Botany (New Zealand electorate)
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 for the National Party. Following Wong's resignation in late 2010, a by-election 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.
![](../I/Botany_electorate%252C_2014.svg.png.webp)
Background
The Representation Commission established the electoral district of Botany after the 2006 New Zealand census due to high population growth in and around Auckland. The new electorate resulted from several sweeping changes to the electoral landscape of South Auckland:
- The southern end of Port Waikato was lanced and combined with the area around Clevedon township to form Hunua.
- 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 Tamaki, Dannemora and Botany Downs, which combined with fragments of the Clevedon and Pakuranga 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 Islanders (13 to 7%), which makes Botany a minority-majority 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[1] 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.[2] The march's organiser Peter Low used his website to clarify his position, calling for harsher sentencing, victims' rights and zero "criminal rights".[3]
History
Botany was first created for the 2008 general election, and won by Pansy Wong for the National Party.
Both National and the ACT party stood Chinese New Zealanders as their candidates in 2008; Pansy Wong and Kenneth Wang, 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.[4][5]
On 14 December 2010 it was announced that a by-election was to be held on 5 March 2011 due to the resignation of incumbent MP Pansy Wong.[6] 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,[7] however he later decided against resigning. Christopher Luxon won the National Party selection in November 2019.[8]
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.[9] Luxon won the seat at the 2020 election as Ross was ejected from Parliament.
Members of Parliament
Key
Election | Winner | |
---|---|---|
2008 election | Pansy Wong | |
2011 by-election | Jami-Lee Ross | |
2011 election | ||
2014 election | ||
2017 election | ||
2020 election | Christopher Luxon |
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 | Winner | |
---|---|---|
2020 election | Naisi Chen | |
Damien Smith |
Election results
2020 election
2020 general election: Botany[10] | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes: |
Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
| ||||||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Party votes | % | ±% | ||
National | Christopher Luxon | 16,661 | 53.23 | −8.38 | 12,089 | 38.64 | −22.99 | ||
Labour | Naisi Chen | 11,890 | 38.00 | +13.38 | 14,312 | 45.74 | +13.38 | ||
ACT | Damien Smith | 1029 | 3.28 | +2.33 | 2,236 | 7.14 | +6.19 | ||
New Conservative | Dieuwe De Boer | 482 | 1.54 | +1.54 | 433 | 1.38 | +0.04 | ||
Sustainable NZ | Peter Fleming | 233 | 0.83 | +0.10 | 19 | 0.06 | +0.06 | ||
Green | 942 | 3.01 | +0.72 | ||||||
NZ First | 467 | 1.49 | −4.09 | ||||||
Opportunities | 188 | 0.60 | −0.22 | ||||||
TEA | 108 | 0.34 | +0.34 | ||||||
Advance NZ | 105 | 0.33 | +0.21 | ||||||
ONE | 62 | 0.19 | +0.19 | ||||||
Māori | 46 | 0.14 | −0.41 | ||||||
Legalise Cannabis | 36 | 0.11 | −0.05 | ||||||
Vision NZ | 19 | 0.06 | +0.06 | ||||||
Outdoors | 12 | 0.04 | ±0.00 | ||||||
Heartland | 5 | 0.02 | +0.02 | ||||||
Social Credit | 3 | 0.01 | ±0.00 | ||||||
Informal votes | 945 | 200 | |||||||
Total Valid votes | 31,269 | 31,286 | |||||||
Turnout | 38,060[11] | 74.02 | +1.39 | ||||||
National hold | Majority | 4,771 | 15.24 | −21.77 |
2017 election
2017 general election: Botany[12] | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes: |
Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
