Upper Harbour (New Zealand electorate)

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Upper Harbour
Single-member general constituency for the New ZealandHouse of Representatives
Upper Harbour electorate, 2014.svg
Formation2014
Region Auckland
CharacterSuburban
Term3 years
Member for Upper Harbour
BREWER, Cameron - Upper Harbour (cropped).png
Cameron Brewer [1]
since 14 October 2023
Party National
List MPs Karen Chhour (ACT)
Previous MP Vanushi Walters (Labour)
Party vote distribution




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 was then held by Labour's Vanushi Walters in the 2020 election. The seat is currently held by National's Cameron Brewer since the 2023 general election.

Contents

Geography

Upper Harbour covers the northwestern reaches of Waitematā Harbour. It stretches from Massey, in West Auckland, through West Harbour and Hobsonville, and across to Greenhithe and on to Glenfield and Unsworth Heights on the North Shore. [2] [3]

History

Upper Harbour was proposed in the 2013/14 electorate boundary review and confirmed by the Electoral Commission on 17 April 2014. [4] The 2013 census showed that the Auckland region had seen faster population growth than other areas, so needed an extra electorate to keep all electorates within five percent of their quota. To achieve this, the Electoral Commission abolished Waitakere and established two new electorates, Upper Harbour and Kelston. [4] A small portion of the electorate around Tihema Stream was moved to the new electorate of Kaipara ki Mahurangi in the 2020 redistribution. [5]

When the draft changes to electorate boundaries were first announced, the incumbent of the Waitakere electorate, Paula Bennett, was quick to announce that she would stand in Upper Harbour instead. This was to prevent Colin Craig of the Conservative Party making a claim for the electorate, as at the time, there was speculation whether the National Party would make a deal with the Conservatives for a safe seat in line with the agreement with ACT New Zealand in the Epsom electorate. [6] Bennett won the 2014 election with a majority of nearly 10,000 votes over Labour's Hermann Retzlaff. [7]

At the 2020 election Bennett retired and Labour's Vanushi Walters won the seat against National’s Jake Bezzant. [8] This was one of fifteen electorates that Labour took from National in an election that dramatically changed the composition of New Zealand’s parliament. [9]

Members of Parliament

Unless otherwise stated, all MPs' terms began and ended at general elections.

Key  National   Labour

ElectionWinner
2014 election Paula Bennett
2017 election
2020 election Vanushi Walters
2023 election Cameron Brewer

List MPs

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

Key  ACT

ElectionWinner
2020 election Karen Chhour
2023 election
2025 Vanushi Walters

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: Upper Harbour [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 Cameron Brewer 21,49852.73+15.0320,68949.94+18.77
Labour Red x.svgN Vanushi Walters 10,30625.28–18.369,31422.48–25.49
Green Thea Doyle3,0187.40+1.234,8729.34+4.05
ACT Karen Chhour 2,3135.67+1.423,4838.400.86
NZ First David Wilson 1,3303.261,6714.03+2.07
Opportunities Shai Navot 1,1092.728842.13+0.76
NZ Loyal Chris Newman3870.942750.66
Vision NZ Bernadette Soares1370.33
Sovereignty Tony Corbett830.20
Te Pāti Māori  3280.79+0.44
NewZeal  2070.49+0.30
Legalise Cannabis  1410.34–0.04
New Conservatives  930.22–1.62
Freedoms NZ  920.22
Animal Justice  480.11
DemocracyNZ  330.07
Women's Rights  310.07
Leighton Baker Party  120.02
New Nation  40.00
Informal votes586248
Total valid votes40,76741,425
National gain from Labour Majority11,19227.45+21.51

2020 election

2020 general election: Upper Harbour [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%±%
Labour Vanushi Walters 17,57343.64+14.8919,50747.97+15.66
National Jake Bezzant 15,18137.70-17.7312,67531.17-22.86
Green Ryan Nicholls2,4886.17-1.332,1515.29+1.22
ACT Karen Chhour 1,7124.25+3.253,0667.54+6.87
New Conservative Bernadette Soares1,2653.147521.84+1.45
TEA Winson Tan4101.011360.33
Advance NZ Peter Vaughan3090.762560.62
Outdoors Catherine Giorza1570.38220.05+0.02
Sustainable NZ Dion Thomas1270.31460.11
NZ First  7971.96-3.77
Opportunities  5591.37-0.27
Legalise Cannabis  1570.38+0.14
Māori Party  1440.35+0.04
ONE  810.19
Vision NZ  200.04
Social Credit  50.01-0.01
Heartland  50.01
Informal votes1,042281
Total valid votes40,26440,660
Turnout 40,660
Labour gain from National Majority2,3925.94-20.73

2017 election

2017 general election: Upper Harbour [12]
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 Paula Bennett 19,85755.43-0.5219,72254.03-0.22
Labour Jin An10,30128.75+2.4111,79332.31+8.95
Green James Goodhue2,6887.5-0.51,4844.07-2.9
NZ First Jane Johnston2,1926.122,0925.73-1.18
ACT Bruce Haycock3581-0.672460.67-0.76
Opportunities  5971.64
Conservative  1440.39-4.43
Māori Party  1120.31-0.44
Legalise Cannabis  880.24-0.14
People's Party  250.07
Mana  240.07-0.78 [a]
United Future  210.06-0.14
Internet  140.04-0.81 [b]
Outdoors  110.03
Ban 1080  90.02-0.01
Democrats  60.02+0.01
Informal votes429114
Total valid votes35,82536,502
National holdMajority9,55626.67-2.94

2014 election

2014 general election: Upper Harbour [7]
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 Paula Bennett 18,31555.9520,85354.25
Labour Hermann Retzlaff 8,62326.344,96523.36
Green Nicholas Mayne2,6198.002,3296.97
Conservative Callum Blair1,8395.611,6134.82
ACT Stephen Berry 5491.674501.34
Māori Party Hinurewa Te Hau2460.751190.35
Mana Party Makelesi Ngata2040.62
NZ First  2,3116.91
Internet Mana  4320.85
Legalise Cannabis  1290.38
United Future  690.20
Civilian  140.04
Ban 1080  130.03
Independent Coalition  70.02
Focus  40.01
Democrats  40.01
Informal votes338130
Total valid votes32,73333,403
Turnout 33,42073.42 [13]
National win new seatMajority9,69229.61

Notes

  1. 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
  2. 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

References

  1. "Upper Harbour – Official Result". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 8 March 2025.
  2. McQuillan, Laura; Marwick, Felix (21 November 2013). "Sweeping changes to electorates". Newstalk ZB . Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  3. "Election 2020: Human rights lawyer Vanushi Walters is new Upper Harbour MP". Stuff. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  4. 1 2 "New electorate boundaries finalised". Electoral Commission. 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  5. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
  6. Small, Vernon (22 November 2013). "Bennett won't make way for Craig". The Dominion Post . Fairfax New Zealand. Archived from the original on 9 June 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Official Count Results – Upper Harbour". Electoral Commission. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  8. "Election 2020: Human rights lawyer Vanushi Walters is new Upper Harbour MP". Stuff. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  9. "The red tide: Labour wins 15 seats held by National". RNZ . 18 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  10. "Upper Harbour – Official Result". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  11. "Upper Harbour – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  12. "Official Count Results – Upper Harbour". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  13. "2014 General Election Voter Turnout Statistics – Upper Harbour". Electoral Commission. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.