Parliament of New Zealand

Parliament of New Zealand Pāremata Aotearoa
49th New Zealand Parliament
Type
Type	Unicameral
Houses	House of Representatives
Leadership
Speaker of the House of Representatives	Lockwood Smith, National Party since 9 December 2008
Leader of the House of Representatives	Gerry Brownlee, National Party since 9 December 2008
Members	120 Representatives
Meeting place
Parliament House, Wellington, New Zealand
Website
www.parliament.nz/en-NZ

The Parliament of New Zealand (in Māori: Pāremata Aotearoa) consists of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives and, until 1951, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The House of Representatives is often referred to as "Parliament".

The House of Representatives usually consists of 120 Members of Parliament (MPs), sometimes more due to overhang seats. MPs are directly elected by universal suffrage. The form of New Zealand government essentially follows the Westminster system, and the government is led by the Prime Minister and cabinet who are chosen from amongst the members of the House of Representatives.

Parliament is physically located in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand since 1865.

History

The Parliament was established by the British New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 which established a bicameral legislature. This produced a parliament very similar to Britain's, with a lower house, called the General Assembly, and an upper house, called the Legislative Council. The members of the General Assembly were elected under the First Past the Post system, but the members of the Council were appointed. For the most part, the Council rubber-stamped legislation the lower house wished to pass, very rarely playing any notable part in the policy process.

Due to this ineffectiveness, the National government of 1951 abolished the Legislative Council, making New Zealand legislature unicameral. Parliament received full control over all New Zealand affairs in 1947 with the passage of the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act, and the ability to amend its composition with the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947 (UK). In 1986 a new Constitution Act was passed, restating the 1852 Act's provisions and consolidating the legislation establishing Parliament.

Country Quota

Main article: Country quota

One historical speciality of the New Zealand Parliament was the country quota, which gave greater representation to rural politics. From 1889 on (and even earlier in more informal forms), districts were weighted according to their urban/rural split (with any locality of less than 2,000 people considered rural). Those districts which had large rural proportions received a greater number of nominal votes than they actually contained voters – as an example, in 1927, Waipawa, a district without any urban population at all, received an additional 4,153 nominal votes to its actual 14,838 – having the maximum factor of 28% extra representation. The country quota was in effect until it was abolished in 1945 by a mostly urban-elected Labour government, which went back to a one voter, one vote system.^[1]

Sovereignty

New Zealand

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of New Zealand

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The New Zealand Parliament is sovereign with no institution able to over-ride its decisions. The ability of Parliament to act is, legally, unimpeded. For example, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act is a normal piece of legislation, it is not superior law as written constitutions are in some other countries. The only thing Parliament is limited in its power are on some "entrenched" issues relating to elections. These include the length of its term, deciding on who can vote, how they vote (via secret ballot), how the country should be divided into electorates, and the make up of the Representation Commission which decides on these electorates. These issues require either 75% of all MPs to support the bill or a referendum on the issue. (However, the entrenchment of these provisions is not itself entrenched. Therefore, Parliament can repeal the entrenchment of these issues with a simple majority, then change these issues with a simple majority.)^[2]

Houses

New Zealand House of Representatives

New Zealand Parliament Buildings

Main article: New Zealand House of Representatives

The New Zealand House of Representatives has been the New Zealand Parliament's sole chamber since 1951. It is democratically elected every three years, with eighteen select committees to scrutinise legislation.

Upper house

The New Zealand Parliament does not have an upper house; it is unicameral rather than bicameral. There was an upper house up to 1950, and there have been occasional suggestions to create a new one.

Legislative Council

Main article: New Zealand Legislative Council

The Legislative Council was intended to scrutinise and amend bills passed by the House of Representatives, although it could not initiate legislation or amend money bills. Despite occasional proposals for an elected Council, Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) were appointed by the Governor, generally on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. At first, MLCs were appointed for life, but a term of seven years was introduced in 1891. It was eventually decided that the Council was having no significant impact on New Zealand's legislative process, and the terms of its members expired on 31 December 1950. At the time of its abolition it had fifty-four members, including its own Speaker.

Senate proposals

In September 1950, the National government of Sidney Holland set up a constitutional reform committee to consider an alternative second chamber, chaired by Ronald Algie. A report produced by the committee in 1952 proposed a nominated Senate, with 32 members, appointed by leaders of the parties in the House of Representatives, in according to their strength in that House, Senators would serve for three year-terms, and be eligible for reappointment.^[3] The Senate would have the power to revise, initiate or delay legislation, to hear petitions, and to scrutinise regulations and Orders in Council but this was rejected by the Prime Minister, and the Labour opposition, which had refused to nominate members to the committee.^[4]

The National government of Jim Bolger proposed the establishment of an elected Senate when it came to power in 1990, thereby reinstating a bicameral system, and a Senate Bill was drafted. Under the Bill, the Senate would have 30 members, elected by STV, from six senatorial districts. Like the old Legislative Council, it would not have powers to amend or delay money bills.^[5] The House of Representatives would continue to be elected by FPP.

The intention was to include a question on a Senate in the second referendum on electoral reform. Voters would be asked, if they did not want a new voting system, whether or not they wanted a Senate.^[6] However, following objections from the Labour opposition, which derided it as a red herring,^[7] and other supporters of MMP,^[8] the Senate question was removed by the Select Committee on Electoral Reform.

