State Electoral Divisions
State Electoral Divisions (SED) are Mesh Block approximations of state electoral districts as defined by state and territory electoral commissions. A state electoral district is an area legally prescribed for the purpose of returning one or more members to the state or territory lower houses of parliament, or the relevant equivalent. Mesh Block approximations of state and territory electoral district boundaries do not match official electoral districts and should only be used for statistical purposes.
State Electoral Divisions are based on the version of state electoral districts current at the time of creation. State Electoral Divisions may change as state or territory commissions redistribute their electoral districts. When this occurs, State Electoral Divisions will be updated annually. The table below lists which redistribution has been included in the most recent State Electoral Divisions release.
| State/Territory | Redistribution | Effective from |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | August 2021 | March 2023 state election |
| Victoria | October 2021 | November 2022 state election |
| Queensland (a) | June 2017 | October 2017 state election |
| South Australia | December 2024 | March 2026 state election |
| Western Australia | December 2023 | March 2025 state election |
| Tasmania | September 2018 | May 2021 state election |
| Northern Territory | December 2023 | August 2024 territory election |
| Australian Capital Territory | September 2023 | October 2024 territory election |
- Queensland finalised a redistribution of state electoral districts in June 2026, which did not meet the timeframe for inclusion in State Electoral Divisions 2026. As a result, the boundaries in the 2026 release approximate the previous 2017 redistribution. The June 2026 redistribution will be included in the 2027 State Electoral Division update.
There are 452 State Electoral Divisions covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. This includes 19 non-spatial special purpose codes. More information is available in the SED coding structure section below.
SED design criteria
State Electoral Divisions (SED) are approximations where each Mesh Block is allocated to a single State Electoral Division. Where a Mesh Block crosses two or more state electoral district boundaries, it is generally allocated to the State Electoral Division where the largest proportion of the population is located.
The Other Territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, Norfolk Island, and Jervis Bay are allocated to the Unclassified (OT) State Electoral Division.
SED name criteria
State Electoral Division (SED) names are the same as those allocated by the electoral commission of each state and territory. In Victoria and Tasmania, additional identifiers are used to represent the upper house districts. These are added in brackets after the lower house electoral district name, for example, Broadmeadows (Northern Metropolitan).
SED coding structure
State Electoral Divisions (SED) are identified by unique 5-digit codes consisting of a 1-digit State or Territory identifier and a 4-digit State Electoral Division identifier. State Electoral Division identifiers are unique within each state and territory and are assigned alphabetically by name. The coding structure varies between states and territories, to reflect their different electoral arrangements.
New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia each have two houses of parliament. However, their upper houses are single constituencies and therefore there are no sub-state boundaries. Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have only one house of parliament. For these six states and territories, State Electoral Division identifiers are allocated alphabetically by name, beginning from 0001, as shown in the table below.
| S/T | SED | SED name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0001 | Albury |
| 1 | 0002 | Auburn |
| 1 | 0003 | Badgerys Creek |
| 4 | 0001 | Adelaide |
| 4 | 0002 | Badcoe |
| 4 | 0003 | Black |
Victoria has two houses of parliament, with its upper house formed by combining lower house state electoral districts. For Victoria, the first two digits of the State Electoral Division identifier are allocated alphabetically by lower house district name, beginning at 01. The final two digits are allocated alphabetically by upper house district name, also beginning at 01, as shown in the table below.
| S/T | Lower House | Upper house | SED name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 03 | 01 | Bass (Eastern Victoria) |
| 2 | 28 | 01 | Evelyn (Eastern Victoria) |
Tasmania also has two houses of parliament, with defined upper house districts. Unlike those in Victoria, they are not formed by combining lower house state electoral districts. Tasmanian State Electoral Division identifiers are allocated in the same way as Victoria. However, upper house districts do not aggregate from the lower house districts. Therefore, more than one code may cover a single lower house district as shown in the table below.
| S/T | Lower House | Upper house | SED name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 03 | 02 | Clark (Elwick) |
| 6 | 03 | 03 | Clark (Hobart) |
Where significant boundary changes have occurred, the codes may not match those used in previous years. Therefore, when interpreting change, State Electoral Division codes and names should be used together. Geographic correspondence files for converting data from ASGS Edition 3 (2021) to ASGS Edition 4 (2026) are available in the access and download section of this publication.
Non-spatial special purpose codes are included as balancing items. Mesh Blocks allocated to these codes are not part of officially designated state electoral districts:
- 9797 for people coded to Migratory, Offshore, and Shipping Mesh Blocks.
- 9494 for people coded to No usual address Mesh Blocks.
- ZZZZZ for people coded to Outside Australia.
Special purpose codes are described in more detail in the Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas section of this publication.