The abolition of an inner-Melbourne federal electorate will be a backwards step for representation and diversity in parliament, the seat's MP says.
The Australian Electoral Commission confirmed on Thursday it would abolish the Victorian seat of Higgins due to population changes at the next election.
The electorate's representative, Labor MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah, hit out at the decision for Higgins to be scrapped, while indicating she will continue to serve the community.
"This leaves the commonwealth parliament more male and less culturally diverse at a time when under-represented people need to be seen and heard," she said.
"In the evolving story of our multicultural nation, this backward step will reverberate in our schools, suburbs and workplaces."
Ms Ananda-Rajah won the seat in 2022 and became the first Labor MP to hold the electorate.
Former MPs for the Melbourne-based electorate include two former prime ministers - Harold Holt and John Gorton - as well as the longest-serving federal treasurer Peter Costello.
Ms Ananda-Rajah did not indicate what her political future would be after the abolition of her electorate, but said she was proud of her accomplishments.
"As a 12-year-old new arrival to Australia, I never dared to dream that I would one day sit in the people's house," she said.
"I thank the people of Higgins and my party for the great honour of serving in our nation's parliament."
The redistribution from the electoral commission will also lead to the creation of the new seat of Bullwinkel in the Perth hills.
The seat was named after Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, who was the sole survivor of the 1942 Bangka Island massacre of Australian nurses during World War II and was a prisoner of war for more than three years.
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.
The electoral commission said it would finalise redistribution in NSW later in September.
A draft proposal put forward by the commission recommended the electorate of North Sydney, held by independent MP Kylea Tink, be abolished.