In 2010, the New Zealand Policy Unit of the Centre for Independent Studies proposed a Senate in the context of the 2011 referendum on MMP. They proposed a proportionally-elected upper house made up 31 seats elected using a proportional list vote by region, with the House of Representatives elected by FPP and consisting of 79 seats.^[9]

Passage of legislation

The New Zealand Parliament's model for passing Acts of Parliament is similar (but not identical) to that of other Westminster System governments.

Laws are initially proposed in Parliament as bills. They become Acts after being approved three times by Parliamentary votes and then receiving Royal Assent from the Governor-General. The majority of bills are promulgated by the government of the day (that is, the party or parties that have a majority in Parliament). It is rare for government bills to be defeated, indeed the first to be defeated in the twentieth century was in 1998. It is also possible for individual MPs to promote their own bills, called member's bills; these are usually put forward by opposition parties, or by MPs who wish to deal with a matter that parties do not take positions on.

House of Representatives

Further information: New Zealand House of Representatives#Passage of legislation

Within the House of Representatives, bills must pass through three readings and be considered by both a Select Committee and the Committee of the Whole House.

Royal Assent

Further information: Royal Assent#New Zealand

If a Bill passes its third reading, it is passed by the Clerk of the House of Representatives to the Governor-General, who will (assuming constitutional conventions are followed) grant Royal Assent as a matter of course. Some constitutional lawyers, such as Professor Philip Joseph, believe the Governor-General does retain the power to refuse Royal Assent to Bills in exceptional circumstances – specifically if democracy were to be abolished.^[10] Others, such as former law professor and Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Matthew Palmer argue any refusal of Royal Assent would lead to a constitutional crisis.^[11]

Refusal of Royal Assent has never occurred under any circumstances in New Zealand. Once Royal Assent has been granted, the Bill then becomes law.

Terms of Parliament

Parliament is currently in its 49th term.

Term	Elected in	Government
1st Parliament	1853 election	No Parties
2nd Parliament	1855 election	No Parties
3rd Parliament	1860 election	No Parties
4th Parliament	1866 election	No Parties
5th Parliament	1871 election	No Parties
6th Parliament	1875 election	No Parties
7th Parliament	1879 election	No Parties
8th Parliament	1881 election	No Parties
9th Parliament	1884 election	No Parties
10th Parliament	1887 election	No Parties
11th Parliament	1890 election	First Liberal
12th Parliament	1893 election
13th Parliament	1896 election
14th Parliament	1899 election
15th Parliament	1902 election
16th Parliament	1905 election
17th Parliament	1908 election
18th Parliament	1911 election	Reform
19th Parliament	1914 election
20th Parliament	1919 election
21st Parliament	1922 election
22nd Parliament	1925 election
23rd Parliament	1928 election	United
24th Parliament	1931 election	United-Reform Coalition
25th Parliament	1935 election	First Labour
26th Parliament	1938 election
27th Parliament	1943 election
28th Parliament	1946 election
29th Parliament	1949 election	First National
30th Parliament	1951 election
31st Parliament	1954 election
32nd Parliament	1957 election	Second Labour
33rd Parliament	1960 election	Second National
34th Parliament	1963 election
35th Parliament	1966 election
36th Parliament	1969 election
37th Parliament	1972 election	Third Labour
38th Parliament	1975 election	Third National
39th Parliament	1978 election
40th Parliament	1981 election
41st Parliament	1984 election	Fourth Labour
42nd Parliament	1987 election
43rd Parliament	1990 election	Fourth National
44th Parliament	1993 election
45th Parliament	1996 election	Fourth National (in coalition)
46th Parliament	1999 election	Fifth Labour (in coalition)
47th Parliament	2002 election
48th Parliament	2005 election
49th Parliament	2008 election	Fifth National (in coalition)

See also

• New Zealand Parliament Buildings
• Constitution of New Zealand
• Independence of New Zealand

References

1. ^ McKinnon, Malcolm (ed.) (1997). New Zealand Historical Atlas. David Bateman. p. Plate 90. 
2. ^ Electoral Act 1993 s268
3. ^ The New Zealand Legislative Council : A Study of the Establishment, Failure and Abolition of an Upper House, William Keith Jackson, University of Otago Press, page 200
4. ^ Memoirs: 1912–1960, Sir John Marshall, Collins, 1984, 159–60
5. ^ SENATE BILL : Report of Electoral Law Committee
6. ^ New Zealand Legislates for the 1993 Referendum on its Electoral System
7. ^ New Zealand Hansard: Tuesday, December 15, 1992 ELECTORAL REFORM BILL : Introduction
8. ^ Submission: Electoral Reform Bill (February 1993)
9. ^ Luke Malpass and Oliver Marc Hartwich (24 March 2010). "Superseding MMP: Real Electoral Reform for New Zealand". Centre for Independent Studies. http://www.cis.org.nz/policy_monographs/pm109.pdf. 
10. ^ Philip Joseph (2002). Constitutional and Administrative Law in New Zealand (2nd edition ed.). Brookers. ISBN 9780864723994. 
11. ^ Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Matthew Palmer (2004). Bridled Power: New Zealand's Constitution and Government (4th edition ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195584635. 

External links

• Parliament of New Zealand
• Images from around Parliament Buildings
• Parliament Today
• Parliament at Radio New Zealand