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 were 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 was 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 was 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]
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 results
2017 election
2014 election
2011 election
Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 43,395[19]
2008 election
2005 election
2002 election
*Percentage change calculation based on percent as Alliance candidate in 1999 election.
1999 election
1996 election
Table footnotes
^Soper entered Parliament on 4 April 2005 following Jonathan Hunt's resignation.
^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
^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
^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
^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.
^"Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
^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.
^"Life after Bill". The Southland Times. 10 January 2014. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
^"Election 2014: Southland decides". The Southland Times. 20 September 2014. Archived from the original on 19 November 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
^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.
^Rutherford, Hamish (29 April 2014). "Who is National's Todd Barclay?". Stuff. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
^"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.
^"Clutha-Southland – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
^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.
^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.
^Cheng, Derek (7 July 2020). "National MP Hamish Walker, former party president Michelle Boag admit leaking Covid patients' details". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
^"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.
^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.
^"Boundary Review 2019/20 | Elections". elections.nz. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^New Zealand Electoral Commission. "Clutha-Southland – Official Result (2017)". Electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
^New Zealand Electoral Commission (10 October 2014). "Clutha-Southland – Official Result (2014)". Electionresults.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
^New Zealand Electoral Commission (10 December 2011). "Clutha-Southland – Official Result (2011)". Electionresults.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
^"Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
^Official Count Results – Clutha-Southland Archived 10 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 2008 General Election. Chief Electoral Office, Wellington. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
^"Official Count Results (1999) – Electoral Votes for registered parties by electorate". NZ Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
^"Official Count Results (1999) – Candidate Vote Details". NZ Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
^"Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Clutha-Southland, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 11 July 2013.
^"Part III – Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
^"Part III – Party Lists of unsuccessful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.