Whangārei
Single-member general constituency for theNew ZealandHouse of Representatives
Formation	1972
Region	Northland
Character	Urban
Term	3 years
Member for Whangārei
Shane Reti[1] since14 October 2023
Party	National
Party vote distribution

Whangārei (formerlyWhangarei) is a New Zealand parliamentaryelectorate that was first created for the1972 election. The electorate is usually a reasonably safeNational seat, and was held for long periods byJohn Banks (1981–1999) andPhil Heatley (1999–2014), before being won in the2014 election byShane Reti. In the2020 election Reti narrowly lost the seat to Labour'sEmily Henderson. Reti would reclaim the seat at the2023 election with a huge majority.

Since the1969 election, the number of electorates in theSouth Island was fixed at 25, with continued faster population growth in theNorth Island leading to an increase in the number of general electorates. There were 84 electorates for the 1969 election,^[2] and the 1972 electoral redistribution saw three additional general seats created for the North Island, bringing the total number of electorates to 87.^[3] Together with increased urbanisation inChristchurch andNelson, the changes proved very disruptive to existing electorates.^[3] In the South Island, three electorates were abolished, and three electorates were newly created.^[4] In the North Island, five electorates were abolished, two electorates were recreated, and six electorates were newly created (including Whangārei).^[5]

The boundaries of the Whangārei electorate were adjusted for the1999 election; before then, the electorate bordered onto theKaipara Harbour. Redistributions in 2002,^[6] 2007,^[7] and 2013/14^[8] did not change the boundaries further. Changes ahead of the2020 election movedPoroti andMaungakaramea into theNorthland electorate^[9] and also changed the electorate's name from Whangarei to Whangārei. Redistributions for the2026 general election saw the electorate extend northwards to theWhangaruru harbour.^[10]

The electorate includes the following population centres:

• Whangārei
• Hikurangi
• Ruakaka
• Whananaki
• Ōakura
• Whangaruru

It extends fromWhangaruru in the north to Ruatangata andMaungatapere in the west andWaipu and Langs Beach in the south.

The electorate was created for the1972 election. It was won by the Labour Party in that election, but was then held by the National Party until 2020.Phil Heatley held it from1999^[11] until he retired in 2014.^[12]Shane Reti stood for National in the2014 election and had a large margin over Labour's Kelly Ellis.^[13][14]

Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at a general election.

Key

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

¹Donnelly resigned in February 2008 when appointedHigh Commissioner to theCook Islands

2020 general election: Whangārei[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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Emily Henderson		17,823	40.81	+21.62	20,942	47.28	+15.75
	National	NShane Reti		17,392	39.82	−6.47	11,602	26.19	−18.89
	ACT	David Seymour		2,153	4.93	+4.47	3,650	8.24	+7.76
	Green	Moea Armstrong		1,635	3.74	−8.29	2,738	6.18	+0.50
	NZ First	David Wilson		1,527	3.50	−15.41	2,268	5.12	−8.97
	Opportunities	Ciara Swords		705	1.61	—	663	1.50	−0.24
	Advance NZ	Christopher Wetere		654	1.50	—	686	1.55	—
	Legalise Cannabis	Jennifer de Jonge		597	1.37	—	274	0.62	+0.29
	New Conservative	Kerry Campbell		544	1.25	+0.86	814	1.84	+1.57
	Social Credit	Chris Leitch		356	0.82	−1.61	133	0.30	+0.13
	ONE	Daniel Watts		287	0.66	—	249	0.56	—
	Māori Party						149	0.34	+0.09
	Vision NZ						44	0.10	—
	Outdoors						42	0.09	+0.02
	Sustainable NZ						23	0.05	—
	TEA						10	0.02	—
	Heartland						4	0.01	—
Informal votes				611			297
Total valid votes				44,284			44,588
	Labourgain fromNational		Majority	431	0.97

2017 general election: Whangarei[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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	YShane Reti		18,734	45.8	−9.27	18,572	44.9	−5.18
	Labour	Tony John Savage		7,767	19.0	−0.01	12,993	31.4	+13.61
	NZ First	Shane Jones		7,651	18.7	+10.64	5,804	14.01	+0.65
	Green	Ash Holwell		4,868	11.9	+3.24	2,342	5.65	−4.12
	Democrats	Chris Leitch		994	2.43	−0.25	71	0.17	−0.14
	ACT	Robin Grieve		188	0.46	−0.32	198	0.48	−0.05
	Conservative	Jim Taylor		158	0.39	−2.30	113	0.27	−4.94
	Independent	Marie Minhinnick		110	0.27	−0.66
	Opportunities						716	1.73	–
	Legalise Cannabis						135	0.33	−0.17
	Māori Party						101	0.24	−0.29
	Mana						43	0.1	−0.94[a]
	Ban 1080						39	0.09	−0.01
	Outdoors						28	0.07	–
	United Future						19	0.046	−0.47
	People's Party						18	0.043	–
	Internet						10	0.02	−1.02[b]
Informal votes				396			204
Total valid votes				40,866			41,406
	Nationalhold		Majority	10,967	26.84	−9.22

