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Botany is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives of New Zealand. It was contested for the first time at the 2008 general election, and won by Pansy Wong for the National Party. Following Wong's resignation in late 2010, a by-election returned Jami-Lee Ross, who was confirmed by the voters in the 2011 general election.
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Population centres
Botany was created after the 2006 Census due to high population growth in and around Auckland, and is one of several sweeping changes to the electoral landscape of South Auckland - the southern end of Port Waikato was lanced and combined with the area around Clevedon township to create Hunua; the resultant change pulled the Clevedon electorate tighter around the city of Papakura for which the electorate is now named. In the north, Manukau East was pulled up through Otahuhu into Auckland City, in the process dropping the western suburbs of Flat Bush, East Tamaki, Dannemora and Botany Downs, which were combined with fragments of the Clevedon and Pakuranga electorates to create Botany.
Demographics
Demographically, Botany is older than the rest of New Zealand, with over half of its population aged over 30; It has three times as many Chinese New Zealanders than the national average (33.5 versus 9.2%), and nearly twice as many Pacific Islanders (13 to 7%), which makes Botany a minority-majority electorate. Botany has the highest number of people born overseas of any New Zealand electorate (49% in 2006), the most Buddhists in a New Zealand electorate and the highest number of one-family homes. The average income in the electorate is high, with over half of the electorate's residents earning over $50,000 a year.
A 2005 academic survey assessing the voting behaviour of Asian New Zealanders showed a strong preference for the Labour Party, with a sizeable proportion prepared to vote for the National Party (47 to 40); it also showed that among Asian New Zealanders, the most important issues were the economy and law and order. This was demonstrated by a large anti-crime march (a crowd of 15,000 was estimated, with a significant number of these being Asian New Zealanders) was held in Auckland (on the streets of Botany) in July 2008 amidst claims of increasing violent crime in New Zealand targeted against its Asian population. The march's organiser Peter Low used his website to clarify his position, calling for harsher sentencing, victims' rights and zero "criminal rights".
History
Botany was first created for the 2008 general election, and won by Pansy Wong for the National Party.
Both National and the ACT party stood Chinese New Zealanders as their candidates in 2008; Pansy Wong and Kenneth Wang, respectively. Labour chose Koro Tawa, an Auckland University lecturer. Raymond Huo, a Chinese-speaking lawyer, was initially mooted for the Labour nomination, but eventually chose to stand as a list-only candidate.
On 14 December 2010 it was announced that a by-election was to be held on 5 March 2011 due to the resignation of incumbent MP Pansy Wong. The electorate was won by Jami-Lee Ross from the New Zealand National Party.
Members of Parliament
Key
National
As of 2014 no candidates that have contested the Botany electorate have been returned as list MPs.
2011 election
Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 43,204
2011 by-election
Official results of the 5 March by-election.