1.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
2.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
3.
Jim Bolger
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James Brendan Bolger ONZ PC, commonly known as Jim Bolger, was the 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was elected on the promise of delivering a Decent Society following the previous Labour governments economic reforms, shortly after taking office, his government was forced to bail out the Bank of New Zealand and as a result reneged on a number of promises made during the election campaign. His term in office saw the introduction of the MMP electoral system in 1996, Bolger was born in 1935 in Opunake in Taranaki. He was one of five born to Daniel and Cecilia Bolger who emigrated together from Gorey, County Wexford. He left Opunake High School at age 15 to work on the family farm, in 1963 he married Joan Riddell, and they moved to their own sheep and beef farm in Te Kuiti two years later. During this time Bolger became involved in local farmer politics, in the late 1960s he was asked to accompany the then Minister of Finance Robert Muldoon to see for himself the difficulties faced by farmers in the area. As Bolger travelled around the district, he experienced with Muldoons adversarial style. Bolger entered politics in 1972 as the New Zealand National Party Member of Parliament for King Country and this electorate is traditional National territory, and Bolger won easily. He represented this electorate, renamed Taranaki-King Country in 1996, until his retirement in 1998, after the defeat of National at the 1984 general elections, Bolger and deputy leader Jim McLay challenged Muldoon for the leadership of the party. McLay succeeded and named Bolger as deputy leader, however, in 1986 Bolger successfully challenged McLays leadership. Following an unsuccessful election in 1987, National under Bolger capitalised on public anger at the Labour governments neoliberal reforms to win Nationals biggest ever majority in 1990, as a result, Bolger became Prime Minister at the age of 55. Three days after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Bolgers government needed to out the Bank of New Zealand. The cost of the out was $380 million, but after rewriting its budget. This had an impact on Bolgers direction in government, with the first budget of his premiership being dubbed the Mother of All Budgets. During the campaign, Bolger had criticised the Labour governments reform package, the first budget specifically reversed Nationals election promise to remove the tax surcharge on superannuation. Following the close 1993 general election Bolger demoted Richardson to the benches and appointed Bill Birch. During Birchs tenure, spending on areas such as health. His government passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994 and his government also introduced the Building Act 1991, which is seen by some as the most crucial factor leading to the leaky homes crisis in the decade following its introduction
4.
Jenny Shipley
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Born in Gore, New Zealand, Shipley was one of four sisters. After attending Marlborough Girls College, she qualified in 1971 as a teacher, in 1973 she married Burton Shipley and settled in Ashburton. She assisted in a number of educational and child-care organisations, such as the Plunket Society, having joined the National Party in 1975, Shipley successfully stood in Ashburton, a safe National seat in the country areas surrounding Christchurch, in the 1987 election. Entering parliament at age 35, she was one of parliaments youngest members and she represented this electorate until her retirement from politics in 2002, though it was renamed Rakaia in 1990. Shipley rose quickly in the National caucus, while still in her second term, party leader Jim Bolger named her the partys spokeswoman on social welfare. When Bolger led the National Party to victory in the election of 1990, Shipley became Minister of Social Welfare. In her role as Minister of Social Welfare, Shipley presided over sharp cutbacks to state benefits, later, when she became Minister of Health in 1993, she caused further controversy by attempting to reform the public health service, introducing an internal market. When National gained re-election in 1996, Shipley left the Womens Affairs portfolio and took on others, including responsibility for state-owned enterprises. She began gathering support to replace Bolger in mid-1997, later that year, while Bolger attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Shipley convinced a majority of her National Party colleagues to back her bid for the leadership. Bolger, seeing that he no longer had the support of his party, resigned, as leader of the governing party, she became Prime Minister on 8 December 1997. Despite continued economic growth, the Shipley government became increasingly politically unstable, in particular, the relationship between National and New Zealand First deteriorated. While Bolger had been able to maintain relations with New Zealand First and with its leader, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. Finally, on 14 August 1998, Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet, Peters immediately withdrew support for Shipleys government. However, several New Zealand First MPs wanted to continue the coalition, when they failed, they left their party, either becoming independents or trying to form their own parties. Shipley gained sufficient support from these MPs to keep National in power, on the same day Shipley unexpectedly backed Cultural Affairs Minister Marie Haslers call for a change in the New Zealand flag. As the debate continued in 1999, the Princess Royal visited New Zealand and she was the first Prime Minister to attend the gay and lesbian Hero Parade, being the first National Party leader to seek to make electoral overtures to the gay and lesbian voting public. She advocated lowering the alcohol purchase age from 20 to 18 and this was part of her expressed desire to expand the traditional National Party voting base. On 21 May 1998 Shipley was appointed to the Privy Council, Shipley led the National Party into the 1999 election, hoping to become the first woman to be elected prime minister in her own right
5.
