Comparing the front benches

How do the front benches of National and Labour compare demographically.

National

• Electorate MPs – 90% Electorate MPs and 10% List MPs
• Gender – 40% female
• Ethnicity – 40% Maori
• Age – 80% in 30s or 40s
• Area – 60% Auckland, 20% Provincial, 20% Rural
• Island – 90% North Island
• Entered Parliament – 30% before 2008, 40% in 2008 and 30% in 2011

Labour

• Electorate MPs – 80% Electorate MPs and 20% List MPs
• Gender – 30% female
• Ethnicity – 10% Maori and 10% Pasifika
• Age – 60% in 30s or 40s
• Area – 40% Auckland, 30% Wellington, 10% Christchurch, 10% Provincial, 10% Rural
• Island – National 80% North Island
• Entered Parliament – 10% before 2008, 60% in 2008 and 30% in 2011

So comparing on each:

• Electorate Status – both party frontbenches are overwhelmingly electorate MPs
• Gender – National has a higher proportion of female frontbenchers
• Ethnicity – National has a far higher proportion of Maori frontbenchers
• Age – National has a younger front bench
• Area – Labour is more evenly spread while National is Auckland heavy
• Island – Labour has more South Island front benchers
• Entered Parliament – National has more front benchers who entered before 2008