Clutha-Southland

Clutha-Southland is a parliamentary constituency returning one member to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Clutha Southland is Hamish Walker of the National Party. He has held the seat since the 2017 general election.

Clutha-Southland electorate boundaries used since the 2008 election

Population centres

Clutha-Southland was promulgated as one of the original 65 MMP electorates, centred on Southland district and covering an area stretching from Fiordland across the far south of the South Island to the south Otago coast. Its largest population centres are Gore and Balclutha. In 2008, the seat of Otago was abolished and split between the Waitaki and Clutha-Southland electorates, and parts of Central Otago, primarily around Arrowtown, Queenstown and Roxburgh were also transferred to Clutha-Southland.

Clutha-Southland is the successor to the old Wallace, Clutha and Awarua constituencies. Its boundaries had changed at all three redistributions undertaken since its creation, as dwindling populations in both the old Clutha-Southland electorate and in the neighbouring Invercargill electorate have forced both seats northwards to ensure every electorate population stays within certain limits. This trend stopped in the 2013 redistribution, however, with both the Clutha-Southland and Invercargill electorates remaining unchanged in area,[1] and then reversed in the 2020 redistribution, with the electorate gaining a large area around Alexandra from Waitaki, but losing the Balclutha area to the new Taieri electorate and Tuatapere to Invercargill.[2] It was renamed Southland as it no longer included the Clutha area.

History

Because of its largely rural nature, Clutha-Southland is one of the National Party's safest seats. Bill English, who is the former Prime Minister, held the seat from 1996 to 2014. English announced in January 2014 that he would retire as the electorate MP at the 2014 general election, becoming a list MP only.[3][4]

Todd Barclay won the 2014 election by a significant margin over Labour's Liz Craig,[5] obtaining nearly 64% of the candidate votes.[6] Barclay became at that time the youngest MP in the House of Representatives.[7] In 2017, he announced he would not stand for re-election at the 2017 election, after revealing he had secretly recorded staff in his office without their consent.[8] The seat was won at the election by Hamish Walker, retaining it for the National Party.[9] Similarly, in 2020, Walker admitted leaking sensitive private patient details about COVID-19 patients,[10][11][12] and subsequently announced that he would not stand for re-election during the 2020 New Zealand general election.[13]

In April 2020, the Electoral Commission announced that Clutha-Southland would have its borders substantially changed and that it would be renamed to the Southland electorate. As part of the changes, the Alexandra and the Clyde area would be transferred from Waitaki to Southland while South Otago was transferred to the newly-created Taieri electorate. The Invercargill electorate also expanded into western Southland.[14][15]

Members of Parliament for Clutha-Southland

The electorate has been represented by three members of parliament so far.

Key   National     NZ First  

Election	Winner
1996 election		Bill English
1999 election
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election
2011 election
2014 election		Todd Barclay
2017 election		Hamish Walker
(Electorate abolished in 2020; see Southland)

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
2005		Lesley Soper
2017 election		Mark Patterson

Election results

2017 election

2017 general election: Clutha-Southland[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	Hamish Walker		21,819	59.89	-4.18	21,915	59.26	-4.12
	Labour	Cherie Chapman		7,465	20.49	+0.66	8,960	24.22	+9.51
	NZ First	Mark Patterson		3,485	9.57	—	2,900	7.84	+1.60
	Green	Rachael Goldsmith		2,650	7.27	+0.15	1,654	4.47	-3.26
	Ban 1080	Brian Adams		674	1.85	-0.87	144	0.39	-0.39
	Independent	Joe Stringer		200	0.55	–
	New Conservative	Lachie Ashton		141	0.39	-3.78	75	0.20	-4.84
	Opportunities						894	2.42	—
	ACT						141	0.38	+0.02
	Legalise Cannabis						118	0.32	-0.22
	Māori						95	0.26	-0.07
	United Future						29	0.07	-0.13
	Outdoors						26	0.07	—
	People's Party						13	0.04	—
	Democrats						10	0.03	-0.08
	Internet						5	0.01	-0.45[lower-alpha 1]
	Mana						4	0.01	-0.45[lower-alpha 2]
Informal votes				359			171
Total Valid votes				36,434			36,983
Turnout				37,154
	National hold		Majority	14,354	39.40	-4.83

