Election 2023: Waimakariri, the electorate with NZ’s highest proportion of homeowners (Waimakariri electorate profile)
In the lead-up to the 2023 general election, The Press is profiling Canterbury’s electoral races. Here’s what you need to know about the candidates running to be Waimakariri’s MP. (By reporter Keiller MacDuff).
The relatively young electorate of Waimakariri was created in 1996 ahead of the first MMP electorate from parts of the old Rangiora and Christchurch North electorates, and includes the rural towns of Oxford, Rangiora, Kaiapoi and Pegasus.
Former Labour Prime Minister Mike Moore represented the area three times - first when it was the Papanui electorate from 1978-81, then Christchurch North from 1984-87, and finally Waimakariri from 1996-99.
He was succeeded by Labour’s Clayton Cosgrove, the longest-serving Waimakariri MP, who lost the seat in 2011 to National’s Kate Wilkinson, the first and only woman to represent Waimakariri, from 2011 to 2014.
National party MP Matt Doocey won the electorate in 2014, and has held it ever since.
In the 2014 boundary review, Waimakariri lost much of Redwood to Christchurch Central and Marshland to the Christchurch East electorate.
The red tide of 2020 saw the Waimakariri party vote join the swing to Labour. In 2017, the National Party won 53% of the party vote, compared to Labour’s 32%. Three years later, Labour took 49% to National’s 28%.
Sitting MP Doocey is National’s senior whip, the South Island’s top-ranked National MP (#8 on the list), party spokesperson on youth, mental health and suicide prevention, and associate health spokesperson.
Labour MP Dan Rosewarne (#32 on his party’s list) entered Parliament in June 2022, following the resignation of Kris Faafoi.
The former army officer who lives in Woodend lost to Doocey in 2020 by one of the smallest margins in the country (1507 votes).
ACT’s candidate Ross Campbell (#43 on the the party list) lives in Rangiora and is pledging to “help the people in my little piece of the world”.
Deputy leader of Democracy NZ Gordon Malcolm, the anti-mandate party formed by ex-National Party MP Matt King, is promising to open an inquiry into the Waimakariri District Council’s property purchases, reject co-governance, and stand up to “climate change hysteria”.
Former leader of the New Conservative party Leighton Baker is making his sixth attempt for an electorate, albeit with a brand new party, the eponymous Leighton Baker Party.
Turnout in 2020 was 87.5% - compared to national enrolled voter turnout of 81.5%.
The Waimakariri district’s population has passed 66,000 and is on track to top 78,000 by 2031.
An influx of residents following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes saw rapid growth in the past decade.
One of the most monocultural electorates in New Zealand - second only to Rodney in the proportion of European residents (91.2%) - Māori (8.7%) and Asian (4.5%) populations are about half and one-third the national averages respectively, and it has the second lowest Pasifika population (1.5%) in the country.
Waimakariri has the highest proportion of homeowners in New Zealand, with nearly two-thirds (65.8%) of households in the electorate owning or partly owning their own home.
The three major employing industries are construction (14.3%), manufacturing (11.5%) and retail (10.6%).
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Best way to use leftovers?
I'm sure you've got some excess ham at home or cold roast potatoes.
What are some of your favourite ways to use leftover food from Christmas day? Share below.
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.6% Summer
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35.9% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
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