Port Waikato (New Zealand electorate)

Port Waikato
Single-member general constituency for the New ZealandHouse of Representatives
Formation	1996, 2020
Region	Waikato
Character	Rural
Term	3 years
Member for Port Waikato
Andrew Bayly [1] since 25 November 2023
Party	National
List MPs	Casey Costello (NZ First)
Previous MP	null
Party vote distribution

Port Waikato is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate which existed for four parliamentary terms from 1996 to 2008, and was recreated by the 2019/20 electoral redistribution ahead of the 2020 election. It was held by Bill Birch for one term, and by Paul Hutchison for the following three terms. From 2020, it was held by Andrew Bayly. All of these were members of the National Party.

During the campaign for the 2023 general election, the ACT Party candidate died. Only a poll for the party vote was held during this election; the electorate vote was determined in the 2023 Port Waikato by-election.

Population centres

The 1996 election was notable for the significant change of electorate boundaries, based on the provisions of the Electoral Act 1993. ^[2] Because of the introduction of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, the number of electorates had to be reduced, leading to significant changes. More than half of the electorates contested in 1996 were newly constituted, and most of the remainder had seen significant boundary changes. In total, 73 electorates were abolished, 29 electorates were newly created (including Port Waikato), and 10 electorates were recreated, giving a net loss of 34 electorates.

The Port Waikato electorate was formed from parts of the Franklin, Raglan, and Waikato electorates, all of which were abolished. ^[3] In its initial area, towns with more than one polling booth were Huntly, Pukekohe, Ngāruawāhia, Tuakau, and Waiuku. Localities with a single polling booth were Aka Aka, Awhitu, Bombay, Buckland, Glen Massey, Glen Murray, Glenbrook, Horotiu, Mauku, Meremere, Naike, Ohinewai, Onewhero, Orini, Otaua, Paerata, Pōkeno, Port Waikato, Pukekawa, Pukemiro, Pukeoware, Puni, Raglan, Rangiriri, Ruawaro, Taupiri, Te Ākau, Te Hoe, Te Kauwhata, Te Kohanga, Te Kowhai, Te Pahu, Te Uku, Waerenga, Waikaretu, Waikokowai, Waingaro, Waipipi, Waiterimu, Waitetuna, Whatawhata, and Whitikahu. ^[4]

History

Bill Birch was the first representative of the Port Waikato electorate following the 1996 election. Throughout his long parliamentary career, which started in 1972, Birch always represented the electorate in which the town of Pukekohe was located, where he had established a business prior to entering parliament. ^[5] When Birch retired at the 1999 election, he was succeeded by Paul Hutchison, a medical specialist. When the Port Waikato electorate was abolished in 2008, Hutchison transferred to the reconstituted Hunua electorate, which he represented until his retirement from politics at the 2014 election. ^{[6] [7]}

In the 2019/2020 boundary review, the Representation Commission recreated it. This was necessitated by significant population growth in South Auckland and the Waikato region. It was created out of the western portion of Hunua and the northwestern area of Waikato. ^[8] Of the nine creations at that redistribution, it was one of the four included in the initial proposals. ^[9]

In 2023, Neil Christensen, who was a candidate for the ACT Party, died during the advance voting period. This triggered the Port Waikato by-election for the candidate vote, which will be held on 25 November 2023. ^[10]

Members of Parliament

Key

  National   Labour

Election	Winner
1996 election		Bill Birch
1999 election		Paul Hutchison
2002 election
2005 election
(Electorate abolished 2008–2020; see Hunua)
2020 election		Andrew Bayly
2023 election	Cancelled due to death of a candidate [10]
2023 by-election		Andrew Bayly

List MPs

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

Key

Election	Winner
2008		Louisa Wall 1
2023		Andrew Bayly 2
		Casey Costello

¹Wall was elected from the party list in March 2008 following the resignation of Ann Hartley.

² Bayly was elected from the National's party list in the 2023 New Zealand general election after the cancellation of electorate vote in Port Waikato after the death of the ACT Party candidate. Bayly was elected as the seat's MP in the subsequent 2023 Port Waikato by-election.

Election results

2023 by-election

The following table shows the preliminary results of the by-election. ^[11]

2023 Port Waikato by-election
Notes: Blue background denotes the winner of the by-election. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election. Yellow background denotes the winner of the by-election, who was a list MP prior to the by-election. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Y Andrew Bayly	14,296	76.33	+37.59
	NZ First	Casey Costello	2,864	15.29	—
	NewZeal	Alfred Ngaro	409	2.18	+1.74
	Animal Justice	Anna Rippon	297	1.59	—
	NZ Loyal	Kim Turner	237	1.27	—
	DemocracyNZ	Scotty Bright	225	1.20	—
	Women's Rights	Jill Ovens	188	1.00	—
	Independent	Gordon Dickson	88	0.47	—
	Vision NZ	Vijay Sudhamalla	48	0.26	—
Informal votes			76	0.41	-1.28
	National hold	Majority	11,432	61.04	+50.36

2023 election

The electorate vote was cancelled due to the death of ACT candidate Neil Christensen. ^[12] Only the party vote is shown below, with candidates as originally nominated at the close of nominations.

