Allocating federal electorates across the states and territories is governed by what John Howard famously called "the iron law of arithmetic". But that doesn't always make it fair.
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Canberra's population grew by 11.2 per cent in the five years to December 2016, adding 40,000 new residents and bringing our city to 406,403 people.
The Australian Electoral Commission confirmed on Thursday that figure put Canberra over the required quota for three federal seats, prompting a redistribution and near-immediate preselection posturing by ACT Labor, Greens and Canberra Liberals rank-and-file.
Coming one year and one day after the 45th Parliament sat for the first time, the announcement is a welcome development for Canberra voters, under-represented in Parliament for too long.
More than 115 years after Federation, Tasmania's population of 519,050 people is guaranteed by the constitution to its five lower house representatives and 12 senators.
The ACT, with an only slightly smaller population than Tasmania's, gets two of each, as well as the Northern Territory which has roughly half as many residents as the ACT.
With any luck, continued above average population growth could see the third ACT seat survive future redistributions.
The ACT's gain comes as Victoria adds one electorate and South Australia loses one.
Overall, the changes will see the House of Representatives grow to 151 members, the first increase since 2001.
What comes next is a long process of redesigning the existing seats of Canberra and Fenner, likely to take months and include public submissions to the official redistribution committee.
The Parliamentary Library calculates most recent redistributions took between 13 and 14 months to complete, raising the prospect the next federal poll could be called before a full redistribution is complete.
This scenario would see the unprecedented use of the mini-redistribution powers established by the Commonwealth Electorate ACT, where the two electorates are split into three as closely as possible in just a few weeks.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr's decision to quickly rule himself out of a Labor preselection fight opens the field and will serve as a test of new party rules which allow any member paid up for one year or more the right to participate in preselection votes.
Labor's factions will divide up the spoils of the three seats, with the left expected to lay claim to the newest spot.
Currently it has Katy Gallagher's Senate seat, while the right has Gai Brodtmann's seat of Canberra. In Fenner, shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh is factionally unaligned.
The party's affirmative action rules could see a man chosen or even a messy move to replace a sitting MP.
Naming our new electorate is also a rare chance to honour a Canberran who has given outstanding service to the capital and the country.
In keeping with Electoral Commission guidelines, the name should honour Canberra's Indigenous community or go to a pioneering woman such as Parliament's first female speaker Joan Child, champion of the arts Betty Churcher or Gay Davidson, the first woman to lead a press gallery bureau.
For this week at least, all politics really is local.
