Hutt South looks to Change Hands

By Frank Neill

Chris Bishop waving the National flag beside the road at the top of the Wainuiomata hill.

“It looks life Hutt South will have a different MP this term,” says National’s Chris Bishop.

This follows the election night vote tally which saw Chris leading the Hutt South incumbent

Labour’s Ginny Andersen by 1,094 votes.

Chris attracted 14,872 votes while Ginny attracted 13,778.

“I’m very happy,” Chris told the “Wainuiomata News” the day after the election.

“Hutt South has always been a traditional Labour seat, so I’m happy to be in a good position on election night.

“We are just waiting for the counting of special votes now.”

As well as standing for Hutt South, Chris chaired National’s 2023 election campaign, and chaired it with success.

“National will form the next government,” he says.

And that is good news for Wainuiomata for a number of reasons.

National will work towards developping a second access for Wainuiomata, will work towards the corss-valley link and also the Petone to Grenada link.

“These are significant developments for the Hutt Valley that will help Wainuiomata.

“Wainuiomata needs a second access.

“National committed to starting the investigation of the second access and I’m keen to get on with that as soon as I can.

“That was our commitment in the election and will deliver on that,” he says.

Because it is unlikely that Chris will be overtaken once special votes are counted it will see him serve a second term as Hutt South’s MP.

Chris won the Hutt South seat in 2017 before losing it to Ginny following the Labour landslide of 2020.

Chris first stood for Parliament when he contested the Hutt South seat against the long-serving Labour MP Trevor Mallard and cut Trevor’s majority form 4,825 to 709.

Despite not winning an electorate seat Chris entered Parliament for the 2024-17 term, serving as a list MP.

During that time he introduced a member’s bill, the Compensation for Live Organ Donors’ Act

2016, which was passed unanimously.

The bill aims to remove a financial deterrent to the donation of organs by live donors.

Although 2014 saw Chris entering Parliament for the first time as an MP, it was not his first

experience of the House.

He was a member of the New Zealand Youth Parliament in 2000, selected to represent List MP Muriel Newman.

Chris graduated from Victoria University with first-class honours in Law and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Politics.

He won 10 intervarsity debating tournaments, including at the Cambridge Union and Sydney

Union, and a range of awards for legal argument and oratory.

He met his partner, Jenna Raeburn, through the Victoria University Debating Society.

Chris is the Shadow Leader of the House of Parliament.