| ||||||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Party votes | % | ±% | ||
National | ![]() |
21,378 | 61.63 | −2.21 | 21,428 | 60.83 | +1.41 | ||
Labour | Tofik Mamedov | 8,539 | 24.62 | +1.72 | 10,279 | 29.18 | +6.99 | ||
Green | Julie Zhu | 2,103 | 6.06 | — | 841 | 2.39 | −1.95 | ||
Māori | Wetex Kang | 1,165 | 3.36 | — | 195 | 0.55 | +0.34 | ||
United Future | Damian Light | 500 | 1.44 | — | 33 | 0.09 | −0.06 | ||
ACT | Sam Singh | 330 | 0.95 | — | 209 | 0.59 | −1.81 | ||
NZ First | 1,612 | 4.58 | −0.84 | ||||||
Opportunities | 288 | 0.82 | — | ||||||
Conservative | 91 | 0.26 | −4.25 | ||||||
Legalise Cannabis | 54 | 1.53 | +1.26 | ||||||
People's Party | 44 | 0.12 | — | ||||||
Outdoors | 14 | 0.04 | — | ||||||
Mana | 12 | 0.03 | — | ||||||
Internet | 9 | 0.02 | — | ||||||
Ban 1080 | 6 | 0.02 | −0.02 | ||||||
Democrats | 2 | 0.01 | — | ||||||
Informal votes | 673 | 110 | |||||||
Total Valid votes | 34,688 | 35,227 | |||||||
Turnout | 35,658 | 72.63[13] | +0.78 | ||||||
National hold | Majority | 12,839 | 37.01 | −3.93 |
2014 election
2014 general election: Botany[14] | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes: |
Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
| ||||||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Party votes | % | ±% | ||
National | ![]() |
21,044 | 63.84 | −0.19 | 20,016 | 59.42 | −1.71 | ||
Labour | Tofik Mamedov | 7,549 | 22.90 | −2.45 | 7,473 | 22.19 | −1.59 | ||
Conservative | Paul Young | 3,053 | 9.26 | +1.57 | 1,519 | 4.51 | +1.83 | ||
Independent | David McCormick | 668 | 2.03 | +2.03 | |||||
NZ First | 1,825 | 5.42 | +1.02 | ||||||
Green | 1,461 | 4.34 | −0.06 | ||||||
ACT | 808 | 2.40 | +0.75 | ||||||
Internet Mana | 204 | 0.61 | +0.36[lower-alpha 1] | ||||||
Legalise Cannabis | 90 | 0.27 | −0.02 | ||||||
Māori | 71 | 0.21 | −0.08 | ||||||
United Future | 49 | 0.15 | −0.17 | ||||||
Ban 1080 | 12 | 0.04 | +0.04 | ||||||
Independent Coalition | 9 | 0.03 | +0.03 | ||||||
Civilian | 8 | 0.02 | +0.02 | ||||||
Focus | 6 | 0.02 | +0.02 | ||||||
Democrats | 5 | 0.01 | −0.01 | ||||||
Informal votes | 648 | 128 | |||||||
Total Valid votes | 32,962 | 33,684 | |||||||
Turnout | 33,812 | 71.00 | +3.25 | ||||||
National hold | Majority | 13,495 | 40.94 | +2.26 |
2011 election
2011 general election: Botany[15] | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes: |
Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
| ||||||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Party votes | % | ±% | ||
National | ![]() |
17,780 | 64.03 | +7.81 | 17,749 | 61.13 | -0.11 | ||
Labour | Chao-Fu Wu | 7,039 | 25.35 | +4.29 | 7,111 | 24.49 | -0.69 | ||
Conservative | Paul Young | 2,135 | 7.69 | +7.69 | 777 | 2.68 | +2.68 | ||
ACT | Lyn Murphy | 631 | 2.27 | -12.98 | 478 | 1.65 | -3.19 | ||
United Future | Ram Parkash | 185 | 0.67 | -0.72 | 94 | 0.32 | -0.37 | ||
NZ First | 1,278 | 4.40 | +2.26 | ||||||
Green | 1,277 | 4.40 | +2.01 | ||||||
Legalise Cannabis | 85 | 0.29 | +0.10 | ||||||
Māori | 84 | 0.29 | -0.02 | ||||||
Mana | 72 | 0.25 | +0.25 | ||||||
Libertarianz | 13 | 0.04 | +0.01 | ||||||
Alliance | 9 | 0.03 | +0.01 | ||||||
Democrats | 7 | 0.02 | +0.02 | ||||||
Informal votes | 1,069 | 238 | |||||||
Total Valid votes | 27,770 | 29,034 | |||||||
National hold | Majority | 10,741 | 38.68 | +3.52 |
Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 43,204[16]
2011 by-election
Official results of the 5 March by-election.[17]
2011 Botany by-election | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes: Blue background denotes the winner of the by-election. | |||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
National | Jami-Lee Ross | 8,352 | 54.25 | -1.97 | |
Labour | Michael Wood | 4,380 | 28.45 | +7.39 | |
New Citizen | Paul Young | 1,626 | 10.56 | ||
ACT | Lyn Murphy | 687 | 4.46 | -10.80 | |
Independent | Penny Bright | 128 | 0.83 | ||
Legalise Cannabis | Leo Biggs | 61 | 0.40 | ||
Independent | Wayne Young | 54 | 0.35 | ||
Join Australia | Robin Caithness | 45 | 0.29 | ||
Pirate | Hussain Al-saady | 32 | 0.21 | ||
Independent | Robert Goh | 31 | 0.20 | ||
Informal votes | 25 | 0.16 | |||
Total Valid votes | 15,396 | 35.84 | |||
National hold | Majority | 3,972 | 25.76 | -9.40 |
2008 election
2008 general election: Botany[18] | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes: |
Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
| ||||||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Party votes | % | ±% | ||
National | Pansy Wong | 17,382 | 56.22 | 19,355 | 61.25 | ||||
Labour | Koro Tawa | 6,510 | 21.06 | 7,958 | 25.18 | ||||
ACT | Kenneth Wang | 4,717 | 15.26 | 1,528 | 4.84 | ||||
Green | Peter Cooper | 1,226 | 3.97 | 756 | 2.39 | ||||
United Future | Judy Carter | 428 | 1.38 | 220 | 0.70 | ||||
Progressive | Racheal Cheam | 304 | 0.98 | 217 | 0.69 | ||||
Kiwi | Simon Kan | 212 | 0.69 | 125 | 0.40 | ||||
Independent | Raj Subramanian | 140 | 0.45 | ||||||
NZ First | 678 | 2.15 | |||||||
Pacific | 295 | 0.93 | |||||||
Family Party | 166 | 0.53 | |||||||
Bill and Ben | 98 | 0.31 | |||||||
Māori | 98 | 0.31 | |||||||
Legalise Cannabis | 62 | 0.20 | |||||||
Workers Party | 13 | 0.04 | |||||||
Libertarianz | 10 | 0.03 | |||||||
Alliance | 8 | 0.03 | |||||||
RONZ | 7 | 0.02 | |||||||
RAM | 6 | 0.02 | |||||||
Democrats | 2 | 0.01 | |||||||
Informal votes | 386 | 131 | |||||||
Total Valid votes | 30,919 | 31,602 | |||||||
National win new seat | Majority | 10,872 | 35.16 |
Table footnotes
References
- "Asian Vote". New Zealand Listener. 2004-08-20.
- "Huge turnout for anti-crime march". TVNZ News. 2004-07-05.
- "ASIAN ANTI-CRIME GROUP (AAG) TRUST NEW ZEALAND". Asian Anti-Crime Group Trust. 2004-08-05. Archived from the original on 2008-09-05.
- Tan, Lincoln (20 June 2008). "Botany a hot Asian battleground". The New Zealand Herald.
- Blockley, Louise (22 August 2008). "Raymond Huo on Labour list". Te Waha Nui. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
- Cheng, Derek (14 December 2010). "Pansy Wong resigns as MP". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- Morning Report (17 October 2018). "Jami-Lee Ross vows to fight for Botany seat". RNZ.
- Wilson, Simon (5 November 2019). "National selects Christopher Luxon as its new candidate for Botany". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- Kirkness, Luke (15 September 2020). "Election 2020: Advance NZ's Jami-Lee Ross abandons attempt to retain Botany seat". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020.
- "Official Count Results – Botany". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- "Party Votes and Turnout by Electorate (2020)". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- New Zealand Electoral Commission. "Botany - Official Result". Electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- "Party Votes and Turnout by Electorate". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- Electoral Commission (21 January 2016). "Official Count Results – Botany". Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- "Botany results, 2011".
- "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 21 October 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- "By-Election Results -- Botany". electionresults.govt.nz. 2011. Archived from the original on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- Election result: Botany, 2008 Archived December 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Electorate Profile Parliamentary Library