A proposal by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to rename the federal electorate of Franklin in honour of 19th-century Aboriginal warrior Tongerlongeter has been abandoned. The decision to keep the name Franklin, which the division has held since 1903, was announced Monday by the augmented Electoral Commission for Tasmania.
The commission stated the reversal was due to a lack of consensus within the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. In a media release, Australian Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said that while the panel considered the case for the new name “very strong,” public submissions revealed “a level of disagreement among Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations and individuals about the proposed name”. Mr. Pope also noted a “broad sentiment that further consultation was required.”
The proposal was first announced in mid-July as part of a significant redistribution of the electorate’s boundaries, which will now be located entirely on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River and along the south-east coast. The AEC noted at the time that Tongerlongeter was a Poredareme man from the Oyster Bay nation whose Country covered much of the new electoral area.
Soon after the proposal was announced, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) condemned the plan. According to reporting from The Guardian, TAC campaign coordinator Nala Mansell said it was “offensive and absurd” to use the name of a resistance leader to represent a “colonial political system he resisted”. The TAC also disputed the spelling of the name, suggesting it should be Tukalunginta, and said it should have been involved from the beginning, news outlets reported at the time.
The AEC said it had sought to engage with different Tasmanian Aboriginal groups before the announcement and that the formal submissions process was the required method for receiving input.
Both the Labor and Liberal parties had submitted against the change, arguing the name Franklin should be retained. An analysis of public submissions by political analyst Dr. Kevin Bonham, reported by AAP, showed that of 272 submissions, 234 were against the name change.
Commissioner Pope stated that while other Indigenous names like Mathinna and Woureddy were suggested, the legislated redistribution process did not allow time for more consultation. He said any potential changes to electorate names would be best considered at future redistributions. The decision means Tasmania remains the only Australian state or territory without a federal electorate named after an Indigenous person or word.