Rangitata
Single-member constituency
for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Outline map
Location of Rangitatawithin Canterbury
RegionCanterbury
Area6,809.61 km2 (2,629.21 sq mi)
Current constituency
Created2008
Current MPJames Meager
PartyNational

Rangitata is an electorate in the South Island of New Zealand. It first existed for two parliamentary terms in the late 19th century and was re-established for the 2008 general election. It largely replaced the Aoraki electorate, but included parts of the Rakaia electorate as well.

It is held by James Meager of the National Party following the 2023 general election. Previously it was held by Jo Luxton of the Labour Party following the 2020 general election, and Andrew Falloon of the National Party from the 2017 election. Rangitata was a relatively safe National seat until it changed to the Labour Party in the 2020 general election. Following the 2023 general election, the New Zealand National Party regained the seat.

The electorate includes both rural areas, and towns such as Timaru and Temuka, these two towns being Labour strongholds giving the electorate a different composition to its more conservative neighbours Selwyn and Waitaki.

Population centres

In the 1887 electoral redistribution, although the Representation Commission was required through the Representation Act 1887 to maintain existing electorates "as far as possible", rapid population growth in the North Island required the transfer of three seats from the South Island to the north. Ten new electorates were created, including Rangitata, and one former electorate was recreated.[1]

The boundaries of the Rangitata electorate were adjusted in the 2013/14 review, when an area around Rakaia was transferred to the Selwyn electorate.[2] The boundary shifted eastwards again in the 2019/20 review, when the boundary was aligned with the Rakaia River.

The current electorate includes the following population centres (with approximate populations in brackets):

History

The Rangitata electorate was first established for the 1887 election.[3] The election was contested by William Rolleston, who had represented Geraldine in the previous Parliament, Searby Buxton, and William Palmer.[4] Buxton beat Rolleston, who had been in Parliament since 1868, by 588 to 507 votes, with Palmer receiving 14 votes.[5][6] Buxton held the electorate until the end of the term in 1890,[7] when the electorate was abolished again.[3]

The electorate was re-established for the 1893 election[3] and won by William Maslin, who served until the end of the parliamentary term in 1896.[8] The electorate was again abolished at the end of that term.[3]

The present electorate, established for the 2008 election, consists of the old Aoraki electorate, and those parts of the old Rakaia electorate not included in the Selwyn electorate.

It was created after a review of electoral boundaries conducted in the wake of the 2006 census, which showed that there had been a general northwards population movement. Even though the number of South Island electorates was fixed, the decline in the population of electorates from Rakaia south resulted in the boundaries of electorates from Invercargill north to Rakaia shifting northwards. At the time of the formation of the Rangitata electorate, Jo Goodhew was the incumbent in the Aoraki electorate.[9] She held the Rangitata electorate since its creation and in the 2014 election, she more than doubled her majority.[9][10]

Goodhew announced in January 2017 that she would not be contesting the 2017 general election after being dropped from cabinet.[11] The electorate was won at the election by Andrew Falloon, retaining it for the National Party.[12]

In mid-July 2020, Falloon announced that he would not be seeking re-election at the 2020 general election, citing personal reasons following the suicide of a friend.[13] Following reports that Falloon had sent pornographic images to several women, he resigned as the Member for Rangitata under pressure from National Party leader Judith Collins.[14][15][16]

On 9 August 2020, the National Party nominated Environment Canterbury councillor Megan Hands as their new candidate for Rangitata.[17] During the 2020 general election held on 17 October, the Labour Party's candidate Jo Luxton captured Rangitata from National, defeating Hands by a final margin of 4,408 votes.[18]

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   Liberal   National   Labour

Election Winner
1887 election Searby Buxton
(Electorate abolished 1890–1893)
1893 election William Maslin
(Electorate abolished 1896–2008)
2008 election Jo Goodhew
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election Andrew Falloon[a]
2020 election Jo Luxton
2023 election James Meager

