Remutaka (New Zealand electorate)

Remutaka (spelled Rimutaka until 2020) is an electorate returning one member to the New Zealand House of Representatives. Since the 2008 general election, the seat has been represented by Chris Hipkins, who served as Prime Minister of New Zealand and is currently the Leader of the Opposition.^[1]

Remutaka
Single-member general constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Formation	1996
Region	Wellington
Character	Urban and suburban
Term	3 years
Member for Remutaka
Chris Hipkins since 8 November 2008
Party	Labour
Previous MP	Paul Swain (Labour)
Party vote distribution

Profile

Centred on Upper Hutt City, and bisected by State Highway 2 and the Hutt River, the Remutaka electorate stretches from the Lower Hutt suburbs of Avalon and Naenae in the south, via Taitā, Stokes Valley, and Manor Park, through Silverstream, Trentham, and Upper Hutt Central, to Akatarawa, Te Mārua, and Kaitoke in the north.^[2]

Of those employed at the 2018 census, 13.7% were clerical and administrative workers (the highest proportion of any general electorate), 11.3% were community and personal service workers (the sixth-highest), and 11.3% worked in the public administration and safety sector (the third-highest share). The main means of travel to work for 12.5% of the employed population of Remutaka was by train, the third-highest share among general electorates and over six times the New Zealand average (2.0%).^[2]

History

Rimutaka was created in 1996 ahead of the change to Mixed Member Proportional voting. It was created by merging the old Upper Hutt-based seat of Heretaunga with Stokes Valley, Taitā and a large section of Naenae from the defunct Eastern Hutt seat. Eastern Hutt had been held by Labour's Paul Swain since 1990, while Heretaunga had been won by National's Peter McCardle in 1990. Peter McCardle (who had been re-elected in 1993) defected to New Zealand First in 1996. Swain was the clear winner in every election from 1996 to 2005; the inclusion of the working-class areas of Hutt City helped make Rimutaka safer for the Labour Party, though on the campaign trail in 2008, Labour's chances for winning both party vote and the electorate were summarised as: "Labour support is 'rock solid' in the south of the electorate but things are volatile in Upper Hutt, where there is 'still work to do'".^[3]

Following the 2014 boundary review, Rimutaka gained Naenae and a small part of Epuni from the Hutt South electorate and lost Kelson and Belmont to Hutt South.

Following the 2016 Treaty of Waitangi settlement between the Crown and Rangitāne o Wairarapa and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki Nui-ā-Rua, the electorate's namesake Rimutaka Range was renamed to the Remutaka Range. In the 2019/2020 boundary review, the Representation Commission renamed the electorate Remutaka in line with this name change.^[4][5]

Members of Parliament

Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

Key

  Labour   NZ First

Election	Winner
1996 election		Paul Swain
1999 election
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election		Chris Hipkins
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election
2020 election
2023 election

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
1996 election		Peter McCardle1

¹ McCardle was the National MP for Heretaunga from 1990 to 1996

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: Remutaka[6]
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 Chris Hipkins		22,344	53.58	-14.99	16,000	36.84	-21.53
	National	Emma Chatterton		13,485	32.34	+11.88	12,726	29.30	+10.25
	Green	Chris Norton		2,794	6.70	+2.92	5,068	11.66	+4.51
	ACT	Michael Hurle		1,261	3.02	+0.79	2,476	5.70	+0.30
	NewZeal	Tony Pitiroi		899	2.15	+0.74	500	1.15	+0.09
	Vision New Zealand	Heker Robertson		409	0.98	—
	NZ First						2,441	5.62	+2.64
	Opportunities						1,147	2.64	+0.75
	Te Pāti Māori						511	1.17	+0.78
	NZ Loyal						261	0.60	—
	Legalise Cannabis						177	0.40	+.010
	Freedoms NZ						147	0.33	—
	Animal Justice						96	0.22	—
	New Conservative						71	0.16	-1.73
	DemocracyNZ						55	0.12	—
	Women's Rights						35	0.08	—
	Leighton Baker Party						13	0.02	—
	New Nation						12	0.02	—
Informal votes				504			410
Total valid votes				41,696			42,146
	Labour hold		Majority	8,859	21.24

2020 election

2020 general election: Remutaka[7]
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 Chris Hipkins		29,217	68.57	+13.08	25,347	58.37	+15.07
	National	Mark Crofskey		8,720	20.46	−13.04	8,274	19.05	−19.84
	Green	Chris Norton		1,610	3.78	−0.86	3,105	7.15	+1.72
	ACT	Grae O'Sullivan		952	2.23	+1.75	2,607	6.00	+5.63
	NZ First	Talani Meikle		635	1.49	−2.61	1,296	2.98	−4.42
	New Conservative	Hank Optland		618	1.45	+0.54	822	1.89	+1.47
	ONE	Frank Eijgenraam		602	1.41	—	462	1.06	—
	Advance NZ	Michael Alexander Stace		257	0.60	—	245	0.56	—
	Opportunities						822	1.89	−0.87
	Māori Party						171	0.39	−0.06
	Legalise Cannabis						132	0.30	+0.06
	Vision NZ						70	0.16	—
	Outdoors						27	0.06	+0.02
	Sustainable NZ						24	0.06	—
	Social Credit						16	0.04	−0.00
	TEA						6	0.01	—
	Heartland						2	0.00	—
Informal votes				726			283
Total valid votes				42,611			43,428
	Labour hold		Majority	20,497	48.10	+26.11

