Hunua (New Zealand electorate)

The 1977 electoral redistribution was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886, initiated by Muldoon's National Government.[1] As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand's population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island.[2] The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Hunua) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.[3]

Population centres of the original electorate included Cockle Bay in the north-west, East Tāmaki in the west, the settlement of Hunua itself, Mangatāwhiri in the south, and Kaiaua in the east.[2] The electorate existed for two parliamentary periods until the 1983 electoral redistribution, when boundary changes forced its abolition ahead of the 1984 election.[4][5] The north-west corner went to the newly established Otara electorate, and the remaining part was absorbed by the reconstituted Franklin electorate.[6]

The 1978 election was notable in that Labour candidate Malcolm Douglas held an election night majority of 301 votes. However, National candidate Winston Peters claimed irregularities in the vote, and in a 24 May 1979 ruling, a Court-ordered recount resulted in 500 votes being re-classed as informal, giving Peters a majority of 192. Peters was declared elected as of election night.[7][8]

The electorate was re-created due to the 1996 change to mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting and the resulting reduction in the number of constituencies. The second historical Hunua electorate contained a selection of dormitory towns in south Auckland, of which Papakura was the largest. The Hunua electorate was abolished again in 2002 and replaced by Clevedon.

The electorate was established again for the 2008 election. The new Hunua electorate was based around the southern and eastern fringes of the Auckland region, and contained the Franklin District towns of Pukekohe, Waiuku, Bombay, as well as Clevedon, Whitford and Maraetai from eastern Manukau. The resurrected Hunua electorate officially replaced the redrawn and renamed electorate of Port Waikato.

Hunua was abolished again for the 2020 general election, with the eastern half being incorporated into Papakura, a small section around Ormiston and Mission Heights becoming part of the new Takanini electorate, and the western half being merged into a recreated Port Waikato.[9]

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.