1980 Onehunga by-election-The Daily Ledger

The Onehunga by-election of 1980 was a by-election for the electorate during the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It was prompted by the death of Frank Rogers, a Labour Party MP. It was held on 7 June 1980 and was won by Fred Gerbic, also of the Labour Party.

It was held the same day as another by-election in Northern Maori.

1980 Onehunga by-election

Candidates

Labour

As Onehunga was a safe Labour seat, there was a large amount of interest in the candidacy from the local Labour Party. In 1975 Rogers had won selection over 26 other aspirants for the seat after Hugh Watt retired. Initially, there was intense speculation that party president Jim Anderton (who was the proprietor of a business in the electorate) would stand. However he eventually declined, fulfilling a promise he made at the 1979 party conference that he would not stand for parliament at, or before, the next election.

1980 Onehunga by-election

The candidates for the nomination were:

1980 Onehunga by-election

Reg Boorman, a Masterton painter and chairman of the Labour electorate committee Malcolm Douglas, former MP for who unsuccessfully stood for the Onehunga nomination in 1975 Fred Gerbic, Auckland's Industrial Conciliator and former chairman of the and Labour electorate committees Lee Goffin, a school deputy-principal and secretary of the Royal Oak Branch who was Labour's candidate for in 1978 Roy Harward, a teacher who was spokesman for the Citizens Action Group lobbying against a liquefied petroleum gas depot in Onehunga Colleen Hicks, the regional officer of the Nurses Association and Labour's candidate for in 1978 Dorothy Jelicich, a Hamilton City Councillor and former MP for George Karaitiana, a local lawyer Hugh McCarthy, a pharmacist and chairman of the Labour electorate committee Murray McDowell, a local school teacher and chairman of Labour's Te Papapa Oranga branch Bill Morrison, a local purchasing clerk Morris Renouf, a teacher and secretary of the Onehunga Labour electorate committee Reverend Peter Wedde, a local Presbyterian minister

Despite the large number of candidates, three had emerged as frontrunners by the time nominations had closed; Douglas, Gerbic and Jelicich. The selection meeting was a rancorous one with many local members resentful of interventions by the party head office and candidates from outside the electorate. The local members were supportive of Douglas and Jelicich, with Labour leader Bill Rowling and the party hierarchy favouring Gerbic. The meeting took several hours, running so late that the decision had yet to be made at 1:30 am, the cut-off time for printing, and thus could not be reported in the morning newspapers. A floor vote of the local party members was clearly won by Douglas, with Jelicich second and Gerbic third. Two of the local members on the selection panel backed Jelicich with the other local member, and the three head office selectors voting for Gerbic, giving him the nomination. His success as the nominee was announced by Anderton to the 400 members present at 2:45 am.

The chairman of the Onehunga Labour electorate committee, George Madden, was controversially denied a place on the selection panel. As such, there was allegations of the panel being "stacked" to favour head office. Several Onehunga Labour members went as far as to resign their membership, pledging to instead vote for the Social Credit candidate in protest. Gerbic's selection was, however, openly welcomed by Anderton, Rowling and Sir Tom Skinner.