Don McKinnon
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Sir Donald Charles Don McKinnon ONZ GCVO is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand. He was the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2000 until 2008, McKinnon was born in Blackheath, London. His father was Major-General Walter McKinnon, CB CBE, a New Zealand Chief of the General Staff, the McKinnon brothers are great-great-grandsons of John Plimmer, known as the father of Wellington. McKinnon was educated at Nelson College from 1952 to 1953, and in Washington, D. C. before eventually undertaking study at Lincoln Agricultural College, after leaving university, he became a farm manager, and later a farm management consultant. In 1974, he became an estate agent. In his spare time, he worked as a rehabilitation tutor in prisons. In the elections of 1969 and 1972, McKinnon stood unsuccessfully as the National Partys candidate in the Birkenhead electorate, in the election of 1978, McKinnon won the newly established seat of Albany, which covered much of the same area. In 1980, McKinnon was made the governments junior Whip, two years later, he was made senior Whip. When Prime Minister Robert Muldoon called the election of 1984. In September 1987, he became deputy leader of the National Party, when National, then led by Jim Bolger, won the 1990 elections, McKinnon became Deputy Prime Minister. He also became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister of Pacific Island Affairs and he received recognition as a result of the Bougainville negotiations. McKinnon kept his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs, however, McKinnon retired from parliament shortly after the 1999 elections, being replaced by Arthur Anae. During his time as New Zealands Minister of Foreign Affairs, McKinnon had been involved with the Commonwealth. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1999, in Durban, since that time, he has had to deal with issues such as Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe and George Speights attempted nationalist coup in Fiji. McKinnon has also placed an emphasis on supporting good governance, the government of Zimbabwe denied that it was making any such efforts. At the opening of the 2003 CHOGM, in Nigeria on 5 December, McKinnon was challenged for the position of Secretary-General by Lakshman Kadirgamar, however, McKinnon defeated Kadirgamar in a vote reported to be 40-11 in McKinnons favour. In 2009, McKinnon was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of The Royal Victorian Order for services to the Commonwealth and he is a Vice-President of the Royal Commonwealth Society. Don McKinnon Drive is named after McKinnon, in his electorate of Albany
6.
