Abel urges govt to beef up boundaries commission

THE electoral boundaries commission (EBC) needs to be operational to allow for new electorates to be approved allowing for the fairer distribution of funds such as the district services improvement programme (DSIP).
Alotau MP Charles Abel said this during Friday’s grievance debate in Parliament.
He said districts were starting to struggle with mass migration and population increase requiring an adjustment to the distribution of DSIP funds.
Abel said larger districts needed more funding.
He said population growth and migration had made some electorates harder to maintain then before and there was a need to adjust the distribution of funds and the creation of new electorates.
Abel said the K10 million allocated to all districts was not adequate for a district’s needs and a review was needed.
He said the terms of reference needed to be clarified in order for only those boundaries that needed to be changed.
Abel said the EBC needed to be funded in order for it to perform its role.
He also cautioned for the need to do the review properly, following guidelines to ensure emphasis was focused on only those electorates that needed change. He said Parliament and the EBC needed to look at five to 10 districts following strict criteria as the cost factor also needed to be taken into account.
“We should address electorates that are different,” he said.
“We provide a cap because, obviously, you cannot keep adding the number of leaders onto the floor of this House. It will not lead to quality governors, it will just crowding. Move the boundaries to retain equality between the electorates.”