Upper Harbour is a parliamentary

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district An ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

that returns one member to the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...

. It was first formed for the . The seat was won by

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Paula Bennett Paula Lee Bennett (born 9 April 1969) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 18th deputy prime minister of New Zealand between December 2016 and October 2017. She served as the deputy leader of the National Party from 2016 to 202 ...

in both the 2014 and . The seat is currently held by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's Vanushi Walters, who won the seat in the 2020 election.

Geography

Upper Harbour covers the northwestern reaches of

Waitematā Harbour Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...

. It stretches from

Massey Massey may refer to: Places Canada * Massey, Ontario * Massey Island, Nunavut New Zealand * Massey, New Zealand, an Auckland suburb United States * Massey, Alabama * Massey, Iowa * Massey, Maryland People * Massey (surname) Educati ...

, in West Auckland, through West Harbour and

Hobsonville Hobsonville is a suburb in West Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The area was administered by Waitakere City Council until the council was amalgamated into Auckland Council in 2010. Hobsonville Point, formerly the location of the ...

, and across to

Greenhithe Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend. Area In the past, Greenhithe's waterfront on the estuary of the ri ...

and on to Glenfield and

Unsworth Heights Unsworth Heights is a suburb of North Shore in the Auckland metropolitan area in northern New Zealand. New Zealand State Highway 18 (Upper Harbour Highway) passes to the north of the suburb, and the Albany Highway to the south. The two routes i ...

on the North Shore.

History

Upper Harbour was proposed in the 2013/14 electorate boundary review and confirmed by the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

on 17 April 2014. The 2013 census showed that the

Auckland region Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...

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 and established two new electorates, Upper Harbour and . A small portion of the electorate around Tihema Stream was moved to the new electorate of

Kaipara ki Mahurangi Kaipara ki Mahurangi is an electorate to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was created for the . Population centres The electorate consists of a large northern section of the Auckland Region. It stretches from the border with Northl ...

in the 2020 redistribution. 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 Colin Craig (born 8 January 1968) is a New Zealand businessman and perennial candidate who was the founding leader of the Conservative Party of New Zealand. Craig is a millionaire who owns companies that manage high-rise buildings. His current ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

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 ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...

in the electorate. Bennett won the 2014 election with a majority of nearly 10,000 votes over

's Hermann Retzlaff. At the Bennett retired and Labour's Vanushi Walters won the seat against National’s

Jake Bezzant ' Jacob Max Bezzant is a former political candidate for the New Zealand National Party and a former CEO of Parking Sense. Bezzant was appointed USA and Europe CEO of Parking Sense at age 26 and global CEO at age 28. He stood for election to New ...

. This was one of fifteen electorates that Labour took from National in an election that dramatically changed the composition of New Zealand’s parliament.

Members of Parliament

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

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

Election results

2020 election

2017 election

2014 election

Notes

References

External links

Upper Harbour electorate profile
New Zealand Parliament {{Electorates of New Zealand New Zealand electorates in the Auckland Region 2014 establishments in New Zealand