2014 election

2014 general election: Clutha-Southland[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	%	±%
	National	Todd Barclay		21,561	64.06	-4.76	21,694	63.37	+0.48
	Labour	Liz Craig		6,675	19.83	+3.06	5,036	14.71	-1.50
	Green	Rachael Goldsmith		2,398	7.13	-1.35	2,647	7.73	-0.91
	New Conservative	Lachie Ashton		1,403	4.17	+1.63	1,726	5.04	+1.93
	Ban 1080	James Veint		915	2.71	—	268	0.78	—
	ACT	Don Nicolson		447	1.33	-1.23	122	0.36	-1.48
	Independent Coalition	Karl Barkley		168	0.50	—	32	0.09	—
	Democrats	Jason Jobsis		88	0.26	-0.15	36	0.11	-0.13
	NZ First						2,135	6.23	+1.35
	Legalise Cannabis						184	0.54	-0.12
	Internet Mana						158	0.46	+0.31[lower-alpha 3]
	Māori						113	0.33	-0.10
	United Future						68	0.20	-0.61
	Civilian						10	0.03	—
	Focus						0	0.00	—
Informal votes				370			107
Total Valid votes				34,025			34,336
Turnout				34,443	78.51	+4.68
	National hold		Majority	14,886	44.23	−7.83

2011 election

2011 general election: Clutha-Southland[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	%	±%
	National	Y Bill English		21,375	68.83	+0.96	20,020	62.89	+3.03
	Labour	Tat Loo		5,207	16.77	-4.69	5,160	16.21	-7.73
	Green	Rachael Goldsmith		2,633	8.48	+1.57	2,751	8.64	+3.54
	ACT	Don Nicolson		796	2.56	+0.79	583	1.83	-2.06
	New Conservative	Ross Calverley		787	2.53	+2.53	992	3.12	+3.12
	Sovereignty Party	Tony Corbett		130	0.42	+0.42
	Democrats	Robert Mills		128	0.41	+0.41	75	0.24	+0.18
	NZ First						1,556	4.89	+2.02
	United Future						259	0.81	+0.06
	Legalise Cannabis						210	0.66	+0.27
	Māori						136	0.43	+0.01
	Mana						48	0.15	+0.15
	Libertarianz						24	0.08	+0.03
	Alliance						17	0.05	-0.13
Informal votes				810			209
Total Valid votes				31,056			31,831
	National hold		Majority	16,168	52.06	+5.65

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 43,395[19]

2008 election

2008 general election: Clutha-Southland[20]
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 Bill English		22,631	67.87	+1.39	20,235	59.87	+2.73
	Labour	Don Pryde		7,156	21.46	-1.74	8,091	23.94	-4.76
	Green	Tim Gow		2,304	6.91	+4.23	1,726	5.11	+2.74
	ACT	Roly Henderson		590	1.77	+0.18	1,315	3.89	+1.98
	Family Party	Paul Tankard		515	1.54	+1.54	193	0.57	+0.57
	Alliance	Marvin Hubbard		149	0.45	+0.45	63	0.19	+0.11
	NZ First						968	2.86	-1.70
	Bill and Ben						259	0.77	+0.77
	United Future						254	0.75	-2.64
	Progressive						226	0.67	-0.09
	Māori						141	0.42	-0.21
	Legalise Cannabis						131	0.39	+0.13
	Kiwi						131	0.39	+0.39
	Democrats						18	0.05	-0.03
	Workers Party						18	0.05	+0.05
	Libertarianz						16	0.05	-0.02
	Pacific						8	0.02	+0.02
	RAM						4	0.01	+0.01
	RONZ						2	0.01	-0.004
Informal votes				354			142
Total Valid votes				33,345			33,799
	National hold		Majority	15,475	46.41	+3.14