Winston Peters
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Winston Raymond Peters PC is a New Zealand politician and leader of the populist New Zealand First party which he founded in 1993. He has been the Member of Parliament for Northland since 2015, Peters has had a successful and turbulent political career since first becoming a Member of Parliament in the National Party win of 1978. Peters first served as a Cabinet Minister when Jim Bolger led the National Party to victory in 1990, before Bolger sacked him in 1991. As leader of New Zealand First, he held the balance of power after the 1996 election and formed a coalition with National, however, the coalition dissolved in 1998 following the replacement of Bolger by Jenny Shipley as Prime Minister. In 1999 New Zealand First returned to Opposition before entering into a government again with the Labour Party in 2005, on 29 August 2008 he stood down as a Minister pending a police investigation into a funding scandal involving Peters and New Zealand First. In the 2008 general election, New Zealand First failed to reach the five percent threshold, as a result, neither Peters or New Zealand First were returned to Parliament. However, in the 2011 general election New Zealand First experienced a resurgence in support, in the 2014 general election, NZ First gained 11 seats and finished with 8.6 percent. Peters was born in the Northland city of Whangarei and his father is of Māori descent and his mother of Scottish descent. His iwi affiliation is Ngāti Wai and his clan is McInnes, two of his brothers, Ian and Jim, have also been MPs, and another brother Ron has also stood as a New Zealand First candidate. He was a member of the University Rugby Club in Auckland and he also played in the Prince of Wales Cup for the Māori All Blacks trials. The result was virtually no ancestral land was taken by the government of the day in the Whangarei coastal areas. He lost this seat in 1981, but in 1984 he successfully stood in the electorate of Tauranga, on 16 December 1986, he exposed the Māori loan affair in Parliament. He became the National Partys spokesperson on Māori Affairs, Consumer Affairs, in 1987, he was elevated to Nationals front bench, acting as spokesperson for Māori Affairs, Employment, and Race Relations. After National won the 1990 election, Peters became Minister of Māori Affairs in the fourth National government, Peters disagreed with the party leadership on a number of matters, and frequently spoke out against his party regarding them. This made him popular with the public. However, his party colleagues distrusted him, and his publicity-seeking behaviour made him increasingly disliked within his own party, while National may have tolerated his difference of opinion, they were far less willing to accept public criticism from a Cabinet minister which they determined was undermining the party. In October 1991, Bolger sacked Peters from Cabinet, Peters remained as a National backbencher, continuing to criticise the party. In late 1992, when the National Party was considering possible candidates for the elections in the following year, in Peters v Collinge, Peters challenged this decision in the High Court, and in early 1993, he chose to resign from the party and from Parliament
7.
New Zealand National Party
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The New Zealand National Party is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two parties in contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside its historic rival, the New Zealand Labour Party. The party originated in 1936 with the merger of the United and Reform parties, National is the nations second-oldest extant political party. National governed for four periods in the course of the 20th century and it has favoured economic liberal policies since the 1990s. Since November 2008, National has been the largest party in minority governments with support from the centrist United Future, the liberal ACT Party, Bill English has been the party leader and Prime Minister of New Zealand since 12 December 2016. The New Zealand National Party has been characterised as conservative and liberal, with outlying populist, the partys principles, last revised in 2003, seek a safe, prosperous and successful New Zealand that creates opportunities for all New Zealanders to reach their personal goals and dreams. It supports a limited welfare state but says that work, merit, innovation and personal initiative must be encouraged to reduce unemployment, historically, the party has supported a higher degree of protectionism and interventionism than it has in recent decades. The last major interventionist policy was Prime Minister Robert Muldoons massive infrastructure projects designed to ensure New Zealands energy independence after the 1973 oil shock, Think Big. The Fourth National Government mostly carried on the sweeping reforms of the Fourth Labour Government known as Rogernomics. Following a moderate Fifth Labour Government, the Fifth National Government of New Zealand took power in 2008 under John Key. For instance they extended free general practitioner visits to children under 13 as part of their 2014 election package, in the most recent general election, in 2014, the National Party ran a campaign focusing on stability. They promised to limit new spending every year, to not introduce any new taxes and they also campaigned on the possibility of moderate tax cuts within the next few years and are generally in favour of free-trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The National Party was formed in May 1936, but its roots go further back. The party came about as the result of a merger between the United Party and the Reform Party, historically, the Liberal and Reform parties had competed against each other, but from 1931 until 1935 a United-Reform Coalition held power in New Zealand. The coalition went into the 1935 election under the title of the National Political Federation, the two parties were cut down to 19 seats between them. Another factor was a party, the Democrat Party formed by Albert Davy. The new party split the vote and aided Labours victory. In hopes of countering Labours rise, United and Reform decided to turn their alliance into a single party and this party, the New Zealand National Party, was formed at a meeting held in Wellington on 13 and 14 May 1936
8.
