Rangitata (New Zealand electorate)

Last updated

Rangitata
Single-member constituency
for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Rangitata electorate, 2014.svg
Location of Rangitata within Canterbury
Region Canterbury
Area6,809.61 km2 (2,629.21 sq mi)
Current constituency
Created2008
Current MP James Meager
Party National

Rangitata is an electorate in the South Island of New Zealand. It first existed for two parliamentary terms in the late 19th century and was re-established for the 2008 general election. It largely replaced the Aoraki electorate, but included parts of the Rakaia electorate as well.

Contents

It is held by James Meager of the National Party following the 2023 general election. Previously it was held by Jo Luxton of the Labour Party following the 2020 general election, and Andrew Falloon of the National Party from the 2017 election. Rangitata was a relatively safe National seat until it changed to the Labour Party in the 2020 general election. Following the 2023 general election, the New Zealand National Party regained the seat.

The electorate includes both rural areas, and towns such as Timaru and Temuka, these two towns being Labour strongholds giving the electorate a different composition to its more conservative neighbours Selwyn and Waitaki.

Population centres

In the 1887 electoral redistribution, although the Representation Commission was required through the Representation Act 1887 to maintain existing electorates "as far as possible", rapid population growth in the North Island required the transfer of three seats from the South Island to the north. Ten new electorates were created, including Rangitata, and one former electorate was recreated. [1]

The boundaries of the Rangitata electorate were adjusted in the 2013/14 review, when an area around Rakaia was transferred to the Selwyn electorate. [2] The boundary shifted eastwards again in the 2019/20 review, when the boundary was aligned with the Rakaia River.

The current electorate includes the following population centres (with approximate populations in brackets):

History

The Rangitata electorate was first established for the 1887 election. [3] The election was contested by William Rolleston, who had represented Geraldine in the previous Parliament, Searby Buxton, and William Palmer. [4] Buxton beat Rolleston, who had been in Parliament since 1868, by 588 to 507 votes, with Palmer receiving 14 votes. [5] [6] Buxton held the electorate until the end of the term in 1890, [7] when the electorate was abolished again. [3]

The electorate was re-established for the 1893 election [3] and won by William Maslin, who served until the end of the parliamentary term in 1896. [8] The electorate was again abolished at the end of that term. [3]

The present electorate, established for the 2008 election, consists of the old Aoraki electorate, and those parts of the old Rakaia electorate not included in the Selwyn electorate.

It was created after a review of electoral boundaries conducted in the wake of the 2006 census, which showed that there had been a general northwards population movement. Even though the number of South Island electorates was fixed, the decline in the population of electorates from Rakaia south resulted in the boundaries of electorates from Invercargill north to Rakaia shifting northwards. At the time of the formation of the Rangitata electorate, Jo Goodhew was the incumbent in the Aoraki electorate. [9] She held the Rangitata electorate since its creation and in the 2014 election, she more than doubled her majority. [9] [10]

Goodhew announced in January 2017 that she would not be contesting the 2017 general election after being dropped from cabinet. [11] The electorate was won at the election by Andrew Falloon, retaining it for the National Party. [12]

In mid-July 2020, Falloon announced that he would not be seeking re-election at the 2020 general election, citing personal reasons following the suicide of a friend. [13] Following reports that Falloon had sent pornographic images to several women, he resigned as the Member for Rangitata under pressure from National Party leader Judith Collins. [14] [15] [16]

On 9 August 2020, the National Party nominated Environment Canterbury councillor Megan Hands as their new candidate for Rangitata. [17] During the 2020 general election held on 17 October, the Labour Party's candidate Jo Luxton captured Rangitata from National, defeating Hands by a final margin of 4,408 votes. [18]

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   Liberal   National   Labour

ElectionWinner
1887 election Searby Buxton
(Electorate abolished 1890–1893)
1893 election William Maslin
(Electorate abolished 1896–2008)
2008 election Jo Goodhew
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election Andrew Falloon [lower-alpha 1]
2020 election Jo Luxton
2023 election James Meager

List MPs

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

ElectionWinner
2017 election Jo Luxton
2023 election

Election results

2020 election

2020 general election: Rangitata [19]
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%±%
Labour Jo Luxton 21,14750.33+14.2220,74248.85+15.35
National Megan Hands16,73939.84−12.9613,36831.48−20.42
ACT Hamish Hutton1,3943.32+2.624,1019.66+9.15
New Conservative Lachie Ashton1,0952.618542.01+1.75
Green Gerrie Ligtenberg8522.03−2.171,3253.12−0.35
Outdoors Grant Kelynack3150.751090.26+0.18
Advance NZ Aroha Maru2920.703060.72
Social Credit Brannon Favel1080.26440.10+0.08
Not A Party James Rae710.17
NZ First  8482.00−4.00
Opportunities  4140.97−1.20
Legalise Cannabis  2040.48+0.12
Māori Party  550.13−0.06
ONE  530.12
Sustainable NZ  200.05
Vision New Zealand  100.02
TEA  60.01
Heartland  50.01
Informal votes703407
Total valid votes42,01342,464
Labour gain from National Majority4,40810.49−6.26

