Botany is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was contested for the first time at the 2008 general election, and won by

Pansy Wong Pansy Yu Fong Wong (; born 1955) is a former New Zealand politician. She was New Zealand's first Asian MP, serving as a member of parliament for the National Party from 1996 to 2011. She was also New Zealand's first Asian Cabinet Minister, se ...

for the National Party. Following Wong's resignation in late 2010, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

returned Jami-Lee Ross, who was confirmed by the voters in the 2011 general election. Ross left the National Party in October 2018 and became an independent. Ross did not contest the seat at the 2020 general election, and was succeeded by the new National candidate,

Christopher Luxon Christopher Mark Luxon (born 19 July 1970) is a New Zealand politician and former business executive who is currently serving as leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition. He has been the Member of Parliament (M ...

, who became the party's leader and the Leader of the Opposition in November 2021.

Background

The Representation Commission established the electoral district of Botany after the

2006 New Zealand census The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings ( mi, Te Tatauranga o ngā Tāngata Huri Noa i Aotearoa me ō rātou Whare Noho) is a national population and housing census conducted by government department Statistics New Zealand every five y ...

due to high population growth in and around Auckland. The new electorate resulted from several sweeping changes to the electoral landscape of

South Auckland South Auckland is an imprecisely defined urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, with a young population, a relatively large Polynesian and Māori demographic, and lower incomes than other parts of Auckland. The name ''South Auckland'', though n ...

: * The southern end of Port Waikato was lanced and combined with the area around Clevedon township to form . * The resultant change pulled the Clevedon electorate tighter around the city of Papakura for which the electorate is now named. * In the north, Manukau East was pulled up through Otahuhu into Auckland City, in the process dropping the western suburbs of Flat Bush, East Tāmaki, Dannemora and Botany Downs, which combined with fragments of the Clevedon and

Pakuranga Pakuranga is an eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Pakuranga covers a series of low ridges and previously swampy flats, now drained, that lie between the Pakuranga Creek and Tamaki River, two estuarial arms of the Hauraki Gu ...

electorates to form Botany.

Demographics

Demographically, Botany is older than the rest of New Zealand, with over half of its population aged over 30; It has three times as many Chinese New Zealanders than the national average (33.5 versus 9.2%), and nearly twice as many

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

s (13 to 7%), which makes Botany a

minority-majority A majority-minority or minority-majority area is a term used to refer to a subdivision in which one or more racial, ethnic, and/or religious minorities (relative to the whole country's population) make up a majority of the local population. Term ...

electorate. Botany has the highest number of people born overseas of any New Zealand electorate (49% in 2006), the most Buddhists in a New Zealand electorate and the highest number of one-family homes. The average income in the electorate is high, with over half of the electorate's residents earning over $50,000 a year. A 2005 academic survey assessing the voting behaviour of Asian New Zealanders showed a strong preference for the Labour Party, with a sizeable proportion prepared to vote for the National Party (47 to 40); it also showed that among Asian New Zealanders, the most important issues were the economy and law and order. This was demonstrated by a large anti-crime march (a crowd of 15,000 was estimated, with a significant number of these being Asian New Zealanders) was held in Auckland (on the streets of Botany) in July 2008 amidst claims of increasing violent crime in New Zealand targeted against its Asian population. The march's organiser Peter Low used his website to clarify his position, calling for harsher sentencing, victims' rights and zero "criminal rights".

History

Botany was first created for the 2008 general election, and won by

for the National Party. Both National and the ACT party stood Chinese New Zealanders as their candidates in 2008;

and

Kenneth Wang Kenneth Xiaoxuan Wang (; born 1955) is a former Deputy Leader of the ACT New Zealand party. He previously served as a member of Parliament to replace Donna Awatere Huata, who was expelled from Parliament in November 2004. Biography Wang was ...

, respectively. Labour chose Koro Tawa, an Auckland University lecturer. Raymond Huo, a Chinese-speaking lawyer, was initially mooted for the Labour nomination, but eventually chose to stand as a list-only candidate. On 14 December 2010 it was announced that a

was to be held on 5 March 2011 due to the resignation of incumbent MP Pansy Wong. The electorate was won by Jami-Lee Ross from the New Zealand National Party. In October 2018, Jami-Lee Ross resigned from the National Party and accused party leader Simon Bridges of breaching electoral law. Ross announced his intention to resign from parliament and run as an independent in the resulting by-election, however he later decided against resigning.

won the National Party selection in November 2019. On 15 September 2020 Ross announced he was no longer intending to contest the electorate, but will instead contest the upcoming election as a list only candidate for his newly formed party, Advance NZ. Luxon won the seat at the as Ross was ejected from Parliament.

Members of Parliament

Key

List MPs

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

Election results

2020 election

2017 election

2014 election

2011 election

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 43,204

2011 by-election

Official results of the 5 March by-election.

2008 election

Table footnotes

References

External links

Electorate Profile
''Parliamentary Library'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Botany (New Zealand Electorate) New Zealand electorates New Zealand electorates in the Auckland Region 2008 establishments in New Zealand