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| Turnout | 22,027 (89.99%) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Timaru by-election of 1985 was a by-election for the electorate of Timaru during the term of the 40th New Zealand Parliament. It was triggered by the death of Sir Basil Arthur (who had held the seat since 1962) on 1 May 1985. Sir Basil was Speaker of the House, and had inherited the rank of baronet from his father in 1949.
The by-election was held on 15 June 1985 and was won by Maurice McTigue of the National Party with a majority of 1,492 votes.
Ten candidates were nominated for the Labour Party nomination: [1]
The selection meeting of around 220 party members was held. The selection committee of Helen Clark MP, Fred Anderson (party former executive), Tony Timms (general secretary), Alan Aldridge (electorate chairman), Roly Anderson (electorate vice-chairman), and Francis Griffin (electorate executive) deliberated for over four hours. They selected Walker as the candidate. She was the daughter of former Timaru City councillor and lawyer, Gordon Walker, and was chairman of the Labour Party's women's council as well as secretary of the Labour's Bay of Plenty Regional Council. [2]
At least four men were nominated were nominated for the National Party candidacy. They were: [3]
McTigue was chosen via a ballot a selection meeting by party members. [4]
The New Zealand Party had four candidates vying for selections.
Greenslade was selected by party members at a selection meeting. [4]
Bruce Beetham, the leader of the Social Credit Party who had lost his seat of Rangitikei, was offered to stand in the seat. Beetham did not rule out standing, but inferred it unlikely and would do so only if Social Credit's previous candidate in the seat was unwilling to stand again. [5] Lynley Simmons, a district commissioner of apprenticeships at the Department of Labour, was selected for the by-election. She had been Social Credit's candidate for Timaru in 1981 and 1984. [6]
The Values Party selected Jamie Luck, a schoolteacher, as their candidate. He was a founding member of the party and was its spokesman on international affairs. [7] Alan Falloon, a geologist and former Labour Party member, stood for what he called a new Labour Party whose aim was to "create a type of trade union structure which truly represents the interests of the individual." Previously he had unsuccessfully sought Labour candidacy for Papanui and Christchurch Central. He was a distant relation to John Falloon, a National MP. [8]
David Lange recalled a meeting during the by-election campaign when Labour general secretary Tony Timms manhandled a noisy heckler out of the building. He said that the Labour candidate Jan Walker was a good lawyer (and was later a Family Court judge), but that the Labour Party organisation (i.e. head office) insisted on the selection of a candidate who "did not live in Timaru and her opinions, and even her appearance, were at odds with the conservative character of the electorate"; although Jim Anderton predictably (and publicly) blamed the defeat on "the government's abandonment of traditional Labour policy". [9]
New Zealand Party founder Bob Jones (who had already achieved his primary goal of ending the Muldoon government) was disappointed by his party's performance in the by-election came to the decision to put the party into recess.
The by-election was the last time the Social Credit Party name was used before the party renamed itself as the Democratic Party later in the year. [10]
Two polls were conducted by The Timaru Herald . [11]
| Poll | Date [nb 1] | Maurice McTigue | Jan Walker | Bill Greenslade | Lynley Simmons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Timaru Herald | 30 May 1985 | 39.8 | 19.3 | 10.8 | 6.3 |
| The Timaru Herald | 13 June 1985 | 31.9 | 14.8 | 10.8 | 6.8 |
The following table gives the election results:
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | Maurice McTigue | 9,371 | 42.67 | +4.22 | |
| Labour | Jan Walker | 7,879 | 35.88 | ||
| NZ Party | Bill Greenslade | 2,998 | 13.65 | ||
| Social Credit | Lynley Simmons | 1,628 | 7.41 | +2.10 | |
| Values | Jamie Luck | 54 | 0.25 | ||
| Independent Labour | Alan Falloon | 31 | 0.14 | ||
| Majority | 1,492 | 6.79 | |||
| Informal votes | 66 | 0.29 | |||
| Turnout | 22,027 | 89.99 | −3.19 | ||
| Registered electors | 24,476 | ||||
| National gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
The New Zealand Social Credit Party was a political party that was New Zealand's third party from the 1950s to the 1980s. It won representation in the New Zealand House of Representatives, holding one seat at times between 1966 and 1981, and two seats from 1981 to 1987. While Social Credit once had significant support, particularly as a protest vote, it was disadvantaged by first-past-the-post voting as it had no geographically concentrated vote. Its most identifiable leaders were Vernon Cracknell (1963-70), who served just one term in parliament, and the household name Bruce Beetham, who rebuilt the party into a significant political force. At its zenith under Beetham in 1981, Social Credit achieved an unprecedented 20.7% of the vote.
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Bruce Craig Beetham was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s.
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The Christchurch Central by-election of 1979 was a by-election during the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It was prompted by the death of Bruce Barclay, a Labour Party MP, and resulted in Geoffrey Palmer, also of the Labour Party, being elected to replace him for the seat of Christchurch Central. Palmer would eventually go on to become Prime Minister. The by-election was somewhat embarrassing for the National Party, whose candidate was pushed into third place by Social Credit's Terry Heffernan.
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Maurice Patrick McTigue is a former New Zealand politician of the National Party. He was a Cabinet Minister in the Fourth National Government from 1990 to 1993, holding the Employment portfolio, among others. He represented the Timaru electorate in Parliament from 1985, when he won the by-election after the death of Sir Basil Arthur, having stood against him in the 1984 general election. He lost the seat to Jim Sutton in the 1993 general election.
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The Hurunui by-election 1961 was a by-election held in the Hurunui electorate in North Canterbury during the term of the 33rd New Zealand Parliament, on 10 June 1961.
The Buller by-election 1962 was a by-election held in the Buller electorate in the West Coast during the term of the 33rd New Zealand Parliament, on 7 July 1962.
The Timaru by-election 1962 was a by-election held in the Timaru electorate in Canterbury during the term of the 33rd New Zealand Parliament, on 21 July 1962.
The Riccarton by-election 1956 was a by-election held in the Riccarton electorate in Christchurch during the term of the 31st New Zealand Parliament following the death of the Labour Party incumbent. The by-election, held on 27 October 1956, was won by Mick Connelly, also of the Labour Party.
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