Rodney (New Zealand electorate)

Rodney
Former Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of  within Auckland
Region	Auckland
Former constituency
Created	1871
Abolished	2020
Last MP	Mark Mitchell
Party	National

Rodney was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives. The last MP for Rodney was Mark Mitchell of the National Party.^[1] He held this position from 2011 until the electorate was replaced with Whangaparāoa in 2020. Mitchell stood for and won that seat.

Population centres

The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, 19 electorates were created for the first time, and eight former electorates were re-established, including Rodney.^[2]

The 1981 census had shown that the North Island had experienced further population growth, and three additional general seats were created through the 1983 electoral redistribution, bringing the total number of electorates to 95.^[3] The South Island had, for the first time, experienced a population loss, but its number of general electorates was fixed at 25 since the 1967 electoral redistribution.^[4] More of the South Island population was moving to Christchurch, and two electorates were abolished, while two electorates were recreated. In the North Island, six electorates were newly created, three electorates were recreated (including Rodney), and six electorates were abolished.^[5]

The 1987 electoral redistribution took the continued population growth in the North Island into account, and two additional general electorates were created, bringing the total number of electorates to 97. In the South Island, the shift of population to Christchurch had continued.^[6] Overall, three electorates were newly created, three electorates were recreated, and four electorates were abolished (including Rodney). All of those electorates were in the North Island. Changes in the South Island were restricted to boundary changes.^[7] These changes came into effect with the 1987 election.^[8]

Rodney covers an area of the northern Auckland region from Warkworth in the north, south through the Hibiscus Coast to Auckland's northern urban fringe. High population growth in north and west Auckland has led to Rodney shrinking – Helensville and Kumeū were taken out in 1999, and the next major town to be removed was Wellsford after the 2006 census.

At the 2020 general election, Rodney was abolished, with the northern section around Warkworth being merged with most of Helensville into Kaipara ki Mahurangi, and the southern section becoming the bulk of the new Whangaparāoa electorate.^[9]

History

Rodney was first created for the 1871 election and was represented by four MPs from 1871 to 1890: Harry Farnall 1871–1872 (resigned); John Sheehan 1872–1879 (elected for Thames in 1879); Seymour Thorne George 1879–1884 (retired); and William Pollock Moat 1884–1890 (retired).

Its first recreation was from the 1946 election to 1978, and was recreated for a single term six years later for the 1984 election.

Rodney was again recreated ahead of the change to mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting in 1996. Its original incarnation was coterminous with the district for which it is named – most of the old Albany seat minus its eponymous town, with a large section of Kaipara tacked onto the northern fringe. Both of these seats were held by National MPs – Lockwood Smith in Kaipara and then Deputy Prime Minister Don McKinnon in Albany. Smith won his party's nomination for what is a safe National seat and has held it until the 2011 election, when he stood as a list candidate only. In the 1996 election, Mike Lee came second standing as an Independent.^[10]

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   National   Green   NZ First   Labour

Election	Winner
1871 election		Harry Farnall
1872 by-election		John Sheehan
1876 election
1879 election		Seymour George
1881 election
1884 election		William Moat
1887 election
(Electorate abolished 1890–1946)
1946 election		Clifton Webb
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election		Jack Scott
1957 election
1960 election
1963 election
1966 election
1969 election		Peter Wilkinson
1972 election
1975 election
(Electorate abolished 1978–1984, see Albany)
1984 election		Don McKinnon
(Electorate abolished 1987–1996, see Albany)
1996 election		Lockwood Smith
1999 election
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election
2011 election		Mark Mitchell
2014 election
2017 election
(Electorate abolished in 2020; see Whangaparāoa)

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
1999 election		Penny Webster
		Sue Bradford
2002 election
		Craig McNair
2011 election		Tracey Martin
2014 election
2017 election
		Marja Lubeck

Election results

2017 election

2017 general election: Rodney[11]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Mark Mitchell		28,140	63.14	+0.14	27,010	61.02	-1.37
	Labour	Marja Lubeck		8,579	19.25	+8.23	10,571	23.35	+11.05
	NZ First	Tracey Martin		4,381	9.83	-0.32	3,955	8.73	-0.34
	Green	Harrison Burnard		2,503	5.62	-3.25	2,084	4.60	-3.90
	Opportunities	Brittany Owens		963	2.16	—	805	1.78	—
	ACT						389	0.86	+0.37
	Conservative						130	0.29	-6.46
	Legalise Cannabis						116	0.26	−0.05
	Māori Party						103	0.23	-0.13
	Outdoors						32	0.07	—
	United Future						27	0.06	−0.15
	People's Party						20	0.04	—
	Ban 1080						17	0.04	-0.03
	Internet						11	0.02	-0.57[a]
	Democrats						8	0.02	-0.02
	Mana Party						3	0.01	-0.58[b]
Informal votes				220			70
Total valid votes				44,566			45,281
Turnout				45,351
	National hold		Majority	19,561	43.89	-7.44

