Wellington_Central_(New_Zealand_electorate)

Wellington Central (New Zealand electorate)

Electoral district in Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington Central is an electorate, represented by a Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Wellington Central is Tamatha Paul of the Green Party. She has held this position since the 2023 general election.^[1]

Quick Facts Region, Current constituency ...

Wellington Central
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of Wellington Centralwithin Wellington
Region	Wellington
Current constituency
Created	1996 (current form) 1905 (original)
Current MP	Tamatha Paul
Party	Green

Population centres

Through the City Single Electorates Act, 1903, the three-member electorates of the four main centres were split again, and this became effective at the end of the 15th Parliament and was thus used for the 1905 election. The City of Wellington electorate split into the Wellington East, Wellington Central, and Wellington North electorates.^[2]

As of 1999 Wellington Central covered the central city and its immediate suburban periphery, stretching from Karori, Wilton and Wadestown in the west, to the summit of Mount Victoria in the east, and southwards to a boundary with the Rongotai electorate near Wellington Hospital. Prior to the 1999 election, its boundaries extended further north to include the affluent suburbs of Ngaio and Khandallah.

Wellington Central has one of the most affluent and well-educated constituencies in New Zealand. It is home to many government agencies, as well as to the New Zealand Parliament Buildings and to two universities.

Following the 2014 boundary review, Wellington Central lost the suburb of Wadestown to the Ōhāriu electorate.

History

Wellington Central was established in 1905 when the multi-member urban electorate City of Wellington was replaced by three new seats: Wellington East, Wellington North and Wellington Central. A prominent holder of the seat was Labour Party leader Peter Fraser, who was Prime Minister from 1940 to 1949. Wellington Central was nominally abolished in 1993, when a redistribution moved its boundary west, resulting in the new name of Wellington-Karori. Pauline Gardiner won the Wellington-Karori seat in 1993. Three years later, a new, larger Wellington Central was created as one of the 65 original MMP constituencies in time for the 1996 election.

The first elected MMP representative was ACT Party leader Richard Prebble, controversially elected in 1996 after National Party leader Jim Bolger indicated that National voters should give their electorate vote to Prebble, rather than to National candidate Mark Thomas, in order for ACT to get into parliament. Prebble would eventually become the third representative from Wellington Central in three elections to face defeat after a single term in office. Labour's Marian Hobbs held the seat from 1999, when she defeated Prebble, until 2008, when she retired. Grant Robertson retained Labour's hold on the seat in 2008 and has held the seat since.

A documentary, Campaign, directed by Tony Sutorius, highlighted the events surrounding the 1996 campaign in the electorate.^[3]

Members of Parliament

Key

New Liberal	Independent	Reform	Liberal
Labour	National	ACT	Green

More information Election, Winner ...

Election	Winner
1905 election		Francis Fisher
1908 election
1908 election
1911 election
1914 election		Robert Fletcher
1918 by-election		Peter Fraser
1919 election
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election
1938 election
1943 election
1946 election		Charles Chapman
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election		Frank Kitts
1957 election		Frank Kitts
1960 election		Dan Riddiford
1963 election
1966 election
1969 election
1972 election		Ken Comber
1975 election
1978 election
1981 election		Fran Wilde
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election
1992 by-election		Chris Laidlaw
(electorate abolished 1993–1996, see Wellington-Karori)
1996 election		Richard Prebble
1999 election		Marian Hobbs
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election		Grant Robertson
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election
2020 election
2023 election		Tamatha Paul

List MPs

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

More information Election, Winner ...

Election	Winner
1999 election		Richard Prebble
2002 election		Stephen Franks
2002 election		Sue Kedgley
2005 election		Mark Blumsky
2005 election		Sue Kedgley
2008 election		Sue Kedgley
2008 election		Heather Roy
2013		Paul Foster-Bell¹
2014 election		James Shaw
2014 election		Paul Foster-Bell
2017 election		James Shaw
2018		Nicola Willis²
2020 election		James Shaw
		Nicola Willis
		Brooke van Velden

¹Foster-Bell was elected from the party list in May 2013 following the resignation of Jackie Blue.
²Willis was elected from the party list in April 2018 following the resignation of Steven Joyce.

Election results

2023 election

More information 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. ...

