Timaru by-election, 1985

15 June 1985 (1985-06-15)

Turnout

22,027 (90.6%)


Candidate	Maurice McTigue	Jan Walker
Party	National	Labour
Popular vote	9,371	7,879
Percentage	42.67	35.88

Member before election

Basil Arthur
Labour

Elected Member

Maurice McTigue
National

The Timaru by-election of 1985 was a by-election for the electorate of Timaru during the term of the 40th New Zealand Parliament. It was triggered by the death of Sir Basil Arthur (who had held the seat since 1962) on 1 May 1985. Sir Basil was Speaker of the House, and had inherited the rank of baronet from his father in 1949.

The by-election was held on 15 June 1985 and was won by Maurice McTigue of the National Party with a majority of 1,492 votes.

David Lange recalled a meeting during the by-election campaign when Labour general secretary Tony Timms manhandled a noisy heckler out of the building. He said that the Labour candidate Jan Walker was a good lawyer (and was later a Family Court judge), but that the Labour Party organisation (i.e. head office) insisted on the selection of a candidate who "did not live in Timaru and her opinions, and even her appearance, were at odds with the conservative character of the electorate"; although Jim Anderton predictably (and publicly) blamed the defeat on "the government’s abandonment of traditional Labour policy".^[1]

New Zealand Party founder Bob Jones (who had already achieved his primary goal of ending the Muldoon government) was disappointed by his party's performance in the by-election came to the decision to put the party into recess.

Results

The following table gives the election results:

Timaru by-election, 1985^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	National	Maurice McTigue	9,371	42.67
	Labour	Jan Walker	7,879	35.88
	NZ Party	Bill Greenslade	2,998	13.65
	Social Credit	Lynley Simmons	1,628	7.41
	Values	J S B Luck	54	0.25
	NewLabour	A S Falloon	31	0.14
Majority			1,492	6.79
Informal votes			66
Turnout			22,027
Registered electors
	National gain from Labour		Swing

References

↑ David Lange (2005). My Life. Viking. ISBN 0-670-04556-X.
↑ Norton 1988, p. 363.

Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946-1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.

« (1912–1938) « By-elections in New Zealand in the two-party era (1939–1995) » (1996–present) »
26th Parliament	Christchurch South, 1939 Auckland West, 1940 Waipawa, 1940 Waitemata, 1941 Bay of Plenty, 1941 Mid-Canterbury, 1942 Temuka, 1942 Hauraki, 1942 Christchurch East, 1943 Northern Maori, 1943
27th Parliament	Awarua, 1944 Western Maori, 1945 Hamilton, 1945 Dunedin North, 1945 Raglan, 1946
28th Parliament	Avon, 1947 Mount Albert, 1947 Westland, 1947
29th Parliament	Brooklyn, 1951
30th Parliament	Dunedin North, 1953 Onehunga, 1953 Onslow, 1954 Patea, 1954
31st Parliament	Riccarton, 1956 Bay of Plenty, 1957
32nd Parliament	Hamilton, 1959
33rd Parliament	Hurunui, 1961 Waitaki, 1962 Buller, 1962 Timaru, 1962 Otahuhu, 1963 Northern Maori, 1963 Grey Lynn, 1963
34th Parliament	There were no by-elections during the term of the 34th Parliament.
35th Parliament	Southern Maori, 1967 Fendalton, 1967 Petone, 1967 Palmerston North, 1967 Eastern Maori, 1967 Hutt, 1968
36th Parliament	Marlborough, 1970
37th Parliament	Sydenham, 1974
38th Parliament	Nelson, 1976 Mangere, 1977 Pahiatua, 1977 Rangitikei, 1978
39th Parliament	Christchurch Central, 1979 Northern Maori, 1980 Onehunga, 1980 East Coast Bays, 1980
40th Parliament	There were no by-elections during the term of the 40th Parliament.
41st Parliament	Timaru, 1985
42nd Parliament	There were no by-elections during the term of the 42nd Parliament.
43rd Parliament	Tamaki, 1992 Wellington Central, 1992 Tauranga, 1993
44th Parliament	Selwyn, 1994

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