Battle of Backbone Mountain

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The Timaru by-election of 1985 was a by-election for the electorate of Timaru during the term of the 40th New Zealand Parliament. It was triggered by the death of Sir Basil Arthur (who had held the seat since 1962) on 1 May 1985. Sir Basil was Speaker of the House, and had inherited the rank of baronet from his father in 1949.

The by-election was held on 15 June 1985 and was won by Maurice McTigue of the National Party with a majority of 1,492 votes.

Candidates

Labour

Ten candidates were nominated for the Labour Party nomination:[1]

The selection meeting of around 220 party members was held. The selection committee of Helen Clark MP, Fred Anderson (party former executive), Tony Timms (general secretary), Alan Aldridge (electorate chairman), Roly Anderson (electorate vice-chairman), and Francis Griffin (electorate executive) deliberated for over four hours. They selected Walker as the candidate. She was the daughter of former Timaru City councillor and lawyer, Gordon Walker, and was chairman of the Labour Party's women's council as well as secretary of the Labour's Bay of Plenty Regional Council.[2]

National

At least four men were nominated were nominated for the National Party candidacy. They were:[3]

  • James Andrews, of Rangiora
  • Maurice McTigue, a Temuka farmer and National's 1984 Timaru candidate
  • Peter Miller, a Hamilton insurance company manager
  • Peter Paterson, the director of National's Otago-Southland division

McTigue was chosen via a ballot a selection meeting by party members.[4]

New Zealand Party

The New Zealand Party had four candidates vying for selections.

  • Dr Bill Greenslade, Timaru surgeon
  • McGregor Simpson, a Geraldine food processor
  • Graham Ellery, a Geraldine freezing worker
  • Denise Ownsworth, a Timaru sales manager

Greenslade was selected by party members at a selection meeting.[4]

Social Credit

Bruce Beetham, the leader of the Social Credit Party who had lost his seat of Rangitikei, was offered to stand in the seat. Beetham did not rule out standing, but inferred it unlikely and would do so only if Social Credit's previous candidate in the seat was unwilling to stand again.[5] Lynley Simmons, a district commissioner of apprenticeships at the Department of Labour, was selected for the by-election. She had been Social Credit's candidate for Timaru in 1981 and 1984.[6]

Others

The Values Party selected Jamie Luck, a schoolteacher, as their candidate. He was a founding member of the party and was its spokesman on international affairs.[7] Alan Falloon, a geologist and former Labour Party member, stood for what he called a new Labour Party whose aim was to "create a type of trade union structure which truly represents the interests of the individual." Previously he had unsuccessfully sought Labour candidacy for Papanui and Christchurch Central. He was a distant relation to John Falloon, a National MP.[8]

Campaign

David Lange recalled a meeting during the by-election campaign when Labour general secretary Tony Timms manhandled a noisy heckler out of the building. He said that the Labour candidate Jan Walker was a good lawyer (and was later a Family Court judge), but that the Labour Party organisation (i.e. head office) insisted on the selection of a candidate who "did not live in Timaru and her opinions, and even her appearance, were at odds with the conservative character of the electorate"; although Jim Anderton predictably (and publicly) blamed the defeat on "the government's abandonment of traditional Labour policy".[9]

New Zealand Party founder Bob Jones (who had already achieved his primary goal of ending the Muldoon government) was disappointed by his party's performance in the by-election came to the decision to put the party into recess.

The by-election was the last time the Social Credit Party name was used before the party renamed itself as the Democratic Party later in the year.[10]

Polling

Two polls were conducted by The Timaru Herald.[11]

Poll Date[nb 1] Maurice
McTigue 		Jan
Walker 		Bill
Greenslade 		Lynley
Simmons
The Timaru Herald 30 May 1985 39.8 19.3 10.8 6.3
The Timaru Herald 13 June 1985 31.9 14.8 10.8 6.8
  1. ^ These are the survey dates of the poll, or if the survey dates are not stated, the date the poll was released.

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1985 Timaru by-election[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Maurice McTigue 9,371 42.67 +4.22
Labour Jan Walker 7,879 35.88
NZ Party Bill Greenslade 2,998 13.65
Social Credit Lynley Simmons 1,628 7.41 +2.10
Values Jamie Luck 54 0.25
Independent Labour Alan Falloon 31 0.14
Majority 1,492 6.79
Informal votes 66 0.29
Turnout 22,027 89.99 -3.19
Registered electors 24,476
National gain from Labour Swing

References

  1. ^ "Ten seek Labour Party ticket". The Press. 14 May 1985. p. 1.
  2. ^ "Timaru by-election Labour's candidate woman solicitor". The Press. 17 May 1985. p. 2.
  3. ^ "Labour plans to woo women voters". The Press. 7 May 1985. p. 4.
  4. ^ a b Mein, Geoff (13 May 1985). "Surgeon and farmer candidates for Timaru". The Press. p. 1.
  5. ^ "Mr Beetham asked to stand for Timaru". The Press. 3 May 1985. p. 1.
  6. ^ "Candidate for Socred". The Press. 8 May 1985. p. 3.
  7. ^ "Values chooses teacher". The Press. 16 May 1985. p. 1.
  8. ^ "New party contests seat". The Press. 24 May 1985. p. 3.
  9. ^ David Lange (2005). My Life. Viking. ISBN 0-670-04556-X.
  10. ^ Calderwood, David (2010). Not a Fair Go: A History and Analysis of Social Credit's Struggle for Success in New Zealand's Electoral System (Thesis). University of Waikato. p. 123.
  11. ^ "Poll has Labour closing the gap". The Press. 13 June 1985. p. 2.
  12. ^ Norton 1988, p. 363.
  • 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.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Timaru_by-election