List MPs

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

Election Winner
2017 election Jo Luxton
2023 election

Election results

2020 election

2020 general election: Rangitata[19]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party votes % ±%
Labour Jo Luxton 21,147 50.33 +14.22 20,742 48.85 +15.35
National Megan Hands 16,739 39.84 −12.96 13,368 31.48 −20.42
ACT Hamish Hutton 1,394 3.32 +2.62 4,101 9.66 +9.15
New Conservative Lachie Ashton 1,095 2.61 — 854 2.01 +1.75
Green Gerrie Ligtenberg 852 2.03 −2.17 1,325 3.12 −0.35
Outdoors Grant Kelynack 315 0.75 — 109 0.26 +0.18
Advance NZ Aroha Maru 292 0.70 — 306 0.72 —
Social Credit Brannon Favel 108 0.26 — 44 0.10 +0.08
Not A Party James Rae 71 0.17 —
NZ First   848 2.00 −4.00
Opportunities   414 0.97 −1.20
Legalise Cannabis   204 0.48 +0.12
Māori Party   55 0.13 −0.06
ONE   53 0.12 —
Sustainable NZ   20 0.05 —
Vision New Zealand   10 0.02 —
TEA   6 0.01 —
Heartland   5 0.01 —
Informal votes 703 407
Total valid votes 42,013 42,464
Labour gain from National Majority 4,408 10.49 −6.26

2017 election

2017 general election: Rangitata[20]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party votes % ±%
National Andrew Falloon 19,994 52.8 -12.37 20,106 52.9 -2.42
Labour Jo Luxton 13,663 36.1 +10.02 12,729 33.5 +11.32
Opportunities Olly Wilson 1,828 4.8 — 825 2.17 —
Green Mojo Mathers 1,583 4.2 — 1,321 3.47 -4
ACT Tom Corbett 262 0.7 -0.6 193 0.51 +0.06
NZ First   2,281 6 -1.83
Legalise Cannabis   138 0.36 -0.24
Conservative   99 0.26 -4.09
Māori Party   71 0.19 -0.07
Ban 1080   41 0.11 -0.12
People's Party   35 0.09 —
Outdoors   30 0.08 —
United Future   25 0.07 -0.24
Democrats   8 0.02 -0.05
Mana   8 0.02 -0.37[b]
Internet   2 0.01 -0.38[c]
Informal votes 473 131
Total valid votes 37,803 38,043
National hold Majority 6,331 16.75 -22.34

2014 election

2014 general election: Rangitata[21]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party votes % ±%
National Green tickY Jo Goodhew 23,518 65.17 +9.40 20,108 55.32 +1.66
Labour Steven Gibson 9,411 26.08 −11.07 8,064 22.18 −4.78
Conservative Oliver Vitali 1,577 4.37 +4.37 1,580 4.35 +1.95
ACT Tom Corbett 469 1.30 +0.46 165 0.45 −0.57
NZ First   2,848 7.83 +2.03
Green   2,715 7.47 −0.58
Legalise Cannabis   217 0.60 −0.04
Internet Mana   142 0.39 +0.30[d]
United Future   114 0.31 −0.54
Māori Party   94 0.26 −0.08
Ban 1080   84 0.23 +0.23
Democrats   24 0.07 +0.02
Civilian   20 0.06 +0.06
Independent Coalition   13 0.04 +0.04
Focus   9 0.02 +0.02
Informal votes 1,111 154
Total valid votes 36,086 36,351
Turnout 36,351 78.23 +3.41
National hold Majority 14,107 39.09 +20.47

