49-645: Eastern Hutt is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate from 1978 to 1996. It was represented by two Labour MPs. 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 . As part of the 1976 census , a large number of people failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given
98-513: A Māori voice in Parliament. In 1967 the reserved status of the Māori seats was removed, allowing non-Māori to stand in the Māori electorates, thus removing any guarantee that Māori would be elected to Parliament. Until 1993 the number of Māori electorates was fixed at four, significantly under-representing Māori in Parliament. In 1975 the definition of who could opt to register on either the general or
147-576: A Provincial Council. Each Provincial Council consisted of no less than nine members, elected by men over the age of 21 years, owning freehold estate, living in the district and with a £50 or above income per annum. Since Māori land was owned collectively not on individual title as was required, most Māori could not vote. Superintendents were elected directly at the same time as Provincial Councils. Provinces were able to make laws (ordinances) in all areas, except for: Provincial councils could sit for no more than four years. The Constitution allowed for
196-659: A governor elected by the General Assembly. Only the latter proposal was rejected by the Parliament of the United Kingdom when it adopted Grey's constitution. The Constitution established: By the Act, the provinces had the authority to pass provincial legislation, although the governor had a reserve power of veto such legislation, and the right of the Crown to disallow provincial Acts within two years of their passage
245-526: A new, democratic style of government had to be established to replace the dictatorial Crown Colony system. The New Zealand Company , which was established in 1839, proposed that New Zealand should have representative institutions, and this was consistent with the findings of the Durham Report , which was commissioned during 1838 following the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada . The first settlement of
294-457: A quorum of five), who were at least 21 years old and British subjects. Legislative Councillors held their seats for life, unless they resigned, or were bankrupted or swore allegiance to a foreign power. The Constitution stated the governor was empowered to grant, refuse and reserve assent to Bills passed by the General Assembly. The governor could also return Bills to the General Assembly with suggested amendments. The Sovereign could instruct
343-433: A result, almost all of the Act was suspended for six years pending the new Act of 1852, the only operative part of the 1846 Act being the creation of New Zealand's first provinces, New Ulster Province and New Munster Province . In the meantime, Grey drafted his own Constitution Act while camping on Mount Ruapehu . Grey's draft established both provincial and central representative assemblies, allowed for Māori districts and
392-573: Is determined such that all electorates have approximately the same electoral population. Before 1996, all MPs were directly chosen for office by the voters of an electorate. In New Zealand's electoral system , 72 of the usually 120 seats in Parliament are filled by electorate members, with the remainder being filled from party lists in order to achieve proportional representation among parties. The 72 electorates are made up from 65 general and seven Māori electorates . The number of electorates increases periodically in line with national population growth;
441-581: Is fixed at 16 as stipulated in the legislation. To achieve electorates of equal electoral population, the number of North Island electorates has gradually increased since the North Island experienced higher population growth than the South island. At the 1996 election, there were 44 North Island electorates. By the 2023 election, this had increased to 49 electorates. In October 2024, Statistics New Zealand announced that population changes necessitated reducing
490-570: The 1978 election . In the 1977 electoral redistribution, the existing Western Hutt moved west, and the Eastern Hutt electorate was formed from areas that previously belonged to Western Hutt and the Hutt electorate, the latter of which was abolished. The Eastern Hutt electorate incorporated the eastern part of Lower Hutt in the Hutt Valley up to the suburb of Haywards in the north. In
539-762: The Legislative Council so that the New Zealand General Assembly, now Parliament, became a unicameral (single-chamber) legislature. This amendment gave the New Zealand Parliament the power to pass laws of extraterritorial effect. The Act was repealed by section 28 of the Constitution Act 1986 in New Zealand. By the time of its repeal, only 18 of the Act's original 82 sections remained, of which
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#1732790379001588-649: The Otago gold rush —goldminers did not usually meet the residency and property requirements in the electorate they were prospecting in, but were numerous enough to warrant political representation. Three goldminers' electorates existed, the first began in 1863 and both ended in 1870. Much more durable have been the Māori electorates , created in 1867 to give separate representation to Māori . Although originally intended to be temporary, they came to function as reserved positions for Māori until 1967, ensuring that there would always be
