The carve up of Canberra's federal electorates to create a third lower house seat should be completed by July.
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Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers has wasted no time in starting the process to create new seats for the ACT and Victoria, while a planned redistribution in South Australia will see one seat abolished.
On Monday the commission published an indicative timetable for the ACT redistribution, naming July 13, 2018 as the deadline for the final determination of where the boundaries will be and what the electorate will be named.
Members of the public will be able to make suggestions about the redistribution in October and November, with feedback to the suggestions in November and December.
A proposed redistribution report will be released in April, with objections received and considered in May.
In June or July, the commission will announce the new electorates, before a final objection period is completed. The final decision is then presented to Parliament.
Last week, the commission confirmed Canberrans would vote in three lower house seats, coming as the House of Representatives grows by one seat to 151 members from the next election.
Mr Rogers said the formal commencement of the redistributions set a timeframe for the process.
He released a set of guidelines for members of the public wanting to be part of the process.
"The Electoral Commission met promptly on Friday to direct the commencement of redistributions following Thursday's determination," Mr Rogers said.
"Based on population changes, it was determined Victoria and the ACT would each gain one seat and South Australia would lose one seat at the next federal election."
He said independent redistribution committees will be appointed, with support by small secretariats of staff from the commission.
The electorates of Canberra and Fenner will become smaller in the process and could even be renamed.
Last week, ABC election analyst Antony Green predicted a relatively quick redistribution process in Canberra.
Mr Green said he expected shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh's seat of Fenner would be pushed north, with Gai Brodtmann's seat of Canberra centring on Lake Burley Griffin.
The new third seat would then take in Tuggeranong, making it stronger for the Liberal Party but likely still a Labor seat.
Mr Green predicted the new seat would take the name Namadgi, after the third ACT seat created in 1994 and abolished in 1997.
Population data from December showed the capital grew by 11.2 per cent in five years to 2016, adding an extra 40,000 new residents and bringing the ACT's population to 406,403 people.
The seat of Canberra, which includes the population of Norfolk Island, is the most populous in Australia, followed by Fenner.
Non-binding guidelines for the naming of federal electorates suggest they be named for prominent Australians who have died after giving outstanding service to the nation.
In naming new divisions, the commission favours the names of former prime ministers and Indigenous names, while names of geographical features can also be considered.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr rejected speculation he might contest the seat, saying he had more work to do in the territory Assembly.
