Tauranga (New Zealand electorate)
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Tauranga electorate boundaries used since the Tauranga is 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 The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...
, returning one Member of Parliament 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 ...
. The current MP for Tauranga is
Sam Uffindell Samuel Julian Uffindell (born September 1983) is a New Zealand politician and former international banking executive. He has been a Member of Parliament for , representing the New Zealand National Party, National Party, since winning a 2022 Taur ...
of the National Party, who won the seat in the
2022 Tauranga by-election The 2022 Tauranga by-election for the New Zealand House of Representatives was held on 18 June 2022 in the Tauranga (New Zealand electorate), Tauranga electorate, after the sitting member, former New Zealand National Party, National Party leader ...
, following the resignation of the previous MP,
Simon Bridges Simon Joseph Bridges (born 12 October 1976) is a former New Zealand politician and lawyer. He served as Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020, and as the Member of Parliament for Tauranga from the to ...
of the National Party.


Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Tauranga, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries. The electorate includes Tauranga, Mt Maunganui and Omanu Beach, but excluding Hairini, Maungatapu, Matapihi and Welcome Bay.


History

Tauranga electorate was created for the 1881 election, which determined the composition of the 8th Parliament. Initially, it existed until the 1890 election and during that time, it was represented by four MPs. The 1881 election was hotly contested. Four candidates were nominated: George Morris, who had previously represented the electorate;
George Vesey Stewart George Vesey Stewart (1832–1920) was a notable New Zealand farmer, coloniser and local politician. He was born in Brighton, Sussex, England in about 1832. The in the newly formed electorate was hotly contested. Four candidates were nom ...
, then the owner of the ''
Bay of Plenty Times The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' is the regional daily paper for the Bay of Plenty area, including Tauranga, in the North Island of New Zealand. History The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' was first produced on 4 September 1872 as a bi-weekly publication. It ...
''; William Kelly, who had also previously represented the East Coast electorate; and Henry Thomas Rowe, a surveyor and commission agent. Rowe announced his retirement from the contest on 6 December three days out from election day, urging his supporters to vote for Stewart instead. The unofficial results were released the day after the election (Saturday, 10 December) and Morris had a majority of 13 votes over Stewart, with the official declaration to be made on 12 December. This was deferred until 14 December, with Morris ahead by 10 votes. Stewart stood for the Tauranga mayoralty a few months later and was elected the town's first mayor. Morris was re-elected in the , but resigned in April 1885, as he had been appointed to the Legislative Council. The resulting by-election on 22 May was won by John Sheehan, who died on 12 June 1885. The second by-election on 11 July was won by
Lawrence Grace Lawrence Marshall Grace (16 April 1854 – 10 January 1934) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. He represented the Tauranga electorate from 1885 to 1887, when he retired. He was the son of m ...
, who represented the electorate until the end of the term in 1887. The was won by William Kelly, who represented the electorate until the end of the term in 1890, at which time the electorate was abolished. The electorate was recreated in 1908.
William Herries Sir William Herbert Herries (19 April 1859 – 22 February 1923) was an English-born New Zealand politician. Biography Herries was born in London, the son of Herbert Crompton Herries, a barrister, and his wife, Leonora Emma Wickham. His g ...
was the first representative, elected at the ; he had since the represented the electorate. He became a member of the Reform Party when it formed itself in the following year. Herries represented the electorate until his death on 22 February 1923. The resulting by-election was won by
Charles MacMillan Charles Edward de la Barca MacMillan (December 1872 – 9 January 1941) was a New Zealand politician. He was Mayor of Tauranga (1915–1917) and a member of the House of Representatives (1923–1935). Early life MacMillan was born in Saint Croi ...
, who also represented the Reform Party. MacMillan won the three subsequent general elections before he was beaten in the 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 Charles Burnett. At the next election held in , Burnett was beaten 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, c ...
's
Frederick Doidge Sir Frederick Widdowson Doidge (26 February 1884 – 26 May 1954) was a journalist in New Zealand and England, then a National Party member in the New Zealand House of Representatives. Biography Early life and career Doidge was born in Coo ...
, who held the electorate until his retirement in 1951. Doidge was succeeded by
George Walsh George Frederick Walsh (March 16, 1889 – June 13, 1981) was an American actor. An all-around athlete, who became an actor and later returned to sport, he enjoyed 40 years of fame and was a performer with dual appeal, with women loving hi ...
, who won the . Walsh served for seven terms and retired in 1972. Keith Allen was the next representative, first elected in and an MP until his death shortly before the . Allen's death did not cause a by-election, as it occurred within six months of the next general election. The 1984 election was won by
Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020, ...
, who had previously represented the electorate. In 1990 until March 1991, Peters was
Minister of Māori Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...
, but he was sacked from Cabinet by Prime Minister
Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...
in October 1991 after repeatedly criticising his National Party leadership. Peters remained as a National
backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
, continuing to criticise the party. In late 1992, when the National Party was considering possible candidates for the elections in the following year, it was decided that Peters would not be allowed to seek renomination for the Tauranga electorate. Peters unsuccessfully challenged this decision in the High Court, and in early 1993, he chose to resign from the party and from Parliament. This prompted a by-election in Tauranga some months before the scheduled general election. Peters stood as an independent and won with over 90% of the vote, assisted by the major parties not standing candidates against him. Shortly before the 1993 election, Peters established
New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...
and retained the Tauranga electorate. He continued to represent Tauranga until he was defeated in the by National's
Bob Clarkson Robert Moncrieff Clarkson (born 1939 in Gisborne) is a former Member of the New Zealand Parliament. He was the National Party MP for Tauranga from 2005 to 2008. Biography In 1958 Clarkson qualified as a fitter and turner in Gisborne. He then ...
. Clarkson's defeat of Winston Peters was significant, as this resulted in New Zealand First losing its only electorate seat. The party still gained parliamentary representation by polling over the five percent threshold, however. Clarkson retired at the end of the parliamentary term. He was succeeded by National's
Simon Bridges Simon Joseph Bridges (born 12 October 1976) is a former New Zealand politician and lawyer. He served as Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020, and as the Member of Parliament for Tauranga from the to ...
, who won the , with Peters coming a distant second. Bridges was re-elected in .


Members of Parliament

Key


List MPs

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


Election results


2022 by-election


2020 election


2017 election


2014 election


2011 election

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 48,133


2008 election


2005 election


2002 election


1999 election


1996 election


1993 election


1993 by-election


1990 election


1987 election


1984 election


1981 election


1978 election


1975 election


1972 election


1969 election


1966 election


1963 election


1960 election


1957 election


1954 election


1951 election


1949 election


1946 election


1943 election


1938 election


1935 election


1931 election

Table footnotes:


1928 election

Table footnotes:


1923 by-election


1919 election


1881 election


Table footnotes


References


Bibliography

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External links


Electorate profile
Parliamentary Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Tauranga (New Zealand Electorate) New Zealand electorates Tauranga 1881 establishments in New Zealand 1908 establishments in New Zealand 1890 disestablishments in New Zealand Politics of the Bay of Plenty Region