2011 general election: Whangarei[19]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	YPhil Heatley		20,049	59.18	-4.98	17,486	50.67	+0.63
	Labour	Pat Newman		7,602	22.44	-0.92	7,017	20.33	-8.27
	Green	Rick Bazeley		2,993	8.83	+1.23	3,673	10.64	+4.65
	NZ First	Pita Paraone		1,512	4.46	+4.46	3,340	9.68	+3.52
	Conservative	Ross Craig		1,146	3.38	+3.38	1,457	4.22	+4.22
	ACT	Robin Grieve		338	1.00	+0.15	596	1.73	-2.07
	Democrats	Edgar Kenneth Goodhue		142	0.42	-0.08	84	0.24	+0.06
	Libertarianz	Helen Hughes		97	0.29	+0.12	31	0.09	+0.04
	Mana						238	0.69	+0.69
	Māori Party						212	0.61	-0.30
	Legalise Cannabis						184	0.53	+0.07
	United Future						180	0.52	-0.19
	Alliance						14	0.04	-0.01
Informal votes				654			287
Total valid votes				33,879			34,512
	Nationalhold		Majority	12,447	36.74	-4.06

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 46,511^[20]

2008 general election: Whangarei[21]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	YPhil Heatley		23,056	64.16		18,252	50.04
	Labour	Paul Chalmers		8,393	23.36		10,433	28.60
	Green	Paul Doherty		2,731	7.60		2,187	6.00
	Progressive	Viv Shepherd		636	1.77		531	1.46
	ACT	Thomas John McClelland		304	0.85		1,385	3.80
	RAM	Martin Kaipo		281	0.78		25	0.07
	Democrats	Edgar Kenneth Goodhue		179	0.50		66	0.18
	Independent	Simon Vallings		113	0.31
	United Future	Maureen Gunston		107	0.30		260	0.71
	Independent	Don Hedges		74	0.21
	Libertarianz	Helen Hughes		61	0.17		18	0.05
	NZ First						2,246	6.16
	Māori Party						333	0.91
	Bill and Ben						231	0.63
	Legalise Cannabis						169	0.46
	Kiwi						167	0.46
	Family Party						128	0.35
	Alliance						17	0.05
	Workers Party						13	0.04
	Pacific						12	0.03
	RONZ						3	0.01
Informal votes				413			240
Total valid votes				35,935			36,476
	Nationalhold		Majority	14,663	40.80

2005 general election: Whangarei[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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	YPhil Heatley		18,900	53.81	+10.56	15,333	43.11
	Labour	Paul Chalmers		9,811	27.93	-5.27	12,884	36.22
	NZ First	Brian Donnelly		2,983	8.49	-3.31	3,217	9.04
	Green	Moea Armstrong		1,240	3.53		1,648	4.63
	ACT	Muriel Newman		1,067	3.04		707	1.99
	Māori Party	Rangi Ngāti Huna Tahiao		384	1.09		264	0.74
	Progressive	Viv Shepherd		311	0.89		409	1.15
	Destiny	Tony Ford		178	0.51		240	0.67
	United Future	Craig Hunt		168	0.48		637	1.79
	Libertarianz	Helen Hughes		80	0.23		39	0.11
	Legalise Cannabis						81	0.23
	Christian Heritage						46	0.13
	Democrats						23	0.06
	Alliance						19	0.05
	RONZ						6	0.02
	99 MP						4	0.01
	Direct Democracy						4	0.01
	One NZ						4	0.01
	Family Rights						3	0.01
Informal votes				243			117
Total valid votes				35,122			35,568
	Nationalhold		Majority	9,089	25.88	+15.88

2002 general election: Whangarei[23]
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. AY orN denotes status of anyincumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	YPhil Heatley		13,829	43.03		7,493	23.17
	Labour	David Shearer		10,615	33.03		11,374	35.17
	NZ First	Brian Donnelly		3,774	11.74		5,008	15.48
	ACT	Muriel Newman		1,297	4.03		2,623	8.11
	Green	Calvin Green		1,180	3.60		2,111	6.52
	Christian Heritage	Rod Harris		521	1.62		807	2.49
	United Future	Gary Phillips		268	0.83		1,483	4.58
	Alliance	Ticia Cutforth		239	0.74		351	1.08
	Progressive	David Wilson		156	0.48		394	1.21
	Libertarianz	Helen Hughes		97	0.30
	ORNZ						383	1.18
	Legalise Cannabis						143	0.44
	One NZ						23	0.07
	Mana Māori						11	0.03
	NMP						3	0.009
Informal votes				159			125
Total valid votes				32,135			32,332
	Nationalhold		Majority	3,214	10.00

Refer toCandidates in the New Zealand general election 1999 by electorate#Whangarei for a list of candidates.

• McRobie, Alan (1989).Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books.ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Norton, Clifford (1988).New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington.ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913].New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 266.OCLC 154283103.

• Whangarei Electorate Profile, Parliamentary Library

• New Zealand electorates
• 1972 establishments in New Zealand

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