Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Local Focus: Wairarapa electorate explained

Patrick O'Sullivan
By Patrick O'Sullivan
NZ Herald·
12 Jul, 2020 11:02 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Anything can happen in Wairarapa. Made with funding from NZ On Air.
ELECTION2020_DIGIBANNER

Wairarapa is famous for its wild coast and down to earth people. The Wairarapa electorate takes in all of that "hard-core" Wairarapa and expands to include parts of the Manawatū and Hawke's Bay.

The electorate boundary is just north of Waipawa and Waipukurau, following the central range south to include the towns of Dannevirke, Woodville, Pahiatua, Eketāhuna, Masterton, Carterton, Greytown, Featherston and Martinborough.

Wairarapa has more Māori and Pakeha than the rest of New Zealand, so there's a lack of other ethnicities, but they're there. In Martinborough's wine country the most common language after English is French.

Primary industry is key, with three times the national average employed in farming, forestry and fishing.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Local newspaper editor Steve Carle said farming is the backbone of the electorate.

"I think it is a very stable area," he said. "People tend to live here and stay here. Farms are handed down from generation to generation."

The electorate has seen a lot of newcomers. Carle said in South Wairarapa the number of residents commuting to Wellington has grown since the last election and many former commuters from Palmerston North decided to settle in Tararua District. How this changes the vote is yet to be seen.

The incumbent MP, National's Alastair Scott, is resigning after two terms. His replacement is farmer and lobbyist Mike Butterick who will seek to defend National's winning majority of 2872 in the last election.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Second place went to Labour's Kieran McAnulty in his first attempt at the seat. McAnulty has been a list MP and is standing again in the electorate.

New Zealand First list MP and Defence Minister Ron Mark is also standing, with the Green Party also fielding a strong candidate with former Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown. A fifth candidate is Act's Roger Greenslade.

Carle says Wairarapa can't lose when it comes to representation, with the top three candidates all having very strong ties to Wairarapa.

"We're actually spoiled for choice," he said. "We are provincial New Zealand and we want people representing us in Parliament that know how our electorate works.

Discover more

New Zealand

Local Focus: Tukituki electorate explained

02 Jul 09:43 PM
New Zealand

Local Focus: Wairarapa candidates reveal the electorate's biggest issue

13 Sep 11:27 PM
New Zealand|politics

Local Focus: Wairarapa candidates address credibility

06 Aug 01:09 AM
Politics

Local Focus: Why not just tax the rich? Wairarapa candidates argue tax

30 Jul 10:18 PM

"Here are three prime candidates that are in the know with first-hand experience of living in our communities. They know what we want."

While the electorate is provincial in geography it is not provincial in outlook. In 1999 Wairarapa chose the world's first openly transgender Member of Parliament - Labour's Georgina Beyer.

Proving anything can happen in the Wairarapa electorate.

Made with funding from

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Praise for restaurant's response after former deputy mayor dies at family dinner

Premium
Opinion

Gail Pope: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Samoan home shot by Hawke’s Bay photographer

Hawkes Bay Today

The 2.2% dream: What we would need to sacrifice to get the lowest rate rise in NZ


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Praise for restaurant's response after former deputy mayor dies at family dinner
Hawkes Bay Today

Praise for restaurant's response after former deputy mayor dies at family dinner

His family say he will leave a legacy of kindness, and he was surrounded by it to the end.

18 Jul 07:18 PM
Premium
Premium
Gail Pope: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Samoan home shot by Hawke’s Bay photographer
Opinion

Gail Pope: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Samoan home shot by Hawke’s Bay photographer

18 Jul 07:00 PM
The 2.2% dream: What we would need to sacrifice to get the lowest rate rise in NZ
Hawkes Bay Today

The 2.2% dream: What we would need to sacrifice to get the lowest rate rise in NZ

18 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP