History
The electorate was first established for the 1881 election and abolished after three parliamentary terms in 1890, when several Dunedin electorates were amalgamated to form the City of Dunedin electorate. During the nine years of its first existence, the electorate was represented by two MPs, Henry Smith Fish (1881–1884 and 1887–1890) and James Gore (1884–1887).
Dunedin South was re-established after the abolition of the City of Dunedin electorate for the 1905 election. The first representative was James Frederick Arnold, who was an independent liberal and who served until the end of the parliamentary term in 1908, when he successfully contested Dunedin Central.
Thomas Sidey of the Liberal Party who had since a 1901 by-election represented St Kilda won the 1908 election for Dunedin South. He represented the electorate for six parliamentary terms until 1928. In 1919, John Thomas Paul nearly won the seat for Labour, losing by only 84 votes.
Sidey was succeeded by William Burgoyne Taverner of the Reform Party in the 1928 election. At the next election in 1931, the electorate was won by Fred Jones of the Labour Party. Jones held the electorate until 1946, when it was abolished, and successfully stood in St Kilda that year.
The electorate was re-established for the 1996 election and won by Michael Cullen, who later became Finance minister. Cullen had previously represented St Kilda (1981–1996). At the next election in 1999, Cullen stood as a list candidate only and was succeeded by David Benson-Pope as the electorate MP. After three parliamentary terms, Benson-Pope was not selected by the Labour Party as their candidate, but Clare Curran was chosen instead. Curren has represented the electorate since the 2008 election.
The city of Dunedin is a New Zealand Labour Party stronghold; The last National MP elected from a Dunedin constituency was Richard Walls in 1975. However in 2011, National Party candidate, Jo Hayes, reduced the incumbent, Clare Curran's majority from 6449 in 2008 to 4175 in 2011. Furthermore, Jo Hayes and her campaign team successfully gained a majority of the party vote in Dunedin South by 1837 votes. The winning of the party vote is unprecedented in Dunedin South, which was seen, pre 2011, as a Labour Party stronghold. However the predecessor seat of St Kilda was represented by Jim Barnes of the National Party between 1951-1957.
Read more about this topic: Dunedin South
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