2017 election

2017 general election: Rimutaka[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 Chris Hipkins		21,725	55.48	+2.97	17,180	43.3	+10.57
	National	Carolyn O'Fallon		13,116	33.49	-0.87	15,433	38.9	-2.38
	Green	Stefan Grand-Meyer		1,815	4.63	-0.07	2,156	5.43	-4.47
	NZ First	Talani Meikle		1,604	4.09	-0.77	2,938	7.40	-2.83
	Conservative	Philip Lynch		356	0.91	-1.74	169	0.43	-3.58
	ACT	Grae O'Sullivan		190	0.49	—	147	0.37	+0.03
	Opportunities						1,095	2.76	—
	Māori Party						181	0.46	+0.6
	Legalise Cannabis						96	0.24	-0.28
	Ban 1080						33	0.08	-0.15
	United Future						32	0.08	-0.25
	People's Party						22	0.06	—
	Outdoors						16	0.04	—
	Internet						12	0.03	-0.84[a]
	Democrats						10	0.03	-0.01
	Mana						10	0.03	-0.84[b]
Informal votes				347			148
Total valid votes				39,153			39,678
	Labour hold		Majority	8,609	21.99	+3.85

2014 election

2014 general election: Rimutaka[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 Chris Hipkins		19,286	52.51	+2.25	12,176	32.73	−0.16
	National	Lewis Holden		12,622	34.36	−6.27	15,352	41.28	−3.16
	NZ First	Aaron Hunt		1,785	4.86	+4.86	3,806	10.23	+6.21
	Green	Susanne Ruthven		1,727	4.70	−1.12	3,422	9.90	−1.41
	Conservative	Philip Michael Lynch		973	2.65	+2.65	955	4.01	+1.25
	Internet Mana						324	0.87	+0.64[c]
	Legalise Cannabis						194	0.52	+0.05
	Māori Party						149	0.40	−0.15
	ACT						126	0.34	−0.34
	United Future						122	0.33	−0.66
	Ban 1080						84	0.23	+0.23
	Civilian						19	0.05	+0.05
	Independent Coalition						19	0.05	+0.05
	Democrats						14	0.04	+0.00
	Focus						4	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				241			159
Total valid votes				36,393			37,194
	Labour hold		Majority	6,664	18.14	+8.52

Electorate (as at 20 September 2014): 46,526^[10]

2011 election

2011 general election: Rimutaka[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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Chris Hipkins		17,171	51.58	12.31	11,375	33.13	-8.18
	National	Jonathan Fletcher		13,885	41.71	+4.60	15,364	44.75	+4.10
	Green	Tane Woodley		1,990	5.98	+0.96	3,422	9.97	+4.04
	ACT	Alwyn Courtenay		241	0.72	-0.57	235	0.68	-1.87
	NZ First						2,148	6.26	+2.17
	Conservative						955	2.78	+2.78
	United Future						340	0.99	-0.41
	Māori Party						190	0.55	-0.18
	Legalise Cannabis						164	0.48	+0.13
	Mana						80	0.23	+0.23
	Libertarianz						28	0.08	+0.04
	Alliance						20	0.06	-0.02
	Democrats						12	0.03	+0.01
Informal votes				879			240
Total valid votes				33,287			34,333
	Labour hold		Majority	3,286	9.87	+7.72

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 44,403^[12]

2008 election

2008 general election: Rimutaka[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	%	±%
	Labour	Chris Hipkins		13,735	39.27	-15.47	14,685	41.31	-6.49
	National	Richard Whiteside		12,982	37.12	+6.63	14,452	40.65	+6.61
	NZ First	Ron Mark		5,257	15.03	+11.82	1,453	4.09	-0.52
	Green	Lynette Vigrass		1,755	5.02	+1.38	2,107	5.93	+1.76
	United Future	Jenni Hurn		522	1.49	-3.72	499	1.40	-3.26
	ACT	Nigel Kearney		453	1.30	+0.19	909	2.56	+1.36
	Progressive	John Maurice		272	0.78	+0.78	345	0.97	-0.33
	Māori Party						260	0.73	+0.21
	Bill and Ben						255	0.72	+0.72
	Kiwi						242	0.68	+0.68
	Legalise Cannabis						122	0.34	-1.65
	Family Party						85	0.24	+0.24
	Pacific						57	0.16	+0.16
	Alliance						28	0.08	-
	Workers Party						18	0.05	+0.05
	Libertarianz						13	0.04	-0.01
	Democrats						8	0.02	+0.02
	RONZ						7	0.02	+0.01
	RAM						4	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				297			126
Total valid votes				34,976			35,549
	Labour hold		Majority	753	2.15

