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, and nearly twice as many Pacific Islanders, which makes Botany a minority-majority electorate. Botany has the highest number of people born overseas of any New Zealand electorate, 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 ; 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 was held in Auckland 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. In October 2018, Jami-Lee Ross resigned from the National Party and accused party leader Simon Bridges of breaching electoral law. Ross announced his intention to resign from parliament and run as an independent in the resulting by-election, however he later decided against resigning. Christopher Luxon won the National Party selection in November 2019.
Members of Parliament
Key As of no candidates that have contested the Botany electorate have been returned as list MPs.
