Wellington Central

For the suburb, see Wellington Central, Wellington.

Wellington Central is an electorate, represented by a Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives. Its MP since November 2008 has been Labour Party's Grant Robertson.

Contents

Population centres

Wellington Central covers the central city and its suburban periphery, stretching from Karori, Wilton and Wadestown in the west, to the summit of Mount Victoria in the east, and down to a boundary with Rongotai near Wellington Hospital. Prior to the 1999 election, its boundaries extended further north to include the affluent suburbs of Ngaio and Khandallah. Wellington Central is one of the most affluent and well-educated constituencies in New Zealand. It is home to many government agencies, as well as the Parliamentary complex and two universities.

History

Wellington Central was established in 1905 when the multi-member urban electorate City of Wellington was replaced by three new seats: Wellington East, Wellington North and Wellington Central. It was nominally abolished in 1993, when a redistribution moved its boundary west, resulting in the new name of Wellington-Karori. Three years later, a new, larger Wellington Central was created as one of the 65 original MMP constituencies in time for the 1996 election. A prominent holder of the seat was Labour Party leader Peter Fraser, who was Prime Minister from 1940 to 1949.

The first elected MMP representative was ACT Party leader Richard Prebble, controversially elected in 1996 after National Party leader Jim Bolger indicated that National voters should give their electorate vote to Prebble rather than to National's candidate Mark Thomas, in order for ACT to get into parliament. Prebble would eventually became the third representative from Wellington Central in three elections to face defeat after a single term in office. Labour's Marian Hobbs held the seat from 1999, when she defeated Prebble, until 2008, when she retired. Grant Robertson retained Labour's hold on the seat in 2008 and 2011.

A documentary, Campaign, produced by Tony Sutorius, highlighted the events surrounding the 1996 campaign in the electorate.[1]

Members of Parliament for old Wellington Central seat

Name Party Elected Left Office Reason
Francis Fisher New Liberal 1905 -
Francis Fisher Independent 1908 -
Francis Fisher Reform 1911 1914 defeated
Robert Fletcher Liberal 1914 1918 died
Peter Fraser Labour 1918 by-election, 1919, 1922, 1925, 1928, 1931, 1935, 1938, 1943 1946 elected for Brooklyn instead
Charles Chapman Labour 1946, 1949, 1951 1954 retired
Frank Kitts Labour 1954, 1957 1960 defeated
Dan Riddiford National 1960, 1963, 1966, 1969 1972 retired
Ken Comber National 1972, 1975, 1978 1981 defeated
Fran Wilde Labour 1981, 1984, 1987, 1990 1992 resigned to become mayor of Wellington City
Chris Laidlaw Labour 1992 (byelection) 1993 seat abolished, defeated in Wellington-Karori

Members of Parliament for Wellington-Karori

Name Party Elected Left Office Reason
Pauline Gardiner1 National 1993 1996 seat abolished, defeated in Wellington Central

1Pauline Gardiner defected to United New Zealand in 1995.

Members of Parliament for MMP-era Wellington Central seat

Name Party Elected Left Office Reason
Richard Prebble ACT 1996 1999 Defeated
Marian Hobbs Labour 1999, 2002, 2005 2008 retired
Grant Robertson Labour 2008, 2011 incumbent

List MPs from Wellington Central

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

Name Party First Elected Left Office Contested Wellington Central
Richard Prebble ACT 1999 2005 1996 (won), 1999
Sue Kedgley Greens 1999 current MP 2002, 2005, 2008
Stephen Franks ACT 1999 2005 2002, 2005
Mark Blumsky National 2005 2008 2005
Heather Roy ACT 2002 2011 2008

Candidates in the 2011 election

General Election 2011: Wellington Central
Notes:

 Green background  denotes an incumbent.
 Pink background  denotes a current list MP.
 Yellow background  denotes a retiring incumbent.
Party Candidate Notes List # Source
Legalise Cannabis Michael Appleby 1   [1][2]
New Economics Laurence Boomert [1][3]
Alliance Kelly Buchanan 8   [1][4]
NZ First Ben Craven 14   [1][5]
Libertarianz Reagan Cutting 4   [1][6]
National Paul Foster-Bell 56   [1][7]
Independent Puhi Karena [1]
Pirate Gynn Rickerby [1][8]
Labour Grant Robertson Incumbent since 2008 14   [1][9]
Green James Shaw 15   [1][10]
Conservative Paul Stipkovits   [1][11]
ACT Stephen Whittington 7   [1][12]

Withdrawn candidate

United Future Monique Watson Announced, but not on final candidate list.   [13][1]

Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 46,212[14]

Election results

2011 election

General Election 2011: Wellington Central[15]

Notes: Green 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.
A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Y Grant Robertson 18,836 49.15 +6.97 10,459 26.56 -8.01
National Paul Foster-Bell 12,460 32.51 -4.96 15,128 38.42 +3.01
Green James Shaw 5,225 13.63 -1.14 10,903 27.69 +7.08
ACT Stephen Whittington 412 1.07 -1.21 462 1.17 -2.78
Legalise Cannabis Michael Appleby 404 1.05 +0.05 161 0.41 +0.15
NZ First Ben Craven 279 0.73 +0.73 1,132 2.88 +1.35
Pirate Gynn Rickerby 277 0.72 +0.72
Conservative Paul Stipkovits 236 0.62 +0.62 270 0.69 +0.69
Libertarianz Reagan Cutting 69 0.18 -0.01 40 0.10 -0.01
Alliance Kelly Buchanan 52 0.14 +0.14 18 0.05 -0.003
New Economics Laurence Boomert 44 0.11 +0.11
Independent Puhi Karena 32 0.08 +0.08
Māori   278 0.71 -0.15
United Future   256 0.65 -0.35
Mana   250 0.63 +0.63
Democrats   15 0.04 +0.03
Informal votes 411 153
Total Valid votes 38,326 39,372
Labour hold Majority 6,376 16.64 +11.92

