Helensville (New Zealand electorate)

Last updated

Helensville
Former Single-member constituency
for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Helensville electorate, 2014.svg
Location of within Auckland
Region Auckland
Former constituency
Created1978 (original), 2002 (recreated)
Abolished1984 (abolished), 2020 (re-abolished)
Last MP Chris Penk
Party National

Helensville was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the Auckland region, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives. The electorate was first established for the 1978 election, was abolished in 1984, and then reinstated for the 2002 election. The seat was won and held by John Key through his term as prime minister. Chris Penk of the National Party held the seat from the 2017 general election until its abolition in 2020, when it was replaced with the new Kaipara ki Mahurangi electorate, which Penk also retained.

Contents

Population centres

The 1977 electoral redistribution, initiated by Robert Muldoon's National Government, was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886. [1] As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill in an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand's population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island. [2] The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, with 22 electorates being abolished, and 27 (including Helensville) being newly created or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election. [3]

In the 1983 electoral redistribution, the Helensville electorate was abolished, and its area went to the West Auckland and Rodney electorates. [4] Helensville was re-established in time for the 2002 election in response to continued high population growth in and around Auckland. It was formed from the northern flank of the Waitakere electorate with the addition of areas from the Rodney electorate around its southern boundary.

Helensville covers an area of the rapidly growing northern Auckland urban fringe, drawing Helensville and Kumeū from the former Rodney District, moving south to take in Paremoremo, Greenhithe and Albany from the former North Shore City, and finally tacking west to include Whenuapai, Hobsonville and West Harbour from the former Waitakere City.

The boundaries of the electorate changed significantly in the 2019/20 boundary review. Its northern boundary moved northward to become the same as the boundary between the Northland and Auckland local government regions, taking in part of the Northland electorate and all that part of Rodney electorate north of Waiwera, which is, by area, most of Rodney. On the other hand, an area running from Dairy Flat south to Paremoremo moved into Rodney, which is renamed the Whangaparāoa electorate. Helensville also gained the suburb of Westgate from the Upper Harbour electorate. It lost its southern section around the Waitakere Ranges to New Lynn. It was initially proposed that the electorate would keep the name Helensville, but after public submissions it became the Kaipara ki Mahurangi electorate. [5]

History

National Party electorate office at Huapai in 2009, during John Key's time John Key electorate office.jpg
National Party electorate office at Huapai in 2009, during John Key's time

In the 1978 election, the Helensville electorate was won by Dail Jones, who had been MP for the Waitemata electorate since the 1975 election. [6] When the Helensville electorate was abolished in 1984, Jones stood in the West Auckland electorate in the 1984 election but was defeated by the Labour Party candidate, Jack Elder. [7]

The Helensville electorate was re-established for the 2002 election. Newcomer John Key beat sitting Waitakere MP Brian Neeson to the National Party nomination and, in a tight year for his party, won the electorate by 1,705 votes in a split field when a disgruntled Neeson stood as an independent. At the same election, Dail Jones contested the electorate for New Zealand First. Helensville was partly rural and was wealthy beyond the national average, making it a safe National electorate, and Key was returned easily in 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014 with large majorities. Key became National Party leader in 2006 and prime minister in 2008. In December 2016, he announced that he would retire from politics before the 2017 general election. [8] He was replaced as Helensville MP by Chris Penk.

Members of Parliament

Key

  National   NZ First   Labour   ACT   Green

ElectionWinner
1978 election Dail Jones
1981 election
Electorate abolished in 1984 (see West Auckland and Rodney)
2002 election John Key
2005 election
2008 election
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election Chris Penk
(Electorate abolished in 2020; see Kaipara ki Mahurangi)

List MPs

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Helensville electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

ElectionWinner
2002 election Dail Jones
2008Dail Jones1
2008 election Darien Fenton
David Garrett 2
2009 David Clendon 3
2014 election Kennedy Graham