2023 general election: Port Waikato [13]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Andrew Bayly		—	—	—	21,277	49.88	+13.71
	Labour	Gwendoline Keel		—	—	—	7,918	18.56	-21.56
	ACT	Neil Christensen		—	—	—	5,107	11.97	+1.33
	NZ First	Casey Costello		—	—	—	3,146	7.38	+4.46
	Green	Karla Buchanan		—	—	—	2,486	5.83	+2.50
	NZ Loyal	Kim Turner		—	—	—	552	1.29	—
	Opportunities						508	1.19	+0.27
	Te Pāti Māori						381	0.89	+0.57
	DemocracyNZ	Scotty Bright		—	—	—	232	0.54	—
	NewZeal						229	0.54	+0.21
	Legalise Cannabis						177	0.41	+0.05
	Freedoms NZ						150	0.35	+0.18
	Animal Justice	Anna Rippon		—	—	—	94	0.22	—
	New Conservative						66	0.15	-1.53
	Women's Rights						29	0.07	—
	Leighton Baker Party						25	0.06	—
	New Nation						22	0.05	—
	Vision NZ	Vijay Sudhamalla		—	—	—
Informal votes				—			258
Total valid votes				—			42,657

2020 election

2020 general election: Port Waikato [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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Andrew Bayly		15,635	38.74	—	14,756	36.17	—
	Labour	Baljit Kaur		11,322	28.06	—	16,369	40.12	—
	Heartland	Mark Ball		8,462	20.97	—	574	1.41	—
	Green	Bill Wilson		1,342	3.32	—	1,357	3.33	—
	ACT	Dave King		1,340	3.32	—	4,343	10.64	—
	New Conservative	Steven Senn		529	1.31	—	684	1.68	—
	Advance NZ	Jamie Macgregor		341	0.84	—	353	0.87	—
	Independent	Ian James Cummings		285	0.71	—
	Outdoors	Lucille Rutherfurd		209	0.52	—	49	0.12	—
	ONE	Ian Johnson		176	0.44	—	135	0.33	—
	Independent	Nick Pak		40	0.10	—
	NZ First						1,190	2.92	—
	Opportunities						374	0.92	—
	Legalise Cannabis						147	0.36	—
	Māori Party						130	0.32	—
	Sustainable NZ						26	0.06	—
	Vision NZ						22	0.05	—
	TEA						17	0.04	—
	Social Credit						7	0.02	—
Informal votes				675			269
Total valid votes				40,356			40,802
	National win new seat		Majority	4,313	10.68

1999 election

Refer to Candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election by electorate#Port_Waikato for a list of candidates.

1996 election

1996 general election: Port Waikato [4] [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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Bill Birch		12,529	43.80		10,809	37.58
	NZ First	John Forbes		5,527	19.32		4,996	17.37
	Labour	Terry Hughes		4,888	17.09		6,354	22.09
	Alliance	Francis Petchey		2,922	10.22		2,452	8.52
	ACT	Marlene Lamb		804	2.81		1,796	6.24
	Christian Coalition	Rick Hayward		733	2.56		1,211	4.21
	United NZ	Diane Colson		720	2.52		319	1.11
	McGillicuddy Serious	David Sutcliffe		397	1.39		122	0.42
	Natural Law	Rhonda-Lisa Comins		84	0.29		27	0.09
	Legalise Cannabis						441	1.53
	Progressive Green						64	0.22
	Animals First						51	0.18
	Green Society						25	0.09
	Superannuitants & Youth						23	0.08
	Mana Māori						21	0.07
	Ethnic Minority Party						18	0.06
	Conservatives						17	0.06
	Libertarianz						10	0.03
	Advance New Zealand						8	0.03
	Asia Pacific United						1	0.00
	Te Tawharau						0	0.00
Informal votes				266			105
Total valid votes				28,604			28,765
	National win new seat		Majority	7,002	24.48

References

1. "Port Waikato - Official Result". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 27 February 2025.
2. Electoral Act 1993 (Act 87). 17 August 1993. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
3. "Electorate Profile Port Waikato" (PDF). New Zealand Parliamentary Library. October 2005. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
4. "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Port Waikato, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 9 July 2015.
5. Birch, Bill (8 October 1999). "House: Valedictory of Rt. Hon. Sir William Birch" (Press release). Wellington. Scoop . Retrieved 13 June 2015.
6. Vance, Andrea (25 October 2013). "National MPs to retire". Stuff . Retrieved 28 October 2013.
7. "Dr Paul Hutchison". New Zealand Parliament . Retrieved 7 July 2015.
8. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
9. "What's happening now in the boundary review". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 28 January 2020.
10. Cheng, Derek (9 October 2023). "Election 2023: Act candidate Neil Christensen dies, by-election to be held for Port Waikato". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 9 October 2023.
11. "Port Waikato - Official Result". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 30 August 2024.
12. "ACT Party Port Waikato candidate Neil Christensen dies". RNZ. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
13. New Zealand Electoral Commission. "Port Waikato – Official Result". electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
14. New Zealand Electoral Commission (6 November 2020). "Port Waikato – Official Result". Electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
15. "Part III – Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
16. "Part III – Party Lists of unsuccessful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.