New Zealand First
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New Zealand First is a conservative and populist political party in New Zealand. It was founded in July 1993, following the 19 March 1993 resignation of its leader and founder, Winston Peters, from the then-governing National Party. It has formed governments with both parties in New Zealand, first with the National Party from 1996 to 1998. The party held seats in the House of Representatives of New Zealand from its formation in 1993 until 2008, however, in the 2011 election, New Zealand First gained 6. 59% of the total party vote, entitling it to eight Members of Parliament. The party sits on the cross-benches and during the 50th New Zealand Parliament tended to vote with the Opposition against Government policies, at the core of New Zealand Firsts policies are its Fifteen Fundamental Principles, the first being To put New Zealand and New Zealanders First. They largely echo the policies that Peters has advocated throughout his career, the party generally focuses on the rule of law for all and does not prescribe to a departure from this principle. It therefore does not focus on minority issues to large extent as it values improving the lot of all New Zealanders regardless of background, New Zealand First is best known for its policies regarding the welfare of the elderly and its strongly restrictive immigration policies. The party also espouses a mixture of economic policies and it opposes the privatisation of state assets, which aligned it with views generally found on the left of New Zealand politics. On the other hand, it favours reducing taxation and reducing the size of government, rather than defining the partys precise position on the left-right spectrum, some commentators labelled NZ First as populist—in line with its emphasis on direct democracy and on popular referendums. In 2012, New Zealand First announced that if state assets were to be privatised, at the next general election. The New Zealand First Partys leader is part-Māori, it held all the then available Māori electorates. However, New Zealand First no longer supports the retention of the Māori electorates and has declared that it will not stand candidates in the Māori electorates in the future and it did not stand candidates in the Māori electorates in the 2002,2005, or 2008 general elections. On 19 March 1993, shortly before the writs were issued for the general election, about four months later on 18 July 1993 and shortly before the that years general election, Peters announced the formation of New Zealand First as a political grouping. In the April 1993 special by-election, Tauranga voters re-elected Peters as an independent. At the general election a few later, Peters easily retained Tauranga. This did much to counter the perception of New Zealand First as merely a vehicle for Peters. With the switch to the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system for the 1996 election and this enabled New Zealand First to win 13% of the vote and 17 seats, including all five Māori seats. New Zealand Firsts five Māori MPs—Henare, Tuku Morgan, Rana Waitai, Tu Wyllie, the election result put New Zealand First in a powerful position just three years after its formation
9.
New Zealand Labour Party
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The New Zealand Labour Party, or simply Labour, is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. With its historic rival, the New Zealand National Party, Labour has dominated New Zealand governments since the 1930s, Labour currently promotes a social-democratic platform. It is a participant of the international Progressive Alliance, the New Zealand Labour Party was formed in 1916 by various socialist parties and trade unions. It is thus the countrys oldest political party still in existence, there have been five Labour governments. The party was first in power from 1935 and 1949, when it established New Zealands welfare state and it governed most recently from 1999 to 2008 with Helen Clark as party leader and Prime Minister. Since the partys defeat in the 2008 general election, Labour has comprised the second-largest caucus represented in the New Zealand Parliament, on 18 November 2014 Andrew Little was confirmed outside of Parliament and in a press conference as the new Labour leader. Labours 1916 policy objectives called for the socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, up to the 1980s Labour remained a party that believed in a strong role for governments in economic and social matters. However, it had transformed from a trade union-dominated, socialist-oriented movement to a moderate social-democratic party. The Labour Government of the 1980s deviated sharply from a social-democratic path, in a series of economic reforms dubbed Rogernomics, the Government removed a swathe of regulations and subsidies, privatised state assets and introduced corporate practices to state services. Equal access to all social, economic, cultural, political and legal spheres, co-operation as the main governing factor in economic relations, to ensure a just distribution of wealth. Universal rights to dignity, self-respect and the opportunity to work, the right to wealth and property, subject to the provisos of regarding people as always more important than property and the obligations of the state to ensure a just distribution of wealth. The Treaty of Waitangi as the document of New Zealand, and its honouring in the Party, government, society. The promotion of peace and social justice throughout the world by international co-operation, Equality in human rights regardless of race, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religious faith, political belief or disability. Its origins lie in the British working class movement, heavily influenced by Australian radicalism and it is the oldest surviving New Zealand political party. The New Zealand Labour Party was an amalgamation of a number of early groups, the process of unifying these diverse groups into a single party was difficult, with tensions between different factions running strong. At the turn of the century, the side of New Zealand working class politics was represented by the Socialist Party. The more moderate leftists were generally supporters of the Liberal Party and this established the basic dividing line in New Zealands left-wing politics – the Socialists tended to be revolutionary and militant, while the moderates focused instead on progressive reform. In 1910, the Independent Political Labour League was relaunched as a called the Labour Party
10.
