Te Tai Hauāuru

Te Tai Hauāuru is a New Zealand Parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Te Tai Hauāuru is Tariana Turia of the Māori Party. [ [http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/MPs/5/0/0/48MP12081-Turia-Tariana.htm New Zealand Parliament - Tariana Turia MP] ] She has held this position since 2002.

Te Tai Hauāuru covers the western North Island, starting in the South Waikato before heading south through the King Country towns of Te Kuiti and Taumarunui to include all of the Taranaki region and all towns in the Manawatu-Wanganui region east of the Manawatu Gorge. Its southern terminus is in Wellington at Tawa. The main population centres are Tokoroa, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Palmerston North and Porirua. It is also home of the politically influential Ratana movement.

The seat includes the Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Maru, Te Āti Awa Taranaki, Ngāti Ruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, Te Āti Haunui a Pāpārangi, Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Kauwhata, Rangitāne, Muaupoko, Ngāti Toa, Maniapoto and Ngāti Huia tribal areas ("rohe") [ [http://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/region/te-tai-hauauru/ Te Puni Kōkiri - In Your Region - Te Tai Hauāuru] ] .

Te Tai Hauāuru was first used at the 1996 election and contained all area from South Auckland to just south of Te Kuiti. It was the growth of the Māori population leading to the creation first of Tāmaki Makaurau in 1999 and Tainui in 2002 that has pulled Ta Tai Hauāuru so far south that the only remaining part of the 1996 seat is its name.

Te Tai Hauāuru was won by New Zealand First candidate Tukuroirangi Morgan in its first contest, in what would be a clean sweep by New Zealand First of the five Māori seats that year. Discontent with New Zealand First's behaviour in government lead to a reconciliation between Māori voters and the Labour Party, albeit briefly; the introduction of the Seabed and Foreshore bill to Parliament by the ruling Labour Party lead to a schism between the party and a significant section of its Māori voter base, including the MP for Te Tai Hauāuru, Tariana Turia. Turia resigned her seat to recontest the seat in a byelection as the leader of the new Māori Party. She won 92.7 percent of the vote in a contest that Labour refused to participate in. In 2005, Turia was re-elected with double the votes of her Labour rival, Errol Mason, though the Māori Party received twenty percent less of the vote (51 to 31 percent) than Labour.

Members of Parliament for Te Tai Hauāuru

sourced from [http://2005.electionresults.govt.nz/electorate-66.html electionresults.govt.nz]

References

External links

* [http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/53E7EE4C-2B68-4131-8050-70C49221AFE5/206/Te_Tai_Hauauru1.pdf Electorate Profile] "Parliamentary Library"