Ōhāriu (New Zealand electorate)

Ōhāriu, previously spelled Ohariu and then Ōhariu, is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives. It first existed from 1978 to 1993, and was recreated for the 2008 election. In 2008, it was the successor to Ohariu-Belmont, first contested at the first mixed-member proportional (MMP) election in 1996. Through its existence Ohariu-Belmont was represented by Peter Dunne, leader of the United Future party. Dunne contested and won the recreated electorate in 2008. He announced on 21 August 2017 that he would not stand in the 2017 general election.

Ōhāriu
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of Ōhāriuwithin Wellington
Region	Wellington
Current constituency
Created	1978
Current MP	Greg O'Connor
Party	Labour

Population centres

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 in 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 Ohariu) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.^[3]

The Ohariu electorate replaced the Karori electorate, but did not include any of Khandallah or Ngaio.^[4]

In 2008, the boundaries of the Ohariu-Belmont and Ōhariu electorates were near identical except for the removal of the eponymous Lower Hutt suburb of Belmont into the Rimutaka electorate and the addition of Crofton Downs from Wellington Central. The new electorate contained the section of Wellington City between Crofton Downs and southern Tawa, including Ngaio, Khandallah, Johnsonville and Newlands. The rest of the electorate consisted of Lower Hutt's hill suburbs of Korokoro, Maungaraki and Normandale. Ōhariu was one of eleven electorate names to include a macron, for the first time. The name was later changed to include a second macron.

Both Ohariu-Belmont and Ōhāriu are young and wealthy; it has the largest number of 30- to 49-year-olds in the country, and the second highest number of families earning between $70,000 and $100,000 per year. 69% of its population is New Zealand European, 14% Asian and 8% Māori.^[5]

History

Despite Dunne having a 7,702 vote majority in Ohariu-Belmont at the 2005 election,^[6] United Future's performance was less impressive. In 2005 it won just 5.6% of the party vote (down from 13.0% in 2002) in an electorate dominated by the big two parties: National came out on top in the party vote with 43.1%, beating Labour by 3.6%, having been reduced to 24.4% three years earlier.^[7]

Historically Ohariu (without macrons) was an electorate based around north and western Wellington, contested between 1978 and 1990. A substantial redrawing of Wellington's boundaries ahead of the final first-past-the-post election in 1993 led to Ohariu being divided between Wellington-Karori and the new electorate of Onslow. Dunne, then a member of the Labour Party, was the MP for the old Ohariu between 1984 until its abolition, and won Onslow in 1993.

Members of Parliament

Key

  National   Labour   United Future   Green

Election	Winner
1978 election		Hugh Templeton
1981 election
1984 election		Peter Dunne
1987 election
1990 election
(Electorate abolished 1993–2008, see Onslow and Ohariu-Belmont)
2008 election		Peter Dunne
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election		Greg O'Connor
2020 election
2023 election

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
2008 election		Charles Chauvel
		Katrina Shanks
2010		Gareth Hughes[lower-alpha 1]
2011 election		Charles Chauvel[lower-alpha 2]
		Gareth Hughes
		Katrina Shanks[lower-alpha 3]
2014 election		Brett Hudson
2017 election
2023 election		Nicola Willis

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: Ōhāriu[8]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Greg O'Connor		17,565	41.15	-11.40	12,457	28.95	-21.87
	National	Nicola Willis		16,305	38.20	+13.05	14,841	34.49	+12.29
	Green	Stephanie Rodgers		4,412	10.33	+5.24	8,623	20.04	+6.49
	Opportunities	Jessica Hammond		2,975	6.97	-3.21	1,882	4.37	+1.58
	ACT	Paul Day		759	1.77	-0.08	2,524	5.86	-0.21
	Vision New Zealand	Patrick Lim		214	0.50
	Independent	Martin Jenkins		124	0.29
	NZ First						1,442	3.35	+1.47
	Te Pāti Māori						519	1.20	+0.85
	NewZeal						119	0.27	+0.27
	Legalise Cannabis						114	0.26	+0.08
	NZ Loyal						112	0.26	+0.26
	New Conservative						65	0.15	-0.71
	Animal Justice						62	0.14	+0.14
	Freedoms NZ						58	0.13	+0.13
	Women's Rights						31	0.07	+0.07
	DemocracyNZ						25	0.05	+0.05
	Leighton Baker Party						12	0.02	+0.02
	New Nation						11	0.02	+0.02
Informal votes				324			121
Total valid votes				42,678			43,018
Turnout
	Labour hold		Majority	1,260	2.95