2017 election

2017 general election: Rangitata [20]
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 Andrew Falloon 19,99452.8-12.3720,10652.9-2.42
Labour Jo Luxton 13,66336.1+10.0212,72933.5+11.32
Opportunities Olly Wilson1,8284.88252.17
Green Mojo Mathers 1,5834.21,3213.47-4
ACT Tom Corbett2620.7-0.61930.51+0.06
NZ First  2,2816-1.83
Legalise Cannabis  1380.36-0.24
Conservative  990.26-4.09
Māori Party  710.19-0.07
Ban 1080  410.11-0.12
People's Party  350.09
Outdoors  300.08
United Future  250.07-0.24
Democrats  80.02-0.05
Mana  80.02-0.37 [lower-alpha 2]
Internet  20.01-0.38 [lower-alpha 3]
Informal votes473131
Total valid votes37,80338,043
National holdMajority6,33116.75-22.34

2014 election

2014 general election: Rangitata [21]
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 Jo Goodhew 23,51865.17+9.4020,10855.32+1.66
Labour Steven Gibson9,41126.08−11.078,06422.18−4.78
Conservative Oliver Vitali1,5774.37+4.371,5804.35+1.95
ACT Tom Corbett4691.30+0.461650.45−0.57
NZ First  2,8487.83+2.03
Green  2,7157.47−0.58
Legalise Cannabis  2170.60−0.04
Internet Mana  1420.39+0.30 [lower-alpha 4]
United Future  1140.31−0.54
Māori Party  940.26−0.08
Ban 1080  840.23+0.23
Democrats  240.07+0.02
Civilian  200.06+0.06
Independent Coalition  130.04+0.04
Focus  90.02+0.02
Informal votes1,111154
Total valid votes36,08636,351
Turnout 36,35178.23+3.41
National holdMajority14,10739.09+20.47

2011 election

2011 general election: Rangitata [22]
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 Jo Goodhew 19,58055.77−2.0919,28253.66+5.09
Labour Julian Blanchard13,04337.15+0.869,68726.96−7.89
Green Gerrie Ligtenberg1,7665.03+5.032,8948.05+3.85
United Future Andrew McMillan4181.19+0.583070.85−0.01
ACT Tom Corbett3030.86−0.883671.02−2.75
NZ First  2,0845.80+2.03
Conservative  8632.40+2.40
Legalise Cannabis  2290.64+0.10
Māori Party  1230.34+0.03
Mana  320.09+0.09
Alliance  240.07−0.04
Libertarianz  200.06+0.03
Democrats  190.05+0.02
Informal votes970351
Total valid votes35,11035,931
National holdMajority6,53718.62−2.95

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 48,024 [23]

2008 election

2008 general election: Rangitata [24]
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 Jo Goodhew 21,75957.8618,44148.57
Labour Julian Blanchard13,64736.2913,23034.85
Kiwi Tony Bunting7592.023781.00
ACT Peter McCaw6551.741,4313.77
Independent Paul Tew5551.48
United Future Brian Ward2300.613290.87
Green  1,5974.21
NZ First  1,4313.77
Bill and Ben  3330.88
Progressive  3290.87
Legalise Cannabis  2040.54
Māori Party  1180.31
Family Party  540.14
Alliance  420.11
Workers Party  160.04
Democrats  120.03
Libertarianz  80.02
Pacific  70.02
RONZ  50.01
RAM  30.01
Informal votes457272
Total valid votes37,60537,968
National win new seatMajority8,11221.57

Table footnotes

  1. Falloon resigned as the MP for Rangitata on 21 July 2020. As this date was closer than 6 months to the general election in October, a vacancy existed until the election.
  2. 2017 Mana Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with the Internet Party in the 2014 election
  3. 2017 Internet Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Mana Party in the 2014 election
  4. 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. 50–53.
  2. Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN   978-0-477-10414-2 . Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Scholefield 1950, p. 163.
  4. "Rangitata". The Press . Vol. XLIV, no. 6859. 17 September 1887. p. 6. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  5. "Rangitata". Auckland Star . Vol. XVIII, no. 228. 28 September 1887. p. 5. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  6. Wilson 1985, p. 231.
  7. Scholefield 1950, p. 99.
  8. Scholefield 1950, p. 1253.
  9. 1 2 "Hon Jo Goodhew". New Zealand Parliament. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  10. Montgomerie, Jack (22 September 2014). "Goodhew, Dean back with bigger majorities". The Timaru Herald . Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  11. "National MP Jo Goodhew quits after being dumped from Cabinet". The New Zealand Herald . 25 January 2017. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  12. "Rangitata – Official Result 2017 general elections". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  13. "National MP Andrew Falloon quits amid 'significant mental health issues'". The New Zealand Herald . 20 July 2020. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  14. Cooke, Henry (21 July 2020). "Andrew Falloon sent sexually explicit photos to another young woman". Stuff . Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  15. "New sex-text claims: National MP Andrew Falloon quits politics immediately; Judith Collins says she 'no longer trusts his story'". The New Zealand Herald . 21 July 2020. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  16. O'Brien, Tova (20 July 2020). "'Pattern of behaviour' emerging: Further allegations of lewd images sent by disgraced ex-National MP Andrew Falloon". Newshub . Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  17. Comer, Rachel; Mohanlall, Samesh (9 August 2020). "Megan Hands National's new Rangitata candidate". Timaru Herald . Stuff. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  18. "Rangitata – Official Result". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  19. "Rangitata - Official Result". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  20. "Official Count Results – Rangitata". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  21. "Official Count Results – Rangitata (2014)". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  22. "Official Count Results – Rangitata (2011)". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  23. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  24. "Official Count Results – Rangitata (2008)". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 26 April 2016.

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References