637-517: The 1983 electoral redistribution, the northern part of the electorate transferred to the Western Hutt electorate (including Haywards) and the electorate moved slightly further east. In the 1978 election, the Eastern Hutt electorate was won by Trevor Young , who had been MP for the Hutt electorate since 1968 . Young retired at the 1990 election and was succeeded by Paul Swain . When Eastern Hutt
686-632: The Act. This power was limited by the Balfour Declaration of 1926 , in that they were to be exercised only on the advice of New Zealand ministers. The powers were not continued by the 1986 Constitution Act. The powers of the Assembly were given in the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 , which stated that colonial legislatures had full powers to make laws respecting their own constitution, powers, and procedure. The Act
735-671: The Commission consists of: The Representation Commission reviews electorate boundaries after each New Zealand census , which normally occurs every five years. The Electoral Act 1993 stipulates that the South Island is to have 16 general electorates, and dividing the number of persons in the South Island's general electoral population by 16 determines the South Island Quota . This quota is then used to calculate
784-697: The Constitution Act, where Māori law and custom were to be preserved, but this section was never implemented by the Crown. It was, however, used by the Kingitanga to justify claims of Māori self-governance during the 1870s and 1880s. A General Assembly was constituted, consisting of the governor, the Legislative Council, and the House of Representatives. The Legislative Council was an appointed body of no less than ten councillors (with
833-587: The General Assembly was held between 14 July and 1 October in 1853. The Parliament under the Act met in Auckland , at the time the capital , in May 1854. This session was concerned primarily with the issue of responsible government , or the ability of the Colonial parliament instead of the governor to appoint its own ministers. Prior to the Act, the executive council consisted of Crown servants who were responsible to
882-433: The Māori roll was expanded to include all persons of Māori descent. Previously all persons of more than 50% Māori ancestry were on the Māori roll while persons of less than 50% Māori ancestry were required to enrol on the then European roll. Only persons presumed to have equal Māori and European ancestry (so-called half-castes) had a choice of roll. Since the introduction of MMP in 1996, the number of seats can change with
931-484: The New Zealand Parliament is intended to have 120 members, some terms have exceeded this quantity. Overhang seats arise when a party win more seats via electorates than their proportion of the party vote entitles them to; other parties are still awarded the same number of seats that they are entitled to, which results in more than 120 seats in total. In 2005 and 2011 , 121 members were elected; 122 members were elected in 2008 . The Representation Commission determines
980-518: The Parliament of the United Kingdom was the ability of the former imperial legislature to legislate for New Zealand at the New Zealand Parliament's consent. This occurred only once, for the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947 which adopted the New Zealand Parliament's New Zealand Constitution Amendment (Request and Consent) Act 1947 . This amendment repealed the sections of the Constitution Act relating to
1029-468: The South Island ones. Electorates may vary by no more than 5% of the average electoral population size. This has caused the number of list seats in Parliament to decline as the population is experiencing "northern drift" (i.e. the population of the North Island, especially around Auckland , is growing faster than that of the South Island) due both to internal migration and to immigration. Although
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#17327903790011078-535: The authority for this coming from the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 . After the initial election, there were eight redivisions carried out by members of the general assembly (as the lower house was known at the time). These revisions were a mixture of minor and major boundary adjustments. In 1887, the responsibility for reshaping electorates was given to a Representation Commission and that arrangement has remained to this day. Up until 1981,
1127-620: 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 . The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Eastern Hutt) or re-established. These changes came into effect for
1176-555: The boundaries of the Māori electorates were determined by the governor or governor-general, when that responsibility was also transferred to the Representation Commission. Elections for the House of Representatives in the 1850s modelled the electoral procedures used for the British House of Commons , which at that time featured both single-member electorates (electorates returning just one MP) and multi-member electorates (electorates returning more than one MP). Each electorate