Mike Moore (New Zealand politician)
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Michael Kenneth Moore ONZ AO, known as Mike Moore, is a politician from New Zealand who has served both as Prime Minister of New Zealand and Director-General of the World Trade Organization. He has also held the post of New Zealand Ambassador to the United States, Moore was born in Whakatāne, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand in 1949. He was raised in Moerewa and educated at the Bay of Islands College, after leaving school he first worked as a labourer and then a printer. He became a trade unionist and at the age of 17 was elected to the Auckland Trades Council. He became the first youth representative on the Labour Party executive and was Vice-president of the International Union of Socialist Youth for two consecutive terms, Moore began his parliamentary career when elected as the MP for Eden in 1972, but was defeated for Eden in the 1975 election. After the election, the Moores visited Warren Freer, and were insistent that he resign from Mt Albert so that Moore could take his place, Freer said he had no intention of resigning, and anyway there was no guarantee that he would be selected to replace Freer. In 1978 Moore moved to Christchurch and was elected MP for the north Christchurch electorate and he held the electorate until 1999, as Papanui until 1984, as Christchurch North until 1996, and as Waimakariri thereafter. As a government minister he has held numerous portfolios, becoming best known in his role as Overseas Trade Minister with involvement in the GATT negotiations, in 1987 he also became Minister of External Relations and in 1988 Deputy Minister of Finance. The Labour government was not returned to power in the general election. The circumstances of Moores installment as Prime Minister would later be compared to the return of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister of Australia and he led the Official Opposition until 1993 and was spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Trade until 1999. He was dumped as Labour leader after the 1993 election despite leading the party to victory at that election after only one term in opposition. As a result of his dumping as Labour leader, he strongly considered forming a break-away party and he won his seat in the 1996 election, obtaining more than twice as many votes as the next-highest candidate, Nationals Jim Gerard. In 1998, he ran for the post of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation and was elected to position on 22 July 1999. He took up the post on 1 September 1999, close enough to the 1999 election to not trigger a by-election, the deal with his rival and successor Supachai Panitchpakdi meant that he served only half of the usual six-year term in the post. Mike Moore was the director-general of the World Trade Organisation from 1999 to 2002 and his term coincided with momentous changes in the global economy and multilateral trading system. He attempted to restore confidence in the following the setback of the 1999 WTO ministerial conference held in Seattle. He gave particular attention to helping poor countries participate effectively in the trading system. Moore became New Zealand Ambassador to the United States in 2010 and he had a heart valve operation in 2014 and was admitted to hospital in Washington DC in April 2015 after a mild stroke
11.
