Piako was a New Zealand 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 ...

established in 1946 and disestablished in 2008. It was last held by

Lindsay Tisch William Lindsay Tisch (born 9 October 1947), known as Lindsay Tisch, is a former New Zealand National Party politician. Early life Tisch was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1947. When he was a child, his family moved to Matamata. He obtain ...

MPNew Zealand Parliament - Lindsay Tisch MP
/ref> from 2002 to 2008.

Population centres

The

1941 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 ...

had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

gained a further two electorates from the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

due to faster population growth. The abolition of the

country quota The country quota was a part of the New Zealand electoral system from 1881 until 1945, when it was abolished by the First Labour Government. Its effect was to make urbanUrban electorate were those that contained cities or boroughs of over 2000 pe ...

through the ''Electoral Amendment Act, 1945'' reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Piako. The First Labour Government was defeated in the and the incoming National Government changed the Electoral Act, with the electoral quota once again based on total population as opposed to qualified electors, and the tolerance was increased to 7.5% of the electoral quota. There was no adjustments in the number of electorates between the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

s, but the law changes resulted in boundary adjustments to almost every electorate through the 1952 electoral redistribution; only five electorates were unaltered. Five electorates were reconstituted and one was newly created, and a corresponding six electorates were abolished (including Piako); all of these in the North Island. These changes took effect with the . After years of political tension, the National Government came to an agreement with the Labour Party on the redistribution provisions of the electoral law. This resulted in the ''1956 Electoral Act'', which significantly changed the composition of the Representation Commission; since then, there has been one member representing the government, and one the opposition, apart from all the official members. Tolerance to the electoral quota was reduced again to 5%. The 1957 electoral redistribution made an adjustments in the number of electorates between the

and

s, with in the South Island abolished and Piako in the North Island reconstituted. Combined with significant population redistributions within the islands, the boundaries of all but two electorates were altered. These changes took effect with the . The electorate included the population centres of

Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which takes ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Morrinsville Morrinsville is a provincial town in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, with an estimated population of as of The town is located at the northern base of the Pakaroa Range, and on the south-western fringe of the Hauraki Plains. ...

Te Aroha Te Aroha ( mi, Te Aroha-a-uta) is a rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand with a population of 3,906 people in the 2013 census, an increase of 138 people since 2006. It is northeast of Hamilton and south of Thames. It sits at the f ...

Waharoa Waharoa is a rural community in the Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hami ...

Waitoa Waitoa is a settlement in the Matamata-Piako District of New Zealand. State Highway 26 runs through the town, and connects to Te Aroha 10 km to the north-east. A Fonterra dairy factory is a prominent blue building in the middle of the town. T ...

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

Ngāruawāhia Ngāruawāhia () is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located north-west of Hamilton at the confluence of the Waikato and Waipā Rivers, adjacent to the Hakarimata Range. Ngāruawāhia is in the Hamilton Ur ...

, and Ohaupo.Electorate Profile: Piako
/ref>

History

Piako was a rural Waikato electorate from 1946 to 1954, then from 1957 to 1978, when it was renamed . Piako was resurrected for the , replacing . Under boundary changes for the , Piako ceased to exist as an electorate. Its population centres were distributed between the neighbouring seats of and . Officially, Piako was replaced on paper by the seat of . Piako and its predecessors have always been considered safe National electorates. The Piako electorate was held by

Jack Luxton John Finlay Luxton (14 August 1923 – 29 August 2005) was a dairy farmer and New Zealand Member of Parliament. Biography Luxton was born in 1923 in Waitoa, between Morrinsville and Te Aroha. He attended the local primary school, follow ...

from 1966 to 1978, when he transferred to the Matamata electorate. When the Piako electorate was re-created for the , it was won by

, who had previously held the Karapiro electorate. Tisch served until the electorate was abolished in 2008, and transferred to the Waikato electorate.

Members of Parliament

Key

List MPs

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

Election results

1975 election

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Electorate Profile
''Parliamentary Library'' {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand Geography of Waikato 1946 establishments in New Zealand 1954 disestablishments in New Zealand 1978 disestablishments in New Zealand 2008 disestablishments in New Zealand 1957 establishments in New Zealand 2002 establishments in New Zealand