1225-434: The company, Wellington, briefly had its own elected council during 1840, which dissolved itself on the instruction of Lieutenant Governor William Hobson . The first New Zealand Constitution Act was passed in 1846, though Governor George Grey was opposed to its implementation, specifically the proposed division of the country into European and Māori districts, and stated that settlers were not ready for self-government. As
1274-412: The creation of municipal corporations , i.e., city governments. Municipal corporations could create their own regulations and by-laws but could be overruled by the provincial council in the province the corporation was established in. The Constitution did not define how the municipal corporations would be elected, but left it to the General Assembly to determine. "Māori districts" were allowed for under
1323-515: The creation of the Colony of New Zealand . The Constitution Act repealed all enactments that were repugnant to the Constitution Act but preserved all ordinances of the then established provinces of New Zealand. Sections 2 to 28 dealt with the Provinces of New Zealand, setting out their establishment, composition, elections, powers and procedures. Each province was to have a Superintendent and
1372-514: The governor to refuse assent to Bills. The governor was required to send Bills assented to one of the Sovereign's principal Secretaries of State. The Sovereign could then, by Order in Council, refuse assent to Bills. If the governor reserved assent to a Bill, it could only be assented to by the Sovereign. The Constitution provided for the Crown to control the sale of "wastelands", land that
1421-483: The governor. A motion was passed almost unanimously affirming the ability of Parliament to appoint its own executive council members. Three members of the Assembly (and later one from the Legislative Council) were added to the executive council as ministers without portfolio under the leadership of James FitzGerald . The unofficial members soon resigned. After fresh elections the 2nd Parliament met, and
1470-616: The land (subject to existing purchase agreements), and protected the Otago Association from being directly regulated by the General Assembly. Like the Canterbury Association, the Otago Association was also given the power to hand its powers over the new provincial council (eventually the Otago Province ). The first provincial elections were held during 1853. The 1853 New Zealand general election for
1519-627: The legislation establishing the Canterbury Association. The Canterbury Association was given the ability to hand its powers over the new provincial council, once established (eventually the Canterbury Province ). The Canterbury Association did so in 1853. Because the land for settlement of Otago had originally been purchased by the New Zealand Company, the Constitution both restated the Crown's ability to dispose of
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1568-614: The map should read "Port Waikato".] Electorates in New Zealand have changed extensively since 1853, typically to meet changing population distributions. Boundaries were last changed in 2019 and 2020 for the 2020 election , with Clutha-Southland , Dunedin North , Dunedin South , Helensville , Hunua , Manukau East , Port Hills and Rodney being abolished and replaced either by new electorates, or by surrounding electoral districts. New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 ( 15 & 16 Vict. c. 72)
1617-544: The names of each electorate following the most recent census. An electorate may be named after a geographic region, landmark (e.g. a mountain) or main population area . The Commission adopts compass point names when there is not a more suitable name. The compass point reference usually follows the name of the main population centre, e.g. Hamilton East . Over the years, there have been two types of "special" electorates created for particular communities. The first were special goldminers' electorates , created for participants in
1666-421: The need for an additional seat was determined from the results of the most recent New Zealand census , with the seat coming out of the total number of list seats. The total number of list seats has thus declined from 55 to 48 since the introduction of mixed-member proportional voting in the 1996 general election . The Representation Commission has determined general electorate boundaries since 1881. These days,
1715-436: The new governor, Sir Thomas Gore Browne , asked Henry Sewell to form the first responsible ministry. However, the General Assembly did not have total control of the executive. The governor retained reserve powers to disallow legislation and there was the authority of the Crown to disallow legislation even after the governor had given his assent. These powers of reservation and disallowance were prerogative powers included in
1764-485: The number of Māori electorates and to determine the number of North Island electorates. The number of Māori electorates is influenced by the Māori Electoral Option where Māori voters can opt to be in either a Māori electorate or a general electorate. The percentage of Māori voters opting for the Māori roll determines the percentage of the whole Māori electoral population (of persons claiming Māori ancestry at
1813-404: The number of Māori voters who choose to go on the Māori roll rather than the general roll. In 1996, there were five Māori electorates. For the 1999 election, this increased to six electorates. Since the 2002 election, the number of Māori electorates has stayed constant at seven. This table shows the electorates as they were represented during the 54th New Zealand Parliament . [NB "Port Waitako" on