2005 election

2005 general election: Clutha-Southland
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 Bill English		20,020	66.48	+10.83	17,334	57.14	+16.45
	Labour	David Talbot		6,988	23.20		8,705	28.70	-8.62
	NZ First	Dave Mackie		999	3.32	-0.33	1,386	4.57	-2.20
	Green	Robert Guyton		808	2.68		719	2.37	-1.08
	United Future	Joy Lietze		701	2.33	-0.23	1,028	3.39	-3.21
	ACT	John Fraser		479	1.59		579	1.91	-3.20
	Independent	David Webber		121	0.40	+0.15
	Progressive						230	0.76	-0.26
	Destiny						99	0.33
	Legalise Cannabis						79	0.26	-0.24
	Māori						63	0.21
	Democrats						26	0.09
	Christian Heritage						24	0.08	-1.07
	Alliance						23	0.08	-0.69
	99 MP						13	0.04
	Family Rights						9	0.03
	Libertarianz						7	0.02
	One NZ						6	0.02	-0.02
	RONZ						3	0.01
	Direct Democracy						2	0.01
Informal votes				211			150
Total Valid votes				30,116			30,335
	National hold		Majority	13,032	43.28	+19.84

2002 election

2002 general election: Clutha-Southland
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 Bill English		16,159	55.65	+4.43	11,881	40.69	-1.36
	Labour	Lesley Soper		9,351	32.21	+1.98	9,290	31.82	+1.85
	NZ First	Dave Mackie		1,059	3.65	-0.06	1,977	6.77	+3.37
	United Future	Joy Lietze		742	2.56		1,928	6.60
	Green	Dayle Belcher		605	2.08		1,006	3.45	+0.40
	ACT	Roly Henderson		396	1.36		1,491	5.11	-2.27
	Christian Heritage	Grant Bradfield		365	1.26	-2.37	335	1.15	-2.53
	Progressive	Roger White*		168	0.58	-2.86	299	1.02
	Alliance	James R Flynn		117	0.40		224	0.77	-5.38
	Independent	David Webber		73	0.25	-0.08
	ORNZ						602	2.06
	Legalise Cannabis						147	0.50	-0.46
	One NZ						13	0.04	-0.01
	Mana Māori						2	0.01	-0.01
	NMP						1	0.00	0.00
Informal votes				185			166
Total Valid votes				29,035			29,196
	National hold		Majority	6,808	23.44	+2.45

*Percentage change calculation based on percent as Alliance candidate in 1999 election.

1999 election

1999 general election: Clutha-Southland[21][22]
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 Bill English		15,619	51.22	+4.13	12,882	42.05	-0.69
	Labour	Lesley Soper		9,218	30.23	+11.98	9,182	29.97	+10.72
	NZ First	Dave Mackie		1,131	3.71		1,043	3.40	-11.57
	Christian Heritage	Grant Bradfield		1,108	3.63		1,128	3.68
	Alliance	Roger White		1,049	3.44		1,883	6.15	-1.30
	ACT	John Morrison		945	3.10		2,260	7.38	+1.34
	Green	Tim Gow		854	2.80		935	3.05
	South Island	Pat McCarrigan		469	1.54		421	1.37
	Independent	David Webber		102	0.33
	Legalise Cannabis						293	0.96	-0.28
	Future NZ						243	0.79
	United NZ						112	0.37	-0.21
	Libertarianz						87	0.28	+0.25
	McGillicuddy Serious						65	0.21	-0.21
	Animals First						57	0.19	+0.07
	One NZ						15	0.05
	Natural Law						8	0.03	-0.05
	Mauri Pacific						6	0.02
	Mana Māori						5	0.02	+0.01
	The People's Choice						5	0.02
	Freedom Movement						4	0.01
	Republican						3	0.01
	NMP						0	0.00
Informal votes				481			339
Total Valid votes				30,495			30,637
	National hold		Majority	6,401	20.99	-7.85