2020 election

2020 general election: Ōhāriu[9]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Greg O'Connor		22,937	52.55	+9.58	22,282	50.82	+15.38
	National	Brett Hudson		10,976	25.15	−15.18	9,732	22.20	−23.08
	Opportunities	Jessica Hammond		4,443	10.18	+2.89	1,221	2.79	−1.37
	Green	John Ranta		2,221	5.09	−1.25	5,940	13.55	+3.94
	NZ First	Tracey Martin		928	2.13	+0.24	824	1.88	−1.84
	ACT	Sean Fitzpatrick		809	1.85	+1.38	2,662	6.07	+5.48
	New Conservative	Philip Lynch		357	0.82	—	375	0.86	+0.68
	ONE	Allan Cawood		197	0.45	—	143	0.33	—
	Advance NZ	Jolene Smith		133	0.30	—	149	0.34	—
	Not A Party	Liam Walsh		49	0.11	—
	Māori Party						153	0.35	−0.11
	Legalise Cannabis						80	0.18	+0.01
	Sustainable NZ						19	0.04	—
	Vision New Zealand						17	0.04	—
	Outdoors						15	0.03	—
	TEA						12	0.03	—
	Social Credit						8	0.02	±0.00
	Heartland						1	0.002	—
Informal votes				596			209
Total valid votes				43,646			43,842
Turnout				43,989	87.73	+1.64
	Labour hold		Majority	11,961	27.40	+24.76

2017 election

2017 general election: Ōhāriu[10]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Greg O'Connor		17,084	42.97	+8.31	14,306	35.44	+12.03
	National	Brett Hudson		16,033	40.33	+23.83	18,277	45.28	−4.95
	Opportunities	Jessica Hammond		2,898	7.29	—	1,678	4.16	—
	Green	Tane Woodley		2,522	6.34	−1.11	3,881	9.61	−5.39
	NZ First	Lisa Close		751	1.89	+0.02	1,502	3.72	−1.05
	United Future	Bale Nadakuitavuki		284	0.71	−35.87	78	0.19	−0.54
	ACT	Andie Moore		185	0.47	−0.09	239	0.59	−0.18
	Māori Party						186	0.46	−0.10
	Conservative						71	0.18	−2.81
	Legalise Cannabis						68	0.17	−0.22
	Outdoors						23	0.06	—
	Ban 1080						18	0.04	±0.00
	People's Party						13	0.03	—
	Democrats						8	0.02	−0.04
	Internet						8	0.02	−0.67[lower-alpha 4]
	Mana Party						5	0.01	−0.68[lower-alpha 5]
Informal votes				305			84
Total valid votes				39,757			40,361
Turnout				40,445
	Labour gain from United Future		Majority	1,051	2.64	+0.73

2014 election

2014 general election: Ōhāriu[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	%	±%
	United Future	Y Peter Dunne		13,569	36.58	−2.00	273	0.73	−1.05
	Labour	Ginny Andersen		12,859	34.66	−0.18	8,771	23.42	−3.11
	National	Brett Hudson		6,120	16.50	−2.06	18,810	50.23	+0.63
	Green	Tane Woodley		2,764	7.45	+1.65	5,623	15.01	+0.59
	Conservative	Michael Brunner		1,038	2.80	+1.78	1,118	2.99	+1.31
	Independent	Sue Hamill		211	0.57	+0.57
	ACT	Sean Fitzpatrick		209	0.56	+0.56	250	0.67	−0.09
	Democrats	Alida Steemson		46	0.12	+0.12	22	0.06	+0.03
	NZ First						1,781	4.76	+0.85
	Internet Mana						258	0.69	+0.50[lower-alpha 6]
	Māori Party						215	0.57	+0.04
	Legalise Cannabis						146	0.39	−0.03
	Civilian						29	0.08	+0.08
	Ban 1080						15	0.04	+0.04
	Independent Coalition						9	0.02	+0.02
	Focus						4	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				283			126
Total valid votes				37,099			37,450
	United Future hold		Majority	710	1.91	−1.83

2011 election

2011 general election: Ōhāriu[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	%	±%
	United Future	Y Peter Dunne		14,357	38.58	+5.97	672	1.78	-0.43
	Labour	Charles Chauvel		12,965	34.84	+4.89	10,036	26.53	-6.80
	National	Katrina Shanks		6,907	18.56	-7.97	18,764	49.60	+3.33
	Green	Gareth Hughes		2,160	5.80	-1.26	5,453	14.42	+5.28
	Conservative	Stephen Woodnutt		378	1.02	+1.02	636	1.68	+1.68
	NZ First	Hugh Barr		339	0.91	+0.91	1,478	3.91	+1.82
	Libertarianz	Sean Fitzpatrick		109	0.29	+0.29	47	0.12	+0.07
	ACT						286	0.76	-2.66
	Māori Party						201	0.53	-0.20
	Legalise Cannabis						160	0.42	+0.11
	Mana						73	0.19	+0.19
	Alliance						12	0.03	-0.11
	Democrats						10	0.03	+0.003
Informal votes				369			137
Total valid votes				37,215			37,828
	United Future hold		Majority	1,392	3.74	+1.07

