Southland (New Zealand electorate)

Southland is an electorate to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was first created for the 2020 New Zealand general election and has since then been held by Joseph Mooney of the National Party.

Southland
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Region	Otago and Southland
Area	31,313.05 km2 (12,090.04 sq mi)
Current constituency
Created	2020
Current MP	Joseph Mooney
Party	National
List MP	Todd Stephenson (ACT)

Population centres

Despite its name, the electorate straddles the border between the Southland and Otago regions. It is the second-largest general electorate in New Zealand, behind West Coast-Tasman, and is predominantly rural in nature. The electorate includes Gore, Winton, Mataura, Alexandra, Arrowtown, Queenstown and Te Anau (among others), and much of Fiordland National Park.^[1]

History

The Southland electorate emerged at the 2020 redistribution after the Clutha region moved out of the former electorate of Clutha-Southland. It comprised the bulk of Clutha-Southland, plus another area around Alexandra that had been moved in from Waitaki. The Representation Commission initially proposed to move Winton and The Catlins into Invercargill, but after a public consultation process these areas remained in Southland, which instead shed a large area in West Southland around Tuatapere.^[2][3]

The incumbent from the Clutha-Southland electorate, Hamish Walker, announced in July 2020 that he would not contest the Southland electorate.^[4] Later that month, the National Party selected Joseph Mooney as their candidate for this safe National seat.^[5] Mooney was elected by a margin of 5,645 votes over Labour Party candidate Jon Mitchell.^[6]

Members of Parliament

Key   National

Election	Winner
2020 election		Joseph Mooney
2023 election

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
2023 election		Todd Stephenson

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: Southland[7]
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	%	±%
	National	Y Joseph Mooney		23,231	58.89	+7.29	19,222	48.25	+12.18
	Labour	Simon McCallum		6,020	15.26	–21.72	6,546	16.43	–22.42
	Green	Dave Kennedy		3,860	9.78	+4.29	3,482	8.74	+3.60
	ACT	Todd Stephenson		2,807	7.11	–	5,412	13.58	+0.88
	NZ Loyal	Logan Evans		2,172	5.50	–	974	2.44	–
	Legalise Cannabis	Anntwinette Grumball		687	1.74	–	217	0.54	+0.16
	Vision NZ	Naomi Maclean		228	0.57	–
	NZ First						2,258	5.66	+3.65
	Opportunities						810	2.03	+0.47
	NewZeal						246	0.61	+0.41
	Te Pāti Māori						190	0.47	+0.32
	Freedoms NZ						91	0.22	–
	Animal Justice						65	0.16	–
	DemocracyNZ						60	0.15	–
	New Nation						35	0.08	–
	New Conservatives						32	0.08	–1.41
	Women's Rights						28	0.07	–
	Leighton Baker Party						20	0.05	–
Informal votes				437			148
Total valid votes				39,442			39,836
	National hold		Majority	17,211	43.63	+31.81

2020 election

2020 general election: Southland[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	%	±%
	National	Joseph Mooney		19,975	51.60	—	14,244	36.07	—
	Labour	Jon Mitchell		14,330	36.98	—	15,341	38.85	—
	Green	David Kennedy		2,127	5.49	—	2,085	5.14	—
	Opportunities	Joel Rowlands		880	2.27	—	616	1.56	—
	New Conservative	Fiona Meyer		664	1.71	—	588	1.49	—
	Advance NZ	Robert Wilson		508	1.31	—	373	0.94	—
	Social Credit	Elisabeth Dacker		139	0.36	—	39	0.09	—
	ONE	Judith Terrill		130	0.34	—	78	0.19	—
	ACT						5,016	12.70	—
	NZ First						794	2.01	—
	Legalise Cannabis						151	0.38	—
	Māori Party						60	0.15	—
	Outdoors						56	0.14	—
	Sustainable NZ						25	0.06	—
	Heartland						8	0.02	—
	Vision NZ						7	0.02	—
	TEA						6	0.02	—
Informal votes				679			164
Total valid votes				39,432			39,651
Turnout				39,651	86.5	—
	National win new seat		Majority	5,645	14.62

References

1. "Map of electorates for the 2020 and 2023 electorates". 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
2. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
3. Kelly, Rachael (20 November 2019). "Changes to Clutha-Southland, Invercargill electorates under proposed boundary changes". Southland Times. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
4. "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.
5. McKenzie-McLean, Jo (31 July 2020). "Queenstown lawyer Joseph Mooney selected to replace Hamish Walker as Southland electorate candidate". Stuff. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
6. "Southland – Official Result (2020)". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
7. "Official Count Results — Southland". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 October 2024.