Whangarei (New Zealand electorate)

Whangarei is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that was first created for the 1972 election. The electorate is a reasonably safe National seat, and was held for long periods by John Banks (1981–1999) and Phil Heatley (1999–2014), before being won in the 2014 election by Shane Reti.

Since the 1969 election, the number of electorates in the South Island was fixed at 25, with continued faster population growth in the North Island leading to an increase in the number of general electorates. There were 84 electorates for the 1969 election, and the 1972 electoral redistribution saw three additional general seats created for the North Island, bringing the total number of electorates to 87. Together with increased urbanisation in Christchurch and Nelson, the changes proved very disruptive to existing electorates. In the South Island, three electorates were abolished, and three electorates were newly created. In the North Island, five electorates were abolished, two electorates were recreated, and six electorates were newly created (including Whangarei).

The boundaries of the Whangarei electorate were last adjusted for the 1999 election; before then, the electorate bordered onto the Kaipara Harbour. Subsequent redistributions in 2002, 2007, and 2013/14 did not change the boundaries further.

The electorate includes the following population centres:

It extends from Hikurangi in the north to Ruatangata and Poroti in the west and Waipu and Langs Beach in the south.

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