above, there is a variation of more than 10 per cent between the number of electors in two wards of the area. As the variation is greater than 10 per cent, the council is required to alter its ward boundaries in compliance with section 211 of the Local Government Act 1993.

The Office of Local Government Circular to Council (PDF 0.1MB) provides information on how to calculate the 10 per cent variation along with other relevant information.

As outlined, the deadline for the finalisation of ward boundaries and ward name changes for the 2024 Local Government elections has been set at 5 October 2023.

The enrolment data contained on this website has been sourced from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). This data reflects the electoral roll held by the AEC at the date of extraction shown in the file or directory name.

Note: SA1s shown in all files prior to 26 April 2023 on this website use the 2016 Census SA1s. From 26 April 2023, the enrolment data uses the 2021 SA1 boundaries.

The Enrolment Variance Report identifies the percentage variance between the highest and lowest ward enrolment for each local government area with wards. The calculation has been done in accordance with the Office of Local Government Circular to Council (PDF 0.1MB).

The report is a static point in time and councils should undertake their own checks as to the current status of the variance in their ward boundaries.

Where a council has completed their ward boundary redistribution since the 2021 NSW Local Government election, the new ward boundary will not be applied in the roll management system until just prior to the 2024 NSW Local Government election.

The link below provides access to all of the Australian Electoral Commission's (AEC) EX35 files for NSW for given dates of extraction.

The files prior to 26 April 2023 contain local government area/ward enrolment statistics by 2016 SA1s. Files dated from 26 April 2023 onwards provide enrolment statistics by 2021 Statistical Area Level 1 Boundaries (SA1).

A new file is added monthly. The file shows the number of electors within a given SA1 for all local government areas and wards in NSW. The file also identifies the total number of electors by local government area, and if appropriate, by ward.

It is suggested files are downloaded to a local drive by right clicking on the file name and selecting “Save Target As”. The data is extracted from the AEC’s live database and is therefore only current as at the time of extraction.

In order to successfully join the file with the geospatial layer for the SA1 boundaries, hyphens and extra rows need to be removed from the EX35 file.

• EX35 - Enrolment Statistics

The link below provides access to 2021 ABS Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) mapping data.

This data must be used by all councils when submitting final ward alterations to the NSWEC after April 2023. The AEC moved its enrolment system to 2021 SA1s in early 2023, and as such all boundary information after this date uses 2021 SA1 coding.

The files are available to download as both ESRI Shapefile and Geodatabase. Please ensure it is the Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) ASGS ED 2021 Digital Boundaries file that you download. Select either GDA2020 or GDA94 as appropriate to your system needs.

• ABS 2021 SA1 Boundaries

Councils are required under section 210A of the Local Government Act 1993 No.30 to consult the Electoral Commissioner before dividing a council’s area into wards. See below:

210A - Consultation, public notice and exhibition of proposals regarding ward boundaries 

1. Before dividing a council’s area into wards or altering a council’s ward boundaries, the council must

(a) consult the Electoral Commissioner and the Australian Statistician to ensure that, as far as practicable, the proposed boundaries of its wards correspond to the boundaries of appropriate districts (within the meaning of the Electoral Act 2017) and census districts, and to ensure that the proposed boundaries comply with section 210(7), and

2. Prepare and publicly exhibit a plan detailing the proposed division or alteration (the ward boundary plan).

To fulfil the consultation requirement of this section, councils are required to complete the spreadsheet provided below before public exhibition is commenced. Subsequently, councils are required to complete the spreadsheet provided below after ward alterations are approved by council.

The second submission provides the Commissioner with sufficient information to code electors correctly to the roll.

In both cases, the spreadsheet and accompanying plan files should be emailed to redistribution@elections.nsw.gov.au. Details on how to populate the spreadsheet report is contained in the “Help” tab.

• Ward Boundary Report spreadsheet (XLSX 0.1MB)

In addition to the Ward Boundary Report spreadsheet, councils must provide:

• a digital ward boundary file (in MapInfo Mid/Mif format or similar)

• a PDF clearly showing the LGA boundary, ward boundaries and 2021 SA1 boundaries.

Note: the information requested above is needed to assist the AEC to code electors correctly on the electoral roll. Provision of incomplete or inaccurate information will potentially result in electors being coded into incorrect wards and not constitute “consultation” with respect to the Local Government Act.

Councils should note that the Electoral Commissioner does NOT provide a consulting service to councils to fulfil their obligations under the Act. Councils are advised to seek the services of either Spatial Services or other suitably qualified organisation if they are unable to provide the required information to the NSWEC with internal resources.