Labor backbencher Michelle Ananda-Rajah faces political oblivion after the electoral commission confirmed her inner-Melbourne seat of Higgins will be abolished at the next federal election.

After months of consultation, the Australian Electoral Commission on Thursday finalised electoral boundaries in Victoria and Western Australia, where a new seat of Bullwinkel in the Perth hills will be contested.

The seat was named after Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, the sole survivor of the 1942 Bangka Island massacre of Australian nurses during World War II and a prisoner of war for more than three years.

The names & boundaries of federal divisions in WA have been finalised!

As initially proposed in May, a new Division of Bullwinkel will be created. However, six divisions will have their boundaries changed from what was initially proposed.

➡️ https://t.co/lO8YHMrrhm pic.twitter.com/ZcQBycPkd2

— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) September 5, 2024

The redistribution comes as a result of WA’s growing population, while population growth in Melbourne’s inner suburbs has slowed relative to the rest of the country.

The suburbs previously making up Higgins will be swallowed up by surrounding electorates, with seats in Melbourne’s suburban fringe shrinking in geographic size as their population swells.

Ananda-Rajah won Higgins – the seat of former Liberal luminaries such as long-serving federal treasurer Peter Costello and former PM Harold Holt – from the Liberals at the 2022 election with a slim 2 per cent margin.

Its abolition also means voters will be unable to cast their ballots for independents Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock, who intended to run for the seat together as part of a joint ticket.

Following consultation, the AEC made minor alterations to the draft redistribution, including in the divisions of Ballarat, Bendigo and Chisholm in Victoria and Canning, Cowan, Fremantle and Tangney in WA.

Given the changes were not considered to be significant, no further input from the public will be sought.

The AEC said it would likely finalise electoral boundaries in NSW, where the independent-held seat of North Sydney is set to be abolished, by the end of next week.

-AAP