1 Jones entered Parliament in February 2008 following the resignation of Brian Donnelly
2 Garrett resigned in September 2010, and his list position was taken by Hilary Calvert
3 Clendon entered Parliament in October 2009 following the resignation of Sue Bradford

Election results

2017 election

2017 general election: Helensville [9]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
National Chris Penk 21,70456.12−9.0521,95855.83−2.56
Labour Kurt Taogaga7,09618.35+5.6610,01225.45+12.95
Green Hayley Holt 6,75817.47+4.752,9717.55−6.00
NZ First Helen Peterson2,4036.212,7957.11−0.25
ACT Alex Evans2840.73-0.143190.81+0.07
Conservative  870.22−4.56
Opportunities  7992.03
Legalise Cannabis  1120.28−0.17
Māori Party  1050.27−0.27
United Future  270.07−0.19
Outdoors  200.05
Ban 1080  200.05−0.09
Mana Party  130.03
People's Party  120.03
Internet  90.02
Democrats  70.02−0.04
Informal votes26467
Total Valid votes38,67639,333
National holdMajority14,60837.77−14.69

2014 election

2014 general election: Helensville [10]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
National Green check.svgY John Key 22,72065.17−9.2120,68958.39−7.40
Green Kennedy Graham 4,43312.72+5.364,80113.55+4.91
Labour Corie Haddock4,42512.69−1.454,43012.50−1.85
Internet Laila Harré 1,3153.77+3.77
Conservative Deborah Dougherty9632.76−0.071,6924.78+1.27
Independent Penny Bright 4201.20+1.20
ACT Phelan Pirrie3020.87+0.362620.74−0.65
Independent Brendan Whyte740.21+0.21
NZ First  2,6087.36+2.76
Internet Mana  3380.95+0.78 [lower-alpha 1]
Māori Party  1920.54+0.02
Legalise Cannabis  1610.45−0.04
United Future  930.26−0.20
Ban 1080  480.14+0.14
Democrats  230.06+0.04
Independent Coalition  130.04+0.04
Civilian  80.02+0.02
Focus  30.01+0.01
Informal votes20873
Total Valid votes34,86035,434
Turnout 35,50782.29+5.65
National holdMajority18,28752.46−7.78

2011 election

2011 general election: Helensville [11]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
National Green check.svgY John Key 26,01174.38+0.7723,55865.79+2.09
Labour Jeremy Greenbrook-Held4,94514.14-2.975,13814.35-4.11
Green Jeanette Elley2,5757.36+1.413,0948.64+3.74
Conservative Richard Drayson9412.69+2.691,2583.51+3.51
Legalise Cannabis Adrian McDermott3190.91+0.911740.49+0.16
ACT Nick Kearney1800.510–1.724991.39-5.31
NZ First  1,6484.60+2.06
Māori Party  1860.52+0.03
United Future  1630.46-0.33
Mana  600.17+0.17
Libertarianz  190.05-0.004
Democrats  80.02+0.001
Alliance  40.01-0.04
Informal votes574198
Total Valid votes34,97135,809
National holdMajority21,06660.24+3.74

Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 46,983 [12]

2008 election

2008 general election: Helensville [13] [14]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
National Green check.svgY John Key 26,77173.61+9.5123,55963.69+8.60
Labour Darien Fenton 6,22417.11-9.776,82618.45-9.52
Green David Clendon 2,1665.96+5.791,8144.90+0.87
ACT David Garrett 8112.23+1.102,4816.71+4.36
United Future Angela Lovelock3090.85-0.822890.78-1.69
Libertarianz Peter Osborne890.24210.06+0.01
NZ First  9402.54-3.34
Progressive  1950.53-0.28
Family Party  1820.49
Māori Party  1820.49+0.08
Bill and Ben  1700.46
Legalise Cannabis  1310.35+0.16
Kiwi  1050.28
Pacific  450.12
Alliance  190.05+0.02
Workers Party  90.02
Democrats  80.02±0.00
RAM  80.02
RONZ  40.01±0.00
Informal votes251110
Total Valid votes36,37036,988
Turnout 37,29882.27-0.58
National holdMajority20,54756.49


