Christopher John AuchinvoleJP (born 7 March 1945) is a Scottish-born New Zealand former politician. He represented the National Party in the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2014.
In the 2005 election, Auchinvole stood as the National Party's candidate for the West Coast-Tasman electorate. Despite reducing the incumbent's majority by 5,568 votes, he was unsuccessful.[2] Nevertheless, he entered Parliament as a list MP, having been ranked 34th.[3] In the 2008 election, Auchinvole won the electorate with a small majority beating Labour's Damien O'Connor who had represented the West Coast since 1993.[4] Damien O'Connor regained the electorate in 2011 despite a record defeat for the Labour Party.[5]
On 2 October 2013 Auchinvole confirmed that he would be stepping down at the 2014 election.[8] Auchinvole was replaced for the 2014 election by Maureen Pugh, former Westland District mayor as the West Coast-Tasman candidate. However, she did not win the seat, but later entered Parliament on the list following Tim Groser's resignation. Following the 2014 election Auchinvole has retired with his wife to raise Highland Cattle on their West Coast properties in Moana near Lake Brunner on the West Coast.