2011 election

2011 general election: Rangitata[22]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party votes % ±%
National Green tickY Jo Goodhew 19,580 55.77 −2.09 19,282 53.66 +5.09
Labour Julian Blanchard 13,043 37.15 +0.86 9,687 26.96 −7.89
Green Gerrie Ligtenberg 1,766 5.03 +5.03 2,894 8.05 +3.85
United Future Andrew McMillan 418 1.19 +0.58 307 0.85 −0.01
ACT Tom Corbett 303 0.86 −0.88 367 1.02 −2.75
NZ First   2,084 5.80 +2.03
Conservative   863 2.40 +2.40
Legalise Cannabis   229 0.64 +0.10
Māori Party   123 0.34 +0.03
Mana   32 0.09 +0.09
Alliance   24 0.07 −0.04
Libertarianz   20 0.06 +0.03
Democrats   19 0.05 +0.02
Informal votes 970 351
Total valid votes 35,110 35,931
National hold Majority 6,537 18.62 −2.95

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 48,024[23]

2008 election

2008 general election: Rangitata[24]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party votes % ±%
National Jo Goodhew 21,759 57.86 18,441 48.57
Labour Julian Blanchard 13,647 36.29 13,230 34.85
Kiwi Tony Bunting 759 2.02 378 1.00
ACT Peter McCaw 655 1.74 1,431 3.77
Independent Paul Tew 555 1.48
United Future Brian Ward 230 0.61 329 0.87
Green   1,597 4.21
NZ First   1,431 3.77
Bill and Ben   333 0.88
Progressive   329 0.87
Legalise Cannabis   204 0.54
Māori Party   118 0.31
Family Party   54 0.14
Alliance   42 0.11
Workers Party   16 0.04
Democrats   12 0.03
Libertarianz   8 0.02
Pacific   7 0.02
RONZ   5 0.01
RAM   3 0.01
Informal votes 457 272
Total valid votes 37,605 37,968
National win new seat Majority 8,112 21.57

Table footnotes

  1. ^ Falloon resigned as the MP for Rangitata on 21 July 2020. As this date was closer than 6 months to the general election in October, a vacancy existed until the election.
  2. ^ 2017 Mana Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with the Internet Party in the 2014 election
  3. ^ 2017 Internet Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Mana Party in the 2014 election
  4. ^ 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.

Notes

  1. ^ McRobie 1989, pp. 50–53.
  2. ^ Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-477-10414-2. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d Scholefield 1950, p. 163.
  4. ^ "Rangitata". The Press. Vol. XLIV, no. 6859. 17 September 1887. p. 6. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Rangitata". Auckland Star. Vol. XVIII, no. 228. 28 September 1887. p. 5. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  6. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 231.
  7. ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 99.
  8. ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 1253.
  9. ^ a b "Hon Jo Goodhew". New Zealand Parliament. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  10. ^ Montgomerie, Jack (22 September 2014). "Goodhew, Dean back with bigger majorities". The Timaru Herald. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  11. ^ "National MP Jo Goodhew quits after being dumped from Cabinet". The New Zealand Herald. 25 January 2017. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  12. ^ "Rangitata – Official Result 2017 general elections". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  13. ^ "National MP Andrew Falloon quits amid 'significant mental health issues'". The New Zealand Herald. 20 July 2020. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  14. ^ Cooke, Henry (21 July 2020). "Andrew Falloon sent sexually explicit photos to another young woman". Stuff. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  15. ^ "New sex-text claims: National MP Andrew Falloon quits politics immediately; Judith Collins says she 'no longer trusts his story'". The New Zealand Herald. 21 July 2020. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  16. ^ O'Brien, Tova (20 July 2020). "'Pattern of behaviour' emerging: Further allegations of lewd images sent by disgraced ex-National MP Andrew Falloon". Newshub. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  17. ^ Comer, Rachel; Mohanlall, Samesh (9 August 2020). "Megan Hands National's new Rangitata candidate". Timaru Herald. Stuff. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Rangitata – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  19. ^ "Rangitata - Official Result". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Official Count Results – Rangitata". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  21. ^ "Official Count Results – Rangitata (2014)". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  22. ^ "Official Count Results – Rangitata (2011)". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  23. ^ "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  24. ^ "Official Count Results – Rangitata (2008)". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 April 2016.

References

External links

Current New Zealand electorates
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