Elections for both Houses of the Parliament of New South Wales are held on the fourth Saturday in March every four years. The fixed parliamentary term is set out in the New South Wales Constitution Act 1902 (the New South Wales Constitution). Voters vote for each of the two Houses of Parliament and each has a different electoral arrangement and method of election.
Legislative Assembly
The State of New South Wales is divided into 93 Legislative Assembly electoral districts. Each electoral district is represented in Parliament by a Member of the Legislative Assembly.
State electoral district boundaries are determined by a distribution process which provides for an equal number of electors in each electoral district, allowing for a maximum of 10% variation more or less than the average.
A redistribution is carried out
- when the number of Members of the Legislative Assembly changes;
- after every second New South Wales general election;
- when more than a quarter of the electoral districts do not have an equal number of voters (within a margin of 5% more or less); or
- 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 New South Wales Electoral Commissioner; and
- the Surveyor-General of New South Wales.
A redistribution is required to be conducted after the 2019 election.
Legislative Council
The Legislative Council (Upper House) does not have separate electoral boundaries, Members are elected on a proportional basis across the whole state, as though the State were a single electoral district.