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 46,740^[13]

2008 election

2008 general election: Ōhariu[14]
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	%	±%
	United Future	Y Peter Dunne		12,303	32.61		843	2.21
	Labour	Charles Chauvel		11,297	29.95		12,728	33.33
	National	Katrina Shanks		10,009	26.53		17,670	46.27
	Green	Gareth Hughes		2,665	7.06		3,488	9.13
	Kiwi	Joel Sison		522	1.38		283	0.74
	ACT	Colin du Plessis		487	1.29		1,304	3.41
	Legalise Cannabis	Danyl Strype		330	0.87		119	0.31
	Alliance	Kelly Buchanan		111	0.29		55	0.14
	NZ First						798	2.09
	Māori Party						278	0.73
	Progressive						273	0.71
	Bill and Ben						208	0.54
	Family Party						65	0.17
	Pacific						22	0.06
	Libertarianz						20	0.05
	Workers Party						11	0.03
	Democrats						9	0.02
	RAM						7	0.02
	RONZ						7	0.02
Informal votes				242			88
Total valid votes				37,724			38,188
	United Future win new seat		Majority	1,006	2.67

1990 election

1990 general election: Ohariu^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Dunne	9,930	45.04	−13.56
	National	George Mathew	9,147	41.49
	Green	Gary Reese	1,839	8.34
	NewLabour	Chris Ritchie	682	3.09
	McGillicuddy Serious	G E M Boutel	138	0.62
	Independent	A R Kirk	131	0.59
	Social Credit	A E Smith	91	0.41
	Democrats	Bob Stevenson	85	0.38
Majority			783	3.55	−16.72
Turnout			22,043	86.25	−4.14
Registered electors			25,557

1987 election

1987 general election: Ohariu^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Dunne	12,983	58.60	+20.68
	National	David Lloyd	8,491	38.33
	Democrats	Bill Campbell	448	2.02
	McGillicuddy Serious	D J R Alyward	136	0.61
	NZ Party	Keith Ralph	94	0.42
Majority			4,492	20.27	+14.00
Turnout			22,152	90.39	−4.78
Registered electors			24,507

1984 election

1984 general election: Ohariu^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Dunne	8,282	37.92
	National	Hugh Templeton	6,911	31.64	−13.96
	NZ Party	Bob Jones	6,326	28.97
	Social Credit	Kathleen Loncar	275	1.25
	United front	R T Obee	42	0.19
Majority			1,371	6.27
Turnout			21,836	95.17	+4.31
Registered electors			22,944

1981 election

1981 general election: Ohariu^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Hugh Templeton	9,261	45.60	−1.05
	Labour	Norman Ely	7,694	37.88
	Social Credit	Eric Elliot	3,102	15.27	+4.60
	LIFE Party	N L Mander	250	1.23
Majority			1,567	7.71	−2.66
Turnout			20,307	90.86	+21.68
Registered electors			22,349

1978 election

1978 general election: Ohariu^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Hugh Templeton	8,809	46.65
	Labour	Helene Ritchie	6,851	36.28
	Social Credit	Eric Elliott	2,015	10.67
	Values	Cathy Wilson	735	3.89
	Right to Life	Don Gee	471	2.49
Majority			1,958	10.37
Turnout			18,881	69.18
Registered electors			27,290

Table footnotes

1. Hughes entered Parliament on 11 February 2010, following the resignation of Jeanette Fitzsimons.
2. Chauvel resigned from Parliament on 11 March 2013.
3. Shanks resigned from Parliament on 21 January 2014.
4. 2017 Internet swing is relative to the votes for Internet Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Mana in the 2014 election.
5. 2017 Mana swing is relative to the votes for Internet Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.
6. 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. 8–9, 51, 119.
2. McRobie 1989, p. 119.
3. McRobie 1989, pp. 115–120.
4. McRobie 1989, pp. 114–119.
5. – New Zealand Parliament Electorate Profiles: Ohariu-Belmont
6. election result Ohariu-Belmont 2005
7. election result Ohariu-Belmont 2002
8. "Ōhāriu – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
9. "Ōhāriu – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
10. "Ōhāriu – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
11. 2014 election results
12. 2011 election results
13. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
14. 2008 election results
15. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990.
16. Norton 1988, pp. 294.

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.
• 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.

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