1862-527: The number of North Island general electorates by one, bringing the total number of North Island general electorates to 48. Because of the increasing North Island population, the Representation Commission awarded the North Island an additional electoral seat beginning in the 2008 general election . Another new North Island seat was added for the 2014 general election , and again for the 2020 general election (with one new electorate in Auckland). Each time,
1911-424: The number of the electoral population outside of cities and certain towns by some percentage. The quota was at first 33% (1881–1887), then briefly 18% (1887–1889), and 28% for the remaining period (1889–1945). For the 1905 election , the multi-member electorates were abolished. The country quota system persisted until 1945. Since the introduction of MMP for the 1996 election, the number of South Island electorates
1960-433: The number was increased from 71 to 72 starting at the 2020 general election . The Electoral Act 1993 refers to electorates as "electoral districts". Electorates are informally referred to as "seats" (Māori: tūru ), but technically the term seat refers to an elected member's place in Parliament. The electoral boundaries for the inaugural 1853 general election were drawn up by the governor , George Grey , with
2009-487: The previous census) which is then divided by the South Island Quota to calculate the number of Māori electorates. South Island Māori opting for the general roll are included in the electoral population on which the South Island Quota is established. The North Island electoral population (including Māori opting for the general roll) is divided into electorates, each of approximately the same electoral population as
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2058-509: The provisions of the Constitution Act except provisions such as the establishment of the General Assembly itself and the extent of its legislative powers. This amendment abolished the Provinces of New Zealand ; In 1947, New Zealand adopted the Statute of Westminster 1931 with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947 . The only remaining provision of the Constitution Act relating to
2107-400: Was allocated a different number of MPs (up to three) in order to balance electoral population differences. All electorates used a plurality voting system . From 1881, a special country quota meant that rural seats could contain fewer people than urban seats, preserving improportionality by over-representing the rural electoral population (mostly made up by farmers). The country quota inflated
2156-472: Was amended several occasions, beginning in 1857. The New Zealand Parliament did not have the ability to amend all parts of the Act until 1947. A number of important amendments were made to the Act by the New Zealand Parliament. The first amendment to the Act was made by the British Parliament during 1857. This amendment granted the New Zealand General Assembly the ability to amend or repeal all of
2205-577: Was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that granted self-government to the Colony of New Zealand . It was the second such Act, the previous 1846 Act not having been fully implemented. The purpose of the Act was to have constitutional independence from Britain. The definition of franchise or the ability to vote excluded all women, most Māori , all non-British people and those with convictions for serious offences. The Act remained in force as part of New Zealand's constitution until it
2254-535: Was preserved. Parliament was granted the power to make laws for the " peace, order, and good government of New Zealand" provided such legislation was not inconsistent with the laws of England. The Constitution Act consisted of 82 sections as passed, a preamble and one schedule. The Constitution Act's preamble recounts the previous enactments (including the New Zealand Constitution Act 1846), charters and letters patent passed and issued in
2303-476: Was previously purchased (or claimed to be purchased) by the New Zealand Company from Māori for the Company's colonisation schemes. The British government had lent £236,000 to the Company in 1846 to keep the company solvent. As a result, the Constitution provided for a quarter of the proceeds of land sales would go to the New Zealand Company until the debt was paid off. The Constitution specifically did not affect
2352-471: Was repealed by the Constitution Act 1986 . The long title of the Act was "An Act to Grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand". The Act received royal assent on 30 June 1852. In 1850, New Zealand was being governed as a Crown Colony . This style of government was increasingly inadequate in light of changing circumstances. The rapid demographic changes as new immigrants arrived meant
2401-631: Was replaced in 1996 by the Hutt South electorate, Swain transferred to the Rimutaka electorate to the north of Hutt South. The electorate was represented by two Labour MPs. Key Labour New Zealand electorates An electorate or electoral district ( Māori : rohe pōti ) is a geographic constituency used for electing a member ( MP ) to the New Zealand Parliament . The size of electorates
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