CANBERRA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Northern Territory (NT) is on the brink of losing a representative in the nation's parliament due to slow population growth.
Currently the NT has two Members of Parliament (MP) in the lower house of Australian parliament but that could be cut to one as the region's percentage share of the total Australian population shrinks.
The region almost lost a seat in 2004 when it dropped below the quota for two seats by 295 people but a last-minute change to the Electoral Act allowed for a margin of error but the Northern Institute's Tom Wilson said the buffer would not save them this time.
"If we continue with our low growth we'll be definitely losing that second seat within the next few years, and probably by the next (Electoral Commission) determination in about three years' time," Wilson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday.
If the second seat is lost it would leave one person to represent 250,000 people stretched over more than 134 million square kilometers including a series of remote islands.
"It's just a lunacy to think it would be appropriate to go back to one seat," said Warren Snowdon, the current MP for Lingiari, one of the NT's two electorates, and former MP for the entire territory from 1998 to 2001.
"I know what it's like to service all of the Northern Territory ... It's a huge task, and I think we'd be underselling the engagement of the Northern Territory community in politics, and they have a right to demand that they know and can talk to their local member."