Helen Clark
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Helen Elizabeth Clark ONZ PC is the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand. She has been Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position, in April 2016, she declared her candidacy for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations. Clark graduated from the University of Auckland in 1974 and became active in the New Zealand Labour Party as a teenager. While a junior lecturer at the University in the early 1970s, in 1975 she came second for Labour in the rural seat of Piako. In 1981 she was elected to Parliament for the safe Labour seat of Mount Albert, Clark held numerous Cabinet positions in the Fourth Labour government of 1984–1990, including Minister of Housing, Minister of Health and Minister of Conservation. She was Deputy Prime Minister from 1989–1990 under Prime Ministers Geoffrey Palmer, after Labours strong showing in the 1993 election, Clark challenged the Labour leadership of Mike Moore and won, becoming the Leader of the Opposition. After failing to win the 1996 election, she led the Labour Party to a victory in the 1999 election. As Prime Minister of the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand, Clarks government presided over nearly a decade of economic growth and her government was defeated in the 2008 election and she resigned as Prime Minister and Labour Party leader. She resigned from Parliament in April 2009 from her Mount Albert electorate and was replaced by David Shearer to take up the post of Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Clarks government implemented major economic initiatives including Kiwibank, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Her government also introduced the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 which caused controversy and was eventually repealed in 2011. Clark sent troops to the Afghanistan War, but did not contribute troops to the Iraq War although some medical. Forbes magazine ranked her 20th most powerful woman in the world in 2006 and she rose to the 23rd position in 2014 and then 22nd in 2016. On 26 January 2017 AFP reported that Clark had resigned her directorship of the UN Development Programme, Clark was the eldest of four daughters of a farming family at Te Pahu in the Waikato Region. Her mother, Margaret McMurray, of Irish birth, was a school teacher. Her father, George, was a farmer, Clark studied at Te Pahu Primary School, at Epsom Girls Grammar School in Auckland and at the University of Auckland, where she majored in politics and graduated with an MA in 1974. Her thesis focused on political behaviour and representation. As a teenager Clark became politically active, protesting against the Vietnam War, Clark was brought up as a Presbyterian, attending Sunday school weekly
12.
New Zealand general election, 1990
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The 1990 New Zealand general election was held on 27 October to determine the composition of the 43rd New Zealand parliament. The governing Labour Party was defeated, ending its controversial two terms in office, the National Party, led by Jim Bolger, won a landslide victory and formed the new government. The Labour Party had taken office after defeating the National Party under Robert Muldoon in the 1984 election, David Lange became Prime Minister and Roger Douglas became Minister of Finance. This internal dissent was off-set somewhat by new legislation and a strong stance against nuclear weapons. Labour was re-elected in the 1987 election with its parliamentary majority untouched, eventually Lange forced Douglas to resign in December 1988, but the crisis had weakened Langes position such that he resigned eight months later. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Geoffrey Palmer, but Palmer failed to revive Labours falling popularity, several months before the election, Palmer was replaced by Mike Moore. The National Party was performing strongly — its leader, Jim Bolger, spoke repeatedly of the Decent Society, the government was also being challenged by the NewLabour Party, founded by renegade MP Jim Anderton. The date for the 1990 election was 27 October,2,202,157 people were registered to vote, and 85. 2% of these people turned out. The number of seats being contested was 97 — this was the same as in the previous election, the 1990 election eventually saw a victory for the National Party, then in opposition. National won nearly half of the vote and 67 of the seats and this was the highest number of seats the party had ever won, either in absolute terms or as a percentage. Four new National MPs, were called the brat pack by Sir Robert Muldoon, the new Green Party gained the third-highest number of votes, but won no seats. The NewLabour Party won a seat, due to Jim Anderton retaining the Sydenham seat he originally won as a Labour candidate. The governing Labour Party, by contrast, suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat since it first won power in the 1935 election, winning only 29 of the seats and 35% of the vote, and losing 27 seats. Initially it appeared that twelve ministers and the Speaker had lost their seats, many of Labours talented class of 84 were sent away, though four of them, Annette King, Jim Sutton, Trevor Mallard and Judy Keall, returned in 1993. The result was due to intense anger at Labour and its policies rather than love of National. Six of these were one-term gains, recaptured by Labour in 1993, seats transferred from departing MPs to new MPs, The seats of North Shore, Papakura, Tarawera, Waitotara and Wallace, all held by departing National MPs, were won by new National candidates. The seats of Christchurch Central, Dunedin North, Eastern Hutt, Manurewa, Nelson, Palmerston North and Panmure, working with David, Inside the Lange Cabinet. The 1990 General Election, Perspectives on Political Change in New Zealand, Occasional Publications No 3,1990 Parliamentary Candidates for the New Zealand National Party
13.
