Tāmaki is a parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The electorate is named after the Tamaki River that runs immediately east of the seat. The electorate is represented by Simon O'Connor, who became the National Party candidate after Allan Peachey withdrew from the 2011 election for health reasons; Peachey died before the election. Population centres The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Tamaki. Tāmaki is based around the Auckland isthmus north-eastern beach suburbs, Mission Bay, Meadowbank, Saint Heliers, Kohimarama and Glendowie; it also contains the working-class suburb of Glen Innes on its southern fringe. Tāmaki is the home of a selection of New Zealand's emblematic historical moments: Ngāti Whatua activism at Bastion Point (sparking a chain of events leading to the modern Treaty of Waitangi grievance settlement process) occurred inside the seat's boundaries, a seat at the time represented by the contentious Robert Muldoon, the Prime Minister responsible for the Crown's response to the occupation of Bastion Point. Among other Ngāti Whatua land taken through governmental application of public works legislation is Paratai Drive, once New Zealand's most expensive street. The area around Mission Bay is also home to the Savage Memorial, a huge site dedicated to the memory of former Labour Michael Joseph Savage, architect of the welfare state in New Zealand. History The National Party has held Tāmaki in all its various incarnations since 1960, when future Prime Minister Robert Muldoon (later Sir Robert) began his parliamentary career by ousting the Labour Party's Bob Tizard, and staying firmly in place until his self-selected departure from parliament at the end of 1991. In four elections (1972, 1975, 1978 and 1981) Bill Andersen of the Socialist Unity Party ran against him, receiving between 39 and 188 votes. Muldoon's departure caused a by-election in 1992, where candidate Clem Simich won despite fierce competition in an