2023 general election: Wellington Central^[4]^[5]
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	%	±%
	Green	Tamatha Paul		18,439	40.56		17,332	37.69	+7.36
	Labour	Ibrahim Omer		12,373	27.22		11,436	24.87	-18.53
	National	Scott Sheeran		11,555	25.42		9,855	21.43	+7.00
	Opportunities	Natalia Albert		1,554	3.42		2,536	5.51	+1.79
	NZ First	Taylor Arneil		493	1.08		1,029	2.24	+1.13
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby		418	0.92	+0.08	136	0.30	+0.03
	Animal Justice	Christopher Gordon		111	0.24		61	0.14
	Vision New Zealand	Meg Lim		80	0.18
	Workers Now	Don Franks		67	0.15
	Independent	Karl Thomas Geiringer		43	0.09
	Independent	Pete Bains		36	0.08
	ACT						2,075	4.51	-0.35
	Te Pāti Māori						1,106	2.40	+1.87
	New Zealand Loyal						80	0.17
	NewZeal						57	0.12	±0.00
	Women's Rights						54	0.12
	Freedoms NZ						32	0.07
	New Conservative						31	0.07	-0.33
	DemocracyNZ						18	0.04
	New Nation						14	0.03
	Leighton Baker Party						11	0.02
Informal votes				287			126
Total valid votes				45,456			45,989
Turnout				46,252	84.48	-4.49
	Green gain from Labour		Majority	6,066	13.34

2020 election

More information 2020 general election, Notes: ...

2020 general election: Wellington Central^[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 Grant Robertson		27,366	57.26	+8	20,876	43.40	+5.11
	National	Nicola Willis		8,488	17.76	−7.99	6,937	14.43	−16.1
	Green	James Shaw		8,381	17.54	+2.15	14,587	30.33	+8.99
	Opportunities	Abe Gray		1,031	2.16	−4.66	1,790	3.72	−2.17
	ACT	Brooke van Velden		865	1.81	+1.5	2,339	4.86	+4.09
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby		401	0.84	—	132	0.27	+0.7
	Independent	Jesse Richardson		385	0.81
	New Conservative	Liam Richfield		401	0.45		204	0.42	+0.35
	Advance NZ	Rose Greally		108	0.23		103	0.21
	ONE	Gina Sunderland		84	0.18		56	0.12
	Outdoors	Bruce Robert		76	0.16		27	0.06	+0.03
	NZ First						537	1.11	-1.15
	Māori Party						255	0.53	-0.01
	Sustainable NZ						32	0.07
	Social Credit						18	0.04
	TEA						12	0.02
	Vision NZ						8	0.01
	Heartland						1	0.00
Informal votes				386			176
Total valid votes				47,787			48,090
Turnout				48,090	88.97^[7]	+2.41
	Labour hold		Majority	18,878	39.5	+15.99

2017 election

More information 2017 general election, Notes: ...

2017 general election: Wellington Central^[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 Grant Robertson		20,873	49.26	−2.38	16,500	38.29	+14.51
	National	Nicola Willis		10,910	25.75	−4.34	13,156	30.53	−7.01
	Green	James Shaw		6,520	15.39	+2.15	9,198	21.34	−8.16
	Opportunities	Geoff Simmons		2,892	6.82	—	2,538	5.89	—
	NZ First	Andy Foster		797	1.88	+0.37	972	2.26	−1.32
	Independent	Gayaal Iddamalgoda		161	0.38	—
	ACT	Michael Warren		131	0.31	—	330	0.77	+0.07
	Independent	Peter Robinson		71	0.17	−0.11
	Not A Party	Bob Wessex		19	0.04	—
	Māori Party						225	0.52	−0.25
	Legalise Cannabis						55	0.13	−0.19
	Conservative						29	0.07	−1.44
	United Future						28	0.06	−0.24
	Mana						14	0.03	−1.45^{[lower-alpha 1]}
	Ban 1080						13	0.03	−0.02
	Outdoors						11	0.03	—
	People's Party						10	0.03	—
	Internet						9	0.02	−1.46^{[lower-alpha 2]}
	Democrats						6	0.01	−0.06
Informal votes				194			72
Total valid votes				42,374			43,094
Turnout				43,166	86.56^[9]	+2.42
	Labour hold		Majority	9,963	23.51	+1.95

2014 election

More information 2014 general election, Notes: ...