New Zealand general election, 1993
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The 1993 New Zealand general election was held on 6 November 1993 to determine the composition of the 44th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Jim Bolger, win a term in office. The new Alliance and New Zealand First parties gained significant shares of the vote, the election was New Zealands last to date under the non-proportional first past the post electoral system. Before the election, the National Party governed with 64 seats, the 1990 election had been a major victory for the National Party, with the unpopular Fourth Labour Government being decisively defeated. The Labour Party had become unpopular for its economic reforms, which were based around liberalisation, privatisation. The National Party was somewhat divided as to the merits of the reforms, with conservatives generally opposed and neoliberals generally in favour. Once in government, however, the key Minister of Finance role was not by a moderate but by Ruth Richardson, who wished to expand, not end. Many of the voters who had felt betrayed by Labours reforms now felt betrayed by the National Party as well, a fact which contributed to the rise of minor parties. The Alliance, the largest third party, was a coalition of five smaller groups - the NewLabour Party, the Democrats, the Greens, Mana Motuhake. In its first electoral test, the 1992 by-election in Tamaki, another smaller group was New Zealand First, a party established by former National MP Winston Peters. Peters had broken with his party after a number of disputes with its leadership. After being overwhelmingly re-elected, Peters established the New Zealand First party to promote his views, Peters was the partys sole MP. Another consequence of dissatisfaction with both parties was the referendum conducted alongside the 1993 election. It asked voters to choose whether to keep the existing FPP system or change to MMP, while National and Labour usually stood candidates in every seat, National was one candidate short as their Southern Maori candidate apparently did not apply in time. The election was held on 6 November,2,321,664 people were registered to vote, and 85. 2% turned out. This turnout was almost exactly the same as for the previous election, preliminary results based on election night counts saw the country facing its first hung parliament since 1931, with no party gaining the 50 seats required for a majority. The National Party won 49 seats, a drop of 15 from before the election, and Labour had won 46 seats, with the balance of power held with the Alliance and New Zealand First, which won two seats each. This led to Jim Bolger saying on public television, bugger the pollsters as he had led to expect a comfortable National victory by the polls showing that National would win easily
14.
New Zealand general election, 1996
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The 1996 New Zealand general election was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the 45th New Zealand Parliament. It was notable for being the first election to be held under the new proportional electoral system. It saw the National Party, led by Jim Bolger, retain its position in government, New Zealand Firsts position as kingmaker, able to place either of the two major parties into government, was a significant election outcome. In the 1993 election, the National Party and the Labour Party had won 50 and 45 seats, the Alliance and the New Zealand First party had each won two seats. In the approach to MMP, however, there had been considerable rearrangement in parliament, as such, the situation just before the 1996 election was markedly different from the situation that had been established at the 1993 election. The 1996 election was notable for the significant change of electorate boundaries, because of the introduction of the MMP electoral system, the number of electorates had to be reduced, leading to significant changes. Many electorates were abolished, with their territories being incorporated into completely new electoral districts, more than half of the electorates contested in 1996 were newly constituted, and most of the remainder had seen significant boundary changes. In total,73 electorates were abolished,29 electorates were newly created, South Island Since the 1967 electoral redistribution, the South Island had its number of general electorates fixed at 25. For the 1996 election and onwards, the number of South Island electorates is fixed at 16. The number of electors on the roll of the South Island divided by 16 gives the target size for North Island and Māori electorates. North Island Based on the described above, the target size for North Island electorates resulted in 44 of them being required. Māori electorates All four existing Māori electorates were abolished, the calculation described above resulted in five Māori electorates being required, these were Te Puku O Te Whenua, Te Tai Hauauru, Te Tai Rawhiti, Te Tai Tokerau, and Te Tai Tonga. List seats The House of Representatives was to have 120 seats and this left 55 list seats to be filled. An outcome of the election was that no overhang seats were required, of the 2,418,587 people registered to vote,88. 3% turned out to vote. The turnout was an improvement on the previous two elections, but still slightly lower than what would have been expected during the 1980s. While the number of general electorates decreased from 95 to 60, in the election 842 candidates stood, and there were 21 registered parties with party lists. Of the candidates,459 were electorate and list,152 were electorate only, 73% of candidates were male and 27% female. The 1996 election eventually saw a victory for the governing National Party, the opposition Labour Party won slightly less
15.