1996 election

1996 general election: Clutha-Southland[23][24][25]
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	Bill English		14,764	47.09		13,449	42.74
	Labour	Lesley Soper		5,721	18.25		6,058	19.25
	NZ First	Alan Wise		5,075	16.19		4,709	14.97
	Alliance	Tracey Hicks		2,326	7.42		2,345	7.45
	ACT	Peter Snow		2,049	6.54		1,901	6.04
	Christian Coalition	Russell Zwies		1,060	3.38		2,147	6.82
	McGillicuddy Serious	Robyn West		306	0.98		133	0.42
	Natural Law	Gilbert Urquhart		50	0.16		24	0.08
	Legalise Cannabis						390	1.24
	United NZ						181	0.58
	Animals First						37	0.12
	Progressive Green						33	0.10
	Green Society						15	0.05
	Conservatives						14	0.04
	Superannuitants & Youth						11	0.03
	Libertarianz						10	0.03
	Advance New Zealand						2	0.01
	Asia Pacific United						2	0.01
	Ethnic Minority Party						2	0.01
	Mana Māori						2	0.01
	Te Tawharau						0	0.00
Informal votes				202			88
Total Valid votes				31,351			31,465
	National win new seat		Majority	9,043	28.84

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.

References

1. Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-477-10414-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
2. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
3. Bennett, Adam (1 November 2013). "English to give up Clutha-Southland seat". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
4. "Life after Bill". The Southland Times. 10 January 2014. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
5. "Election 2014: Southland decides". The Southland Times. 20 September 2014. Archived from the original on 19 November 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
6. Hayes, Lauren; Railton, Bridget; Jamieson, Debbie (20 September 2014). "Landslide win for Barclay". The Southland Times. Archived from the original on 4 January 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
7. Rutherford, Hamish (29 April 2014). "Who is National's Todd Barclay?". Stuff. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
8. "Todd Barclay tapes contained 'sex and drugs' matters – report". Newshub. 27 June 2017. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
9. "Clutha-Southland - Official Result". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
10. Houlahan, Mike (8 July 2020). "Walker's future in doubt". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
11. Cooke, Henry (7 July 2020). "National MP Hamish Walker admits passing on leaked Covid-19 patient info from former party president Michelle Boag". Stuff. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
12. Cheng, Derek (7 July 2020). "National MP Hamish Walker, former party president Michelle Boag admit leaking Covid patients' details". New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
13. "Covid-19 privacy leak: MP Hamish Walker announces he won't stand for re-election". Radio New Zealand. 8 July 2020. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
14. Whyte, Anna (17 April 2020). "New electorate revealed, as raft of boundary changes announced prior to election 2020". 1 News. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
15. "Boundary Review 2019/20 | Elections". elections.nz. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
16. New Zealand Electoral Commission. "Clutha-Southland – Official Result (2017)". Electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
17. New Zealand Electoral Commission (10 October 2014). "Clutha-Southland – Official Result (2014)". Electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
18. New Zealand Electoral Commission (10 December 2011). "Clutha-Southland – Official Result (2011)". Electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
19. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
20. Official Count Results – Clutha-Southland Archived 10 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 2008 General Election. Chief Electoral Office, Wellington. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
21. "Official Count Results (1999) – Electoral Votes for registered parties by electorate". NZ Electoral Commission. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
22. "Official Count Results (1999) – Candidate Vote Details". NZ Electoral Commission. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
23. "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Clutha-Southland, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 11 July 2013.
24. "Part III – Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
25. "Part III – Party Lists of unsuccessful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.