2014 general election: Wellington Central^[10]
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 Grant Robertson		19,807	51.64	+2.49	9,306	23.78	-2.78
	National	Paul Foster-Bell		11,540	30.09	-2.42	14,689	37.54	-0.88
	Green	James Shaw		5,077	13.24	-0.39	11,545	29.50	+1.81
	NZ First	Hugh Barr		580	1.51	+0.78	1,399	3.58	+0.70
	Legalise Cannabis	Alistair Gregory		353	0.92	-0.13	127	0.32	-0.09
	Conservative	Brian Hooper		307	0.80	+0.18	590	1.51	+0.82
	Internet	Callum Valentine		217	0.57	+0.57
	Independent	Peter Robinson		90	0.23	+0.23
	Democrats	James Knuckey		57	0.15	+0.15	26	0.07	+0.03
	Independent	Puhi Karena		52	0.14	+0.06
	Internet Mana						578	1.48	+0.85^{[lower-alpha 3]}
	Maori Party						300	0.77	+0.06
	ACT						274	0.70	-0.47
	United Future						117	0.30	-0.35
	Civilian						49	0.13	+0.13
	Ban 1080						20	0.05	+0.05
	Focus						5	0.01	+0.01
	Independent Coalition						5	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				273			101
Total valid votes				38,353			39,131
Turnout				39,232	84.14	+2.33
	Labour hold		Majority	8,267	21.56	+4.92

2011 election

More information 2011 general election, Notes: ...

2011 general election: Wellington Central^[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 Grant Robertson		18,836	49.15	+6.97	10,459	26.56	-8.01
	National	Paul Foster-Bell		12,460	32.51	-4.96	15,128	38.42	+3.01
	Green	James Shaw		5,225	13.63	-1.14	10,903	27.69	+7.08
	ACT	Stephen Whittington		412	1.07	-1.21	462	1.17	-2.78
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby		404	1.05	+0.05	161	0.41	+0.15
	NZ First	Ben Craven		279	0.73	+0.73	1,132	2.88	+1.35
	Pirate	Gynn Rickerby		277	0.72	+0.72
	Conservative	Paul Stipkovits		236	0.62	+0.62	270	0.69	+0.69
	Libertarianz	Reagan Cutting		69	0.18	-0.01	40	0.10	-0.01
	Alliance	Kelly Buchanan		52	0.14	+0.14	18	0.05	-0.003
	New Economics	Laurence Boomert		44	0.11	+0.11
	Independent	Puhi Karena		32	0.08	+0.08
	Maori Party						278	0.71	-0.15
	United Future						256	0.65	-0.35
	Mana						250	0.63	+0.63
	Democrats						15	0.04	+0.03
Informal votes				411			153
Total valid votes				38,326			39,372
	Labour hold		Majority	6,376	16.64	+11.92

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 48,316^[12]

2008 election

More information 2008 general election, Notes: ...

2008 general election: Wellington Central^[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	Grant Robertson		17,046	42.18		14,244	34.57
	National	Stephen Franks		15,142	37.47		14,589	35.41
	Green	Sue Kedgley		5,971	14.78		8,494	20.62
	ACT	Heather Roy		922	2.28		1,628	3.95
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby		407	1.01		108	0.26
	United Future	Vaughan Smith		226	0.56		412	1.00
	Workers Party	Don Franks		171	0.42		38	0.09
	Progressive	David Somerset		141	0.35		272	0.66
	Kiwi	Rebekah Clement		106	0.26		84	0.20
	Libertarianz	Bernard Darnton		75	0.19		48	0.12
	RAM	Grant Brookes		61	0.15		13	0.03
	Independent	Al Mansell		58	0.14	–
	RONZ	Justin Harnish		46	0.11		5	0.01
	Alliance	Richard Wallis		39	0.10		20	0.05
	NZ First						629	1.53
	Maori Party						351	0.85
	Bill and Ben						215	0.52
	Family Party						38	0.09
	Pacific						8	0.02
	Democrats						4	0.01
Informal votes				229			86
Total valid votes				40,411			41,200
	Labour hold		Majority	1,904

2005 election

More information 2005 general election, Notes: ...

2005 general election: Wellington Central^[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 Marian Hobbs		20,199	49.32	+8.26	17,936	43.26
	National	Mark Blumsky		14,019	34.23	+4.69	13,513	32.59
	Green	Sue Kedgley		3,737	9.12	-3.93	6,530	15.75
	ACT	Stephen Franks		1,254	3.06		848	2.05
	United Future	Fiona McKenzie		593	1.45		1,068	2.58
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby		426	1.04		98	0.24
	Progressive	David Somerset		173	0.26		309	0.75
	Anti-Capitalist Alliance	Stephen Hay		107	0.26
	Libertarianz	Bernard Darnton		79	0.19		42	0.10
	Alliance	Kane O'Connell		79	0.19		35	0.08
	NZ First						707	1.71
	Maori Party						168	0.41
	Destiny						67	0.16
	Christian Heritage						24	0.06
	Democrats						10	0.02
	99 MP						8	0.02
	RONZ						4	0.01
	Family Rights						3	0.01
	Direct Democracy						2	0.00
	One NZ						1	0.00
Informal votes				288			86
Total valid votes				40,954			41,459
	Labour hold		Majority	6,180	15.09	+3.57

1999 election

The National party did not stand a candidate in this election because of the events of the 1996 Wellington Central election where then leader Prime Minister Jim Bolger withdrew support for National’s candidate Mark Thomas just before the election in preference for Act leader Richard Prebble.