2005 election

2005 general election: Rimutaka[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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Paul Swain		18,681	54.74	-4.67	16,558	47.80
	National	Mike Leddy		10,404	30.49	+11.18	11,791	34.04
	United Future	Bernard McLelland		1,777	5.21		1,615	4.66
	Green	Michael Morris		1,243	3.64		1,446	4.17
	NZ First	David Fowler		1,094	3.21		1,736	5.01
	Independent	Dave Reynolds		549	1.61
	ACT	John Waugh		380	1.11		414	1.20
	Legalise Cannabis						691	1.99
	Progressive						451	1.30
	Destiny						197	0.57
	Māori Party						181	0.52
	Christian Heritage						54	0.16
	Alliance						28	0.08
	Libertarianz						19	0.05
	99 MP						14	0.04
	Democrats						10	0.03
	Family Rights						9	0.03
	One NZ						8	0.02
	Direct Democracy						6	0.02
	RONZ						2	0.01
Informal votes				353			145
Total valid votes				34,128			34,640
	Labour hold		Majority	8,277	24.25	-16.10

2002 election

2002 general election: Rimutaka[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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Paul Swain		18,688	58.65		14,856	46.31
	National	Mike Leddy		6,073	19.06		5,387	16.79
	United Future	Wayne Chapman		1,957	6.14		2,933	9.14
	Green	Russel Norman		1,267	3.97		1,683	5.24
	ACT	Nick Kearney		1,168	3.66		2,004	6.24
	Christian Heritage	Ken Munn		1,014	3.18		526	1.63
	Progressive	Robert Bryan		412	1.29		669	2.08
	Independent	Nick Kelly		376	1.18
	Alliance	Moira Lawler		310	0.97		394	1.22
	One NZ	Peter Grove		192	0.60		82	0.25
	NZ First						2,641	8.23
	ORNZ						562	1.75
	Legalise Cannabis						179	0.55
	NMP						10	0.03
	Mana Māori						7	0.02
Informal votes				404			146
Total valid votes				31,861			32,079
	Labour hold		Majority	12,615	39.59

1999 election

1999 general election: Rimutaka[16][17]
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 Paul Swain		16,806	52.92		13,675	43.47
	National	Stuart Blair Roddick		8,432	26.55		8,993	28.59
	Alliance	Brendan Tracey		1,733	5.45		2,732	8.68
	Christian Democrats	Geoff Hounsell		947	2.98		641	2.03
	Green	Don Murray		858	2.70		1,259	4.00
	Legalise Cannabis	Brian Jensen		687	2.16		449	1.42
	ACT	Owen Dance		663	2.08		1,679	5.33
	Christian Heritage	Helma Vermeulen		536	1.68		678	2.15
	NZ First	John Hoani Cribb		535	1.68		911	2.89
	Asia Pacific	Naransamy Manoharan		34	0.10
	United NZ						191	0.60
	Libertarianz						77	0.24
	Animals First						67	0.21
	McGillicuddy Serious						50	0.15
	Mauri Pacific						11	0.03
	Mana Māori						7	0.02
	The People's Choice						7	0.02
	Natural Law						6	0.02
	One NZ						6
	South Island						6	0.02
	NMP						4	0.01
	Freedom Movement						2	0.01
	Republican						2	0.01
Informal votes				525			303
Total valid votes				31,756			31,453
	Labour hold		Majority	8,374	26.36

1996 election

1996 general election: Rimutaka[18]
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 Paul Swain		11,665	36.98		10,560	33.47
	National	Karyn Bisdee		8,787	27.85		10,270	32.55
	NZ First	N Peter McCardle		6,776	21.48		3,131	9.92
	Alliance	Brendan Tracey		2,379	7.54		3,678	11.66
	Christian Coalition	Geoff Hounsell		1,043	3.30		1,693	5.36
	ACT	Owen Dance		367	1.16		1,697	5.37
	McGillicuddy Serious	Dan Hegarty		251	0.79		115	0.36
	Natural Law	Neil West		52	0.16		22	0.06
	Legalise Cannabis						447	1.41
	United NZ						229	0.72
	Animals First						65	0.20
	Progressive Green						56	0.17
	Asia Pacific						19	0.06
	Superannuitants & Youth						18	0.05
	Ethnic Minority						12	0.03
	Green Society						10	0.03
	Mana Māori						9	0.02
	Libertarianz						8	0.02
	Conservatives						7	0.02
	Advance NZ						2	0.01
	Te Tawharau						2	0.01
Informal votes				223			93
Total valid votes				31,543			31,543
	Labour hold		Majority	2,878	9.12

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.