The Southern Māori by-election of 1967 was a by-election for the electorate of

Southern Maori Southern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Eastern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, an ...

on 11 March 1967 during the

35th New Zealand Parliament The 35th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1966 general election on 26 November of that year. 1966 general election The 1966 general election was held on Saturday, 26 November. A total of ...

. The by-election resulted from the death of the previous member Sir Eruera Tirikatene on 11 January 1967. The by-election was won by his daughter Whetu Tirikatene (later

Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan (9 January 1932 – 20 July 2011) was a New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1967 to 1996, representing the Labour Party, and was New Zealand’s first Māori woman cabinet minister. At the time of ...

), also of the Labour Party.

Candidates

;Labour Tirikatene's son, Te Rino Tirikatene, who had stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the and for , was initially expected to succeed him as MP for Southern Maori. As Te Rino was part-Maori and entitled to choose between being on the Maori and European electoral rolls, at the time of the by-election he was registered on the European roll in Rangiora where he had to remain under the electoral act until the next general election, which made it unlikely he would be eligible as a candidate in Southern Maori. With Te Rino effectively ruled out, attention turned to Tirikatene's daughter Whetu (who was studying in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the time) as the likely Labour candidate for the seat. The Labour Party eventually chose Whetu Tirikatene as its candidate. ;National Flight Lieutenant Mafeking Baden Powell Pere was chosen by the National Party. He was a jet pilot in the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

based at Wigram Aerodrome. Pere had contested the Southern Maori seat in the previous election. ;Social Credit The Social Credit Party selected James Hugh MacDonald, a lineman from Blenheim as its candidate. He had contested the Southern Maori seat at the 1966 election.

Results

The following table gives the election results: Tirikatene was elected with a huge majority, becoming the youngest woman to have been elected to Parliament to that time. Contrary to normal trends the candidate from the incumbent party increased their vote and majority. Leader of the Opposition

Norman Kirk Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at ...

said he was encouraged by the result due to the swing to Labour being consistent across the electorate, which covered the area of 40 general seats, many of which were marginal. It also encompassed the seats of and , both of which had pending by-elections.

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Maori by-election, 1967 Southern Maori 1967 1967 elections in New Zealand Māori politics March 1967 events in New Zealand