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As a result, there is usually at least one politician who is left standing when the music stops.
Such is the brutal but necessary reality of redistribution.
Every electorate in the country is drawn to have a similar number of voters.
The lines are drawn by the Australian Electoral Commission, who operate independently of government or party influence.
But as people move around the country and the population grows and shrinks, it is necessary to redraw the lines to ensure everyone is represented fairly.
Because some states grow faster than others, often it means one electorate vanishes from one state in favour of a new electorate elsewhere.
This year Western Australia is losing a seat, and Victoria is gaining one.
The new seat is the electorate of Hawke, named for the former prime minister, and will likely be safely held by Labor based on how people in the area voted last time.
Meanwhile, the seat of Sturt in northern Perth has been abolished, forcing sitting Liberal member Vince Connelly to run in the Labor-held seat of Cowan.
That means before the election begins, the Coalition are already down a seat on their already slim margin.
But the redistribution adds complications not just for the members in seats that are abolished.
Every electorate changes boundaries to account for population changes. Sometimes it can be a difference of a few blocks, or a few towns. Electorates with growing populations shrink, while electorates that are shrinking in population have to take on more territory.
As a result, long-established local members may find themselves campaigning to voters who have never heard of them, in suburbs they may have never had cause to visit.
Source: 9News