The absence of a National candidate in this election did not help Richard Prebble and he lost the seat to new Labour candidate Marian Hobbs.

1999 general election: Wellington Central^[15]^[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	%	±%
	Labour	Marian Hobbs		17,470	48.37	+18.12	11,960	32.71	+6.41
	ACT	N Richard Prebble		15,988	44.27	+9.49	2,807	7.68	+1.07
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby		787	2.18	+0.93	582	1.59	-0.63
	Christian Democrats	Anthony Walton		394	1.09		297	0.81
	United NZ	Kent Clark		324	0.90	-4.64	394	1.08	-1.72
	NZ First	Jonathan Mosen		308	0.85	+0.66	507	1.39	-0.32
	Christian Heritage	Leona Emberson-Ready		226	0.63	-0.10	315	0.86	-1.51^{[lower-alpha 4]}
	McGillicuddy Serious	Amy Ross		218	0.60	+0.23	69	0.19	-0.10
	Independent	Marion Smith		218	0.60
	Independent	Lea Barker		76	0.21
	Asia Pacific	Bihua Fu		56	0.16	+0.02	0	0.00	-0.07
	Natural Law	Daniel Meares		50	0.14	+0.01	36	0.10	-0.01
	National						13,086	35.79	-9.88
	Green						3,543	9.69
	Alliance						2,787	7.62	-1.54
	Libertarianz						78	0.21	+0.16
	Animals First						43	0.12	-0.05
	Mauri Pacific						21	0.06
	Mana Māori						11	0.03	-0.08
	NMP						10	0.03
	South Island						8	0.02
	Republican						3	0.01
	Freedom Movement						2	0.01
	The People's Choice						2	0.01
	One NZ						1	0.00
Informal votes				631			184
Total valid votes				36,115			36,562
	Labour gain from ACT		Majority	1,482	4.10	+13.81

1996 election

The 1996 election, the first under the new electoral system MMP, saw ACT candidate and former Labour Cabinet Minister Richard Prebble compete against former National Party Wellington-Karori MP Pauline Gardiner now standing for United New Zealand, the National party candidate Mark Thomas, Labour's Alick Shaw and Danna Glendining for the Alliance.

The election campaign saw Prime Minister Jim Bolger endorse Richard Prebble shortly before the election in preference to Thomas. The events were captured in the movie Campaign.^[17] The electorate was won by Richard Prebble.^[18]

More information 1996 general election, Notes: ...

1996 general election: Wellington Central^[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	%	±%
	ACT	Richard Prebble		14,269	34.78		2,717	6.61
	Labour	Alick Shaw		12,409	30.25		10,816	26.30
	National	Mark Thomas		8,794	21.44		18,780	45.67
	United NZ	N Pauline Gardiner		2,233	5.54		1,151	2.80
	Alliance	Danna Glendining		1,356	3.31		3,766	9.16
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby		513	1.25		912	2.22
	NZ First	Sarah Porter		480	1.17		707	1.71
	Christian Coalition	Robin Corner		300	0.73		973	2.37
	Independent	Andy Foster		214	0.52
	McGillicuddy Serious	Ross Gardner		151	0.37		121	0.29
	Progressive Green	Alison Davis		137	0.33		121	0.29
	Asia Pacific	Rama Ramanathan		59	0.14		27	0.07
	Natural Law	Daniel Meares		54	0.13		47	0.11
	Mana Māori	Waiariki Grace		27	0.13		47	0.11
	Libertarianz	Nikolas Haden		19	0.05		21	0.05
	Independent	Peter Franklin Robinson		11	0.03
	Animals First						69	0.17
	Ethnic Minority						23	0.06
	Superannuitants & Youth						14	0.03
	Green Society						11	0.03
	Advance NZ						10	0.02
	Conservatives						6	0.01
	Te Tawharau						0	0.00
Informal votes				203			109
Total valid votes				41,026			41,120
	ACT win new seat		Majority	1,860	15.09