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 48,316[14]

2008 election

General Election 2008: Wellington Central[16]

Notes: Green 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.
A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Grant Robertson 17,046 42.18 - 14,244 34.57
National Stephen Franks 15,142 37.47 - 14,589 35.41
Green Sue Kedgley 5,971 14.78 - 8,494 20.62
ACT Heather Roy 922 2.28 - 1,628 3.95
Legalise Cannabis Michael Appleby 407 1.01 - 108 0.26
United Future Vaughan Smith 226 0.56 - 412 1.00
Workers Party Don Franks 171 0.42 - 38 0.09
Progressive David Somerset 141 0.35 - 272 0.66
Kiwi Rebekah Clement 106 0.26 - 84 0.20
Libertarianz Bernard Darnton 75 0.19 - 48 0.12
RAM Grant Brookes 61 0.15 - 13 0.03
Independent Al Mansell 58 0.14 - - -
RONZ Justin Harnish 46 0.11 - 5 0.01
Alliance Richard Wallis 39 0.10 - 20 0.05
NZ First - 629 1.53 -
Māori - 351 0.85 -
Bill and Ben - 215 0.52 -
Family Party - 38 0.09 -
Pacific - 8 0.02 -
Democrats - 4 0.01 -
Informal votes 229 86
Total Valid votes 40,411 41,200
Labour hold Majority 1,904

2005 election

General election 2005: Wellington Central[17]

Notes: Green 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.
A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Y Marian Hobbs 20,199 49.32 +8.26 17,936 43.26
National Mark Blumsky 14,019 34.23 +4.69 13,513 32.59
Green Sue Kedgley 3737 9.12 -3.93 6530 15.75
ACT Stephen Franks 1254 3.06 848 2.05
United Future Fiona McKenzie 593 1.45 1068 2.58
Legalise Cannabis Michael Appleby 426 1.04 98 0.24
Progressive David Somerset 173 0.26 309 0.75
Anti-Capitalist Alliance Stephen Hay 107 0.26
Libertarianz Bernard Darnton 79 0.19 42 0.10
Alliance Kane O'Connell 79 0.19 35 0.08
NZ First - 707 1.71
Māori - 168 0.41
Destiny - 67 0.16
Christian Heritage - 24 0.06
Democrats - 10 0.02
99 MP - 8 0.02
RONZ - 4 0.01
Family Rights - 3 0.01
Direct Democracy - 2 0.00
One NZ - 1 0.00
Informal votes 288 86
Total Valid votes 40,954 41,459
Labour hold Majority 6180 15.09 +3.57

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Information for Voters in Wellington Central". Elections New Zealand. 2 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/voting-info/wellington-central.html. 
  2. ^ "ALCP Candidate List Released". Press Release: Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (via Scoop.co.nz). 29 October 2011. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1110/S00528/alcp-candidate-list-released.htm. 
  3. ^ "Positive Money NZ website". http://www.positivemoney.org.nz/. Retrieved 22 October 2011. 
  4. ^ "Alliance electorate candidates for 2011 announced". Press Release: Alliance (via Scoop.co.nz). 25 October 2011. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1110/S00425/alliance-electorate-candidates-for-2011-announced.htm. 
  5. ^ "Hugh Barr to contest Ohariu for NZ First". Bay of Plenty Times. 12 September 2011. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5607530/Hugh-Barr-to-contest-Ohariu-for-NZ-First. 
  6. ^ "Candidates 2011". Libertarianz website. http://www.libertarianz.org.nz/candidates-2011/. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
  7. ^ "National selects Wellington Central candidate". Radio New Zealand. 21 April 2011. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/73444/national-selects-wellington-central-candidate. 
  8. ^ "Pirate Party: Candidate Voting Results". Pirate Party of New Zealand. 26 October 2011. http://pirateparty.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3225#p3225. 
  9. ^ Labour confirms third round nominations Scoop.co.nz, 8 September 2010
  10. ^ Greens name candidate for Wgtn Central TVNZ, 29 September 2010
  11. ^ "Conservative List Released". Press Release: Conservative Party (via Scoop.co.nz). 2011-11-01. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1111/S00014/conservative-list-released.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-01. 
  12. ^ "ACT confirms Wellington Central candidate". Voxy.co.nz. 23 September 2011. http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/act-confirms-wellington-central-candidate/5/102164. 
  13. ^ "UnitedFuture announces first wave of candidates". 22 August 2011. http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/unitedfuture-announces-first-wave-of-candidates/. 
  14. ^ a b "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 11 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/ages/. Retrieved 17 November 2011. 
  15. ^ Wellington Central results, 2011
  16. ^ 2008 election results
  17. ^ election result Wellington Central 2005

External links

« historic electorates «   Electorates of New Zealand at the 2008 and 2011 general elections
North Island
South Island
Māori