2014 election

2014 general election: Rodney[12]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Mark Mitchell		24,519	63.00	+9.46	24,051	61.02	−1.12
	Labour	Eric Bolt		4,289	11.02	−2.65	4,847	12.30	−1.13
	NZ First	Tracey Martin		3,951	10.15	+6.25	3,575	9.07	+2.10
	Green	Malcolm McAll		3,454	8.87	+1.75	3,351	8.50	+0.03
	Conservative	Anton Heyns		2,210	5.68	−15.55	2,661	6.75	+0.37
	ACT	Beth Houlbrooke		244	0.63	+0.09	192	0.49	−0.70
	Internet Mana						231	0.59	+0.44[c]
	Māori Party						142	0.36	+0.00
	Legalise Cannabis						123	0.31	−0.08
	United Future						81	0.21	−0.19
	Ban 1080						29	0.07	+0.07
	Democrats						15	0.04	+0.01
	Independent Coalition						12	0.03	+0.03
	Civilian						8	0.02	+0.02
	Focus						5	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				255			91
Total valid votes				38,922			39,414
Turnout				39,414	81.63	+3.58
	National hold		Majority	20,230	51.33	+19.02

2011 election

2011 general election: Rodney[13]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Mark Mitchell		20,253	53.54	-6.87	23,967	62.15	+3.16
	Conservative	Colin Craig		8,031	21.23	+21.23	2,459	6.38	+6.38
	Labour	Christine Rose		5,170	13.67	-5.13	5,178	13.43	-7.19
	Green	Teresa Moore		2,694	7.12	-0.57	3,265	8.47	+3.29
	NZ First	Tracey Martin		1,476	3.90	-0.35	2,688	6.97	+2.44
	ACT	Beth Houlbrooke		204	0.54	-4.15	460	1.19	-5.37
	United Future						154	0.40	-0.36
	Legalise Cannabis						151	0.39	+0.03
	Māori Party						140	0.36	-0.12
	Mana						58	0.15	+0.15
	Libertarianz						18	0.05	+0.02
	Democrats						13	0.03	+0.01
	Alliance						12	0.03	-0.03
Informal votes				615			257
Total valid votes				37,828			38,563
	National hold		Majority	12,222	32.31	-9.31

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 49,407^[14]

2008 election

2008 general election: Rodney[15]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Lockwood Smith		22,698	60.41		22,441	58.99
	Labour	Conor Roberts		7,063	18.80		7,842	20.61
	Green	David Hay		2,890	7.69		1,969	5.18
	ACT	Beryl Good		1,760	4.68		2,496	6.56
	NZ First	Tracey Martin		1,599	4.26		1,722	4.53
	Family Party	Karl Adams		735	1.96		226	0.59
	Kiwi	Simonne Dyer		581	1.55		327	0.86
	United Future	Kathleen Deal		245	0.65		288	0.76
	Progressive						197	0.52
	Māori Party						182	0.48
	Bill and Ben						150	0.39
	Legalise Cannabis						136	0.36
	Alliance						24	0.06
	Libertarianz						11	0.03
	Democrats						9	0.02
	Workers Party						8	0.02
	Pacific						5	0.01
	RAM						5	0.01
	RONZ						4	0.01
Informal votes				226			107
Total valid votes				37,571			38,042
	National hold		Majority	15,635	41.61	+10.57

2005 election

2005 general election: Rodney[16]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Lockwood Smith		20,651	55.57	+16.99	19,799	52.65
	Labour	Tony Dunlop		9,115	24.53	-0.85	10,462	27.82
	NZ First	Craig McNair		3,496	9.41		3,089	8.08
	Green	Graham Evans		1,918	5.16		1,631	4.34
	United Future	Peter Mountain		997	2.68		1,162	3.09
	ACT	Christopher Brown		450	1.21		678	1.80
	Progressive	Tony Sharrock		332	0.89		319	0.85
	Māori Party	Adell Dick		166	0.45		107	0.28
	Direct Democracy	Colin Punter		36	0.10		2	0.01
	Destiny						238	0.63
	Legalise Cannabis						58	0.15
	Christian Heritage						36	0.10
	Alliance						18	0.05
	Democrats						15	0.04
	Family Rights						8	0.02
	Libertarianz						7	0.02
	99 MP						6	0.02
	RONZ						6	0.02
	One NZ						3	0.01
Informal votes				353			145
Total valid votes				37,161			37,605
	National hold		Majority	11,536	31.04	+16.84

1999 election

Refer to Candidates in the New Zealand general election 1999 by electorate#Rodney for a list of candidates.

Table footnotes

1. 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
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. 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. New Zealand Parliament – Mark Mitchell MP
2. McRobie 1989, pp. 91–96.
3. McRobie 1989, pp. 123f.
4. McRobie 1989, pp. 111, 123.
5. McRobie 1989, pp. 119–124.
6. McRobie 1989, pp. 127f.
7. McRobie 1989, pp. 123–128.
8. McRobie 1989, p. 127.
9. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
10. "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Rodney" (PDF). Retrieved 6 July 2013.
11. "Official Count Results – Rodney (2017)". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
12. "Official Count Results – Rodney (2014)". Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
13. 2011 election results
14. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
15. 2008 election results
16. election result Rodney 2005

References

• 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.

External links

• Electorate profile, Parliamentary Library