New Zealand ParliamentFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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New Zealand Parliament

Pāremata Aotearoa

50th New Zealand Parliament

Type

Type Unicameral

Houses House of Representatives

History

Founded 24 May 1854

Leadership

Monarch Elizabeth II

since 6 February 1952

Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae

since 31 August 2011

Speaker of the House of Representatives David Carter, National Party

since 1 February 2013

Leader of the House of Representatives Gerry Brownlee, National Party

since 9 December 2008

Structure

Seats 121

Political groupsLabour Party

National Party

New Zealand First

Green Party

Māori Party

United Future

ACT

Kiwi Party

Pacific Party

Progressive Party

Meeting place

Parliament House, Wellington, New Zealand

Website

www.parliament.nz/en-NZ

The New Zealand Parliament (in Māori: Pāremata Aotearoa) consists of theQueen 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". Until 1986, the formal name for the Parliament of New Zealand was the General Assembly of New Zealand.

The House of Representatives usually consists of 120 members of parliament (MPs), sometimes more due to overhang seats. 70 MPs are elected directly in electorate seats and the remainder are filled by list MPs based on each party's share of the party vote. New Zealand has universal suffrage – but does not allow sentenced prisoners to vote. [1] The form of New Zealand government essentially follows the Westminster system, and the government is led by the Prime Ministerand cabinet who are chosen from amongst the members of the House of Representatives.

The House of Representatives meets in the Parliament Buildings located inWellington, the capital city of New Zealand since 1865. Parliament funds the broadcast of its proceedings through Parliament TV, AM Network andParliament Today.

Contents

  [hide] 

1   History

o 1.1   Country quota

2   Sovereignty

3   Houses

o 3.1   New Zealand House of Representatives

o 3.2   Upper house

3.2.1   Legislative Council

3.2.2   Senate proposals

4   Passage of legislation

o 4.1   House of Representatives

o 4.2   Royal Assent

5   Terms of Parliament

6   See also

7   Notes

8   References

9   External links

History[edit]The parliament was established by the British New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 which established a bicameral legislature officially called the General Assembly, but usually referred to as Parliament. This produced a parliament very similar to Britain's, with a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the Legislative Council. The members of the House of Representatives were elected under the First Past the Post system, while those of the Council were appointed by the Governor. Originally Councillors were appointed for life, but later their terms were fixed at seven years. This change, coupled with responsible government (whereby the Premier advised the Governor on Council appointments) and party politics, meant that by the 20th century, the government usually controlled the Council as well as the House, and the passage of bills through the Council became a formality. In 1951, the Council was abolished altogether, making the New Zealand legislatureunicameral.

Under the Constitution Act, legislative power was also conferred on New Zealand's provinces (originally six in number), each of which had its own elected Legislative Council. These provincial legislatures were able to legislate for their provinces on most subjects. However, New Zealand was never a federal colony or dominion like Canada or Australia; Parliament could legislate concurrently with the provinces on any matter, and in the event of a conflict, the law passed by

Parliament would prevail. Over a twenty-year period, political power was progressively centralised, and the provinces were abolished altogether in 1876.

Parliament received progressively more control over New Zealand affairs, through the passage of Imperial laws such as theColonial Laws Validity Act, constitutional amendments, and an increasingly hands-off approach by the British government. Finally, in 1947, the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act gave Parliament full power over New Zealand law, and the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947 (UK) allowed Parliament to regulate its own composition. In 1986 a newConstitution Act was passed, restating the few remaining provisions of the 1852 Act, consolidating the legislation establishing Parliament and officially replacing the name "General Assembly" with "Parliament".

Country quota[edit]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 man, one vote system.[2]

Sovereignty[edit]New Zealand

This article is part of a series on the

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 areferendum 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.) [3]