Port Hills (New Zealand electorate)

Port Hills electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

Port Hills is a parliamentary electorate of New Zealand created for the 2008 general election. Ruth Dyson of the Labour Party had previously held the Banks Peninsula electorate since the 1999 election that was largely replaced by Port Hills, and Dyson is to this day the area's representative. The Port Hills electorate is mostly urban, and lost the more rural Banks Peninsula areas of the old electorate to the Selwyn electorate that was also formed for the 2008 election.

Population centres

Port Hills was created after a review of electoral boundaries conducted in the wake of the 2006 census of population and dwellings. The bulk of Port Hills comes from the old Banks Peninsula electorate, including the suburbs of Opawa and Woolston, the suburban areas around the Cashmere Hills, and the towns on the north coast of Lyttelton Harbour. The south Christchurch suburbs of Bromley and Sydenham have been added from Christchurch East and Wigram, respectively. Most of the electorate is urban.[1]

The following suburbs, in alphabetical order, are at least partially located in the electorate: Balmoral Hill, Beckenham, Bromley, Cashmere, Cass Bay, Clifton, Corsair Bay, Ferrymead, Governors Bay, Heathcote Valley, Hillsborough, Huntsbury, Linwood, Lyttelton, Moncks Bay, Moncks Spur, Mount Pleasant, Murray Aynsley Hill, Opawa, Rapaki, Redcliffs, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, St Andrews Hill, St Martins, Sumner, Sydenham, Taylors Mistake, Waltham, and Woolston.[2]

Port Hills was one of the electorates worst affected by the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes and suffered minor population loss as a result. The 2013 redistribution has resulted in the electorate losing the areas around Bromley and Sydenham but regaining Halswell back from Selwyn.[1][3][4]

History

Because the new suburbs are strong Labour-voting areas, Banks Peninsula MP Ruth Dyson retained the electorate despite a nationwide swing to the National Party in 2008. This is also one of the electorates which elected a Labour MP but where the National Party won the party vote.[5] National's candidate in 2008 was Terry Heffernan (1952–2010), who at that time was already weakened by cancer.[6]

In the 2011 election, Dyson contested the electorate against David Carter.[7] Dyson and Carter had contested before; in 1993, Dyson was successful in the Lyttelton electorate, but in 1996 in Banks Peninsula, Carter had the upper hand. In 1999, 2002, and 2005, Dyson was always in first place, and she was again successful in 2011.[7]

In the 2014 election, the National Party put up Nuk Korako against Dyson;[8] Carter had in the meantime been elected Speaker of the House of Representatives and as such, was not contesting an electorate any longer.[9] Based on preliminary counts, Dyson has a majority of 1,865 votes over Korako.[8]

Members of Parliament

Key

  Labour     National     NZ First     Green  

Election Winner
2008 election Ruth Dyson
2011 election
2014 election

List MPs

Election Winner
2011 election David Carter
Denis O'Rourke
2014 election Nuk Korako
Eugenie Sage
Denis O'Rourke

Election results

2014 election

General election 2014: Port Hills[10]

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 Green tick or Red X denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Green tick Ruth Dyson 18,161 46.44 -1.97 9,514 23.87 -3.77
National Nuk Korako 15,933 40.74 +1.85 18,719 46.96 +3.30
Green Eugenie Sage 3,059 7.82 -2.`8 6,812 17.09 -2.51
NZ First Denis O'Rourke 1,131 2.89 +0.75 2,641 6.62 +1.79
Conservative Chris Brosnan 626 1.60 +1.60 1,241 3.11 +1.46
ACT Geoff Russell 145 0.37 -0.18 175 0.44 -0.30
Democrats Gary J Gribben 52 0.13 +0.13 41 0.10 +0.04
Internet Mana   298 0.75 +0.44
Māori   160 0.40 -0.01
Legalise Cannabis   120 0.30 -0.19
United Future   80 0.20 -0.27
Ban 1080   33 0.08 +0.08
Civilian   26 0.07 +0.07
Focus   4 0.01 +0.01
Independent Coalition   1 0.00 +0.00
Informal votes 277 105
Total Valid votes 39,107 39,865
Labour hold Majority 2,228 5.70 -3.83

2011 election

General election 2011: Port Hills[7]

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 Green tick or Red X denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Green tick Ruth Dyson 15,737 48.41 +1.69 9,199 27.64 -10.04
National David Carter 12,640 38.89 +1.74 14,532 43.66 +6.53
Green Joseph Burston 3,252 10.00 +0.39 6,522 19.60 +5.82
NZ First Denis O'Rourke 697 2.14 +2.14 1,609 4.83 +2.08
ACT Geoff Russell 179 0.55 -0.84 246 0.74 -1.63
Conservative   549 1.65 +1.65
Legalise Cannabis   164 0.49 +0.07
United Future   157 0.47 -0.42
Māori   135 0.41 -0.28
Mana   102 0.31 +0.31
Alliance   24 0.07 -0.07
Libertarianz   22 0.07 +0.02
Democrats   21 0.06 +0.02
Informal votes 542 202
Total Valid votes 32,505 33,282
Labour hold Majority 3,097 9.53 -0.05

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 43,511[11]

2008 election

General election 2008: Port Hills[5]

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 Green tick or Red X denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Ruth Dyson 16,834 46.72 13,816 37.68
National Terry Heffernan 13,382 37.14 13,614 37.13
Green Joseph Burston 3,464 9.61 5,051 13.78
Progressive Phil Clearwater 1,144 3.18 958 2.61
ACT Geoff Russell 500 1.39 868 2.37
Kiwi Wilton Gray 337 0.94 285 0.78
United Future Robin Andrew Loomes 215 0.60 326 0.89
Alliance Andrew John McKenzie 153 0.42 51 0.14
NZ First   1,009 2.75
Māori   250 0.68
Legalise Cannabis   155 0.42
Bill and Ben   152 0.41
Family Party   49 0.13
Pacific   23 0.06
Workers Party   19 0.05
Libertarianz   17 0.05
Democrats   14 0.04
RONZ   4 0.01
RAM   2 0.01
Informal votes 301 132
Total Valid votes 36,029 36,663
Turnout 36,795 82.88
Labour win new seat Majority 3,452

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Young, Rachel (19 April 2014). "Wagner vows to fight for 'unwinnable' electorate". The Press. p. A7. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Electorate Boundaries". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  3. ↑ "Port Hills: Electoral Profile". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-477-10414-2. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Official Count Results -- Port Hills". Chief Electoral Office. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Espiner, Colin (25 March 2008). "It's Beaurepaires at Parliament as retreads rolled out". The Press. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Official Count Results -- Port Hills". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mathewson, Nicole; Stylianou, Georgina; Fulton, Tim (20 September 2014). "Labour's Dyson keeps Port Hills". The Press. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  9. ↑ "PM announces changes to Cabinet line-up" (Press release). The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (of New Zealand). 22 January 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  10. ↑ 2014 election results retrieved 4 October 2014
  11. ↑ "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

External links