2005 election

2005 general election: Helensville [14] [15] [16]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
National Green check.svgY John Key 22,00864.10+29.9219,22455.09+29.28
Labour Judy Lawley9,23026.88-0.249,76127.97-2.86
NZ First Dail Jones 1,4004.08-5.452,0515.88-6.06
United Future Andrea Deeth5731.67-2.478632.47-5.82
ACT Stephen Langford-Tebby3891.138212.35-10.26
Māori Party Awa Hudson3591.051420.41
Progressive Julian Aaron3180.93-0.022180.81-0.08
Direct Democracy Helen Koster580.17110.03
Green  1,4074.03-1.99
Destiny  1510.43
Legalise Cannabis  660.19-0.21
Christian Heritage  480.14-0.85
Libertarianz  160.05
Alliance  90.03-1.00
Democrats  80.02
Family Rights  80.02
99 MP  50.01
RONZ  50.01
One NZ  40.01-0.04
Informal votes253110
Total Valid votes34,33534,896
Turnout 35,22282.85+3.21
National holdMajority12,77837.22+31.26

2002 election

2002 general election: Helensville [15] [17]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
National John Key 9,77534.187,52425.81
Labour Gary Russell8,07028.218,98830.83
Independent Brian Neeson 5,64419.73
NZ First Dail Jones 2,7259.533,48111.94
United Future Andrea Deeth1,1844.142,4168.29
Alliance Helen MacKinlay5812.032991.03
Christian Heritage David Simpkin3501.222880.99
Progressive Clare Dickson2730.952720.93
ACT  3,67612.61
Green  1,7556.02
ORNZ  3131.07
Legalise Cannabis  1180.40
One NZ  150.05
Mana Māori  100.03
NMP  20.01
Informal votes32778
Total Valid votes28,60229,157
Turnout 29,42879.64
National win new seatMajority1,7055.96

1981 election

1981 general election: Helensville [18]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Dail Jones 8,242 35.85 -4.58
Labour Jack Elder 8,02634.91+0.71
Social Credit David Howes6,71829.22
Majority2160.93-5.29
Turnout 22,98689.05+19.21
Registered electors 25,812

1978 election

1978 general election: Helensville [18]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Dail Jones 7,783 40.43
Labour Jack Elder 6,58434.20
Social Credit Chris Lynch4,51023.43
Values Dennis Worley3701.92
Majority1,1996.22
Turnout 19,24769.84
Registered electors 27,558

Table footnotes

  1. 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.

Notes

  1. McRobie 1989, pp. 8–9, 51, 119.
  2. McRobie 1989, p. 119.
  3. McRobie 1989, pp. 115–120.
  4. McRobie 1989, pp. 118–123.
  5. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
  6. Wilson 1985, p. 208.
  7. Wilson 1985, pp. 194, 208.
  8. "John Key resigns as Prime Minister of New Zealand, cites family reasons for leaving". The New Zealand Herald . 5 December 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  9. "Official Count Results – Helensville (2017)". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  10. Electoral Commission (10 October 2014). "Official Count Results – Helensville" . Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  11. Helensville results, 2011
  12. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 4 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  13. Election results 2008 Archived 11 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  14. 1 2 "Helensville:Electoral Profile". New Zealand Parliament. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  15. 1 2 "Electorate Profile Helensville" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament. 1 November 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  16. Election result 2005 [ permanent dead link ]
  17. "Election results 2002". Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  18. 1 2 Norton 1988, pp. 242.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 New Zealand general election</span> General election in New Zealand

The 1978 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to elect the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Robert Muldoon, retain office, but the opposition Labour Party won the largest share of the vote. Reorganisation of the enrolment system caused major problems with the electoral rolls, which left a legacy of unreliable information about voting levels in this election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1969 New Zealand general election</span> General election in New Zealand

The 1969 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of Parliament's 36th term. It saw the Second National Government headed by Prime Minister Keith Holyoake of the National Party win a fourth consecutive term. This is the most recent election where an incumbent government won a fourth term in office.

Albany was a New Zealand electorate. It was located in north Auckland, and named after the suburb of Albany. It existed from 1978 to 1984, and then was reinstated in 1987 before its final abolition in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney (New Zealand electorate)</span> Former electorate in Auckland, New Zealand

Rodney was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives. The last MP for Rodney was Mark Mitchell of the National Party. He held this position from 2011 until the electorate was replaced with Whangaparāoa in 2020. Mitchell stood for and won that seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Te Atatū (New Zealand electorate)</span> Electoral district in Auckland, New Zealand

Te Atatū is a parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Te Atatū is Phil Twyford of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waitakere (New Zealand electorate)</span> Former electorate in Auckland, New Zealand

Waitakere was a parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The electorate was first formed for the 1946 election and existed until 2014, with breaks from 1969 to 1978 and from 1987 to 1993. The last MP for Waitakere was Paula Bennett of the National Party, who had held this position since the 2008 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whangārei (New Zealand electorate)</span> Electoral district in Northland, New Zealand

Whangārei is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that was first created for the 1972 election. The electorate is usually a reasonably safe National seat, and was held for long periods by John Banks (1981–1999) and Phil Heatley (1999–2014), before being won in the 2014 election by Shane Reti. In the 2020 election Reti narrowly lost the seat to Labour's Emily Henderson. Reti would reclaim the seat at the 2023 election with a huge majority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birkenhead (New Zealand electorate)</span> Former electorate in Auckland, New Zealand

Birkenhead was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate on Auckland's North Shore from 1969 to 1996, when it was absorbed into the Northcote electorate.

Waitemata was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, from 1871 to 1946, and then from 1954 to 1978. It was represented by 18 members of parliament.

Titirangi is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It existed from 1987 to 2002, with a break from 1996 to 1999. It was represented by four members of parliament, with three of them from Labour and one from National.

Hobson is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It existed from 1946 to 1978 and then from 1987 to 1996, and was represented by five Members of Parliament, four of whom represented the National Party. It is notable for returning a member of the Social Credit Party in the 1966 election, as no other candidate not aligned with either Labour or National had been elected to Parliament since 1943. With the re-drawing of boundaries in the first MMP election in 1996, the seat was absorbed into the Northland and Whangarei electorates.

West Auckland is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate on the western outskirts of Auckland, created for the 1984 election from part of the former Helensville electorate. The electorate was abolished for the 1993 election, and split between Henderson and Waitakere electorates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henderson (New Zealand electorate)</span> Former electorate in Auckland, New Zealand

Henderson is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, from 1969 to 1978 and then from 1993 to 1996.

Kaipara is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate north of Auckland that existed from 1902 to 1946, and from 1978 to 1996.

Ponsonby was a parliamentary electorate in Auckland, New Zealand from 1887 to 1890 and from 1946 to 1963. The Ponsonby electorate was represented by two Members of Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Harbour (New Zealand electorate)</span> Electoral district in Auckland, New Zealand

Upper Harbour is a parliamentary electorate in Auckland that returns one member to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was first formed for the 2014 election. The seat was won by National's Paula Bennett in both the 2014 and 2017 election. The seat is currently held by Labour's Vanushi Walters, who won the seat in the 2020 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelston (New Zealand electorate)</span> Electoral district in Auckland, New Zealand

Kelston is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that returns one member to the House of Representatives. It was first formed for the 2014 election and was won by Labour's Carmel Sepuloni, who has held the electorate since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Penk</span> New Zealand politician (born 1980)

Christopher Aidan Penk is a New Zealand politician who has been a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party since 2017.

Whangaparāoa is an electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was first created for the 2020 New Zealand general election and is represented by Mark Mitchell of the National Party; Mitchell had previously been the representative for the now abolished Rodney electorate.

Kaipara ki Mahurangi is an electorate to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was created for the 2020 election.

References

36°40′47″S174°26′58″E / 36.6797°S 174.4494°E / -36.6797; 174.4494