A federal Labor MP is disappointed with a decision by the electoral commission to abolish her seat before the next election.
The Australian Electoral Commission recommended getting rid of the inner-Melbourne seat of Higgins as part of a redistribution of electorates.
The redistribution would also establish a new seat in Western Australia honouring a prisoner of war.
The electorate is held by Michelle Ananda-Rajah, who won the seat from the Liberals at the 2022 election with a slim two per cent margin.
"As the first Labor member for Higgins, I am obviously disappointed by today's announcement of the draft boundaries from the AEC," she said.
"I remain as committed as ever to represent this great electorate, a seat of two former prime ministers.
"This is a draft proposal and there is now a process to go through, we will have more to say once that process is complete."
Under the proposal, Higgins will be absorbed into the surrounding seats of Chisholm, Hotham, Kooyong, Macnamara and Melbourne.
Politics lecturer at Monash University Zareh Ghazarian said the redistribution was a common occurrence, but had created uncertainty.
"The current Labor MP, Michelle Ananda-Rajah, is now in a state of political limbo as she may have to find another electorate to contest, or try her luck in the Senate," Dr Ghazarian said.
"It also means that Labor's achievement in 2022 by winning this seat will be short lived and the party will be down one seat in Victoria if the proposal was to be adopted."
A new electorate will be set up in WA because of the state's growing population.
The commission has proposed a new seat called Bullwinkel in the Perth hills.
The seat will be 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.
She later became a director of nursing and worked for the recognition of military personnel and victims of war crimes.
The House of Representatives will reduce in size at the next election from 151 to 150 seats.
While WA will gain a seat at the next poll, due to be held by May 2025, Victoria and NSW will lose a seat.
A decision of which NSW seat will be abolished will be made within weeks.
Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said a change in population was the reason why Higgins was being abolished.
"Under the proposal some significant changes would occur, with the boundaries of Victorian divisions being amended to accommodate the decrease," he said.
A final decision on the new electoral boundaries will be made later in the year.