New Zealand general election, 1999
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The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clarks Labour Party, before the election, the National Party had an unstable hold on power. After the 1996 election National had formed a coalition with the populist New Zealand First party and its controversial leader, NZ Firsts support crashed, though this was also partly caused by scandals and by mid-1997, NZ First was polling at as low as 2%. National also polled badly, and Jim Bolger was replaced as Prime Minister with Jenny Shipley, gradually, however, the relationship between the two parties deteriorated, and Peters took his party out of the coalition. A number of New Zealand First MPs deserted Peters, establishing themselves as independents or as members of established parties. By forming agreements with these MPs, National was able to keep itself in office, the polls were still initially close, but without NZ First support, Nationals chances of forming a government were slim. Eventually, Labour Party gained a lead over National. The Labour Party, which had been in Opposition since losing the 1990 election, presented a strong challenge, the two had not previously enjoyed good relations, primarily due to the presence of the NewLabour Party as one of the Alliances key members. NewLabour had been established by Jim Anderton, a former Labour MP who quit the party in protest over the reforms of Roger Douglas. This agreement was deemed a necessary step towards building an alternative to the National Party. This election was the first in New Zealands history where both parties were led by women. The election took place on 27 November, less than 84. 1% of the 2,509,365 people registered to vote turned out for the election. This was the lowest turnout for some time, although it would drop further in the 2002 elections, a total of 679 candidates stood for electorate seats, representing 36 parties. Party lists comprised 760 candidates from 22 parties, the new government was sworn in on 10 December. In the election 965 candidates stood, and there were 22 registered parties with party lists, of the candidates,482 were electorate and list,197 were electorate only, and 286 were list only. 67% of candidates were male and 33% female, Labour Party won 49 seats in parliament. When combined with the ten seats won by the Alliance, the coalition was two short of an absolute majority. It was able to form a new government with support from the Green Party, Helen Clark openly encouraged Labour supporters in the Coromandel to give their constituency vote to Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons and their party vote to Labour
16.
43rd New Zealand Parliament
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The 43rd New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 1990 elections, and it sat until the 1993 elections, the 43rd Parliament saw the beginning of the fourth National Party government, with the Labour Party failing to win a third term in office. The 43rd Parliament was heavily dominated by National, which controlled nearly seventy percent of the seats, only one minor party, Jim Andertons NewLabour, was present at the beginning of the 43rd Parliament. Later, NewLabour would join with several unrepresented parties to form the Alliance, another National MP, Winston Peters, would also break away from his party, becoming an independent. The 43rd Parliament consisted of representatives, the same as the previous Parliament. All of these representatives were chosen by geographical electorates, including four special Māori electorates. Jim Anderton, the sole MP for the NewLabour Party, merged his party with several others to form the Alliance in 1991, Anderton was thereafter recorded as an Alliance MP rather than a NewLabour MP. Robert Muldoon, the National Party MP for Tamaki and a former Prime Minister of New Zealand and his departure prompted a by-election in Tamaki early the following year — it was won by Clem Simich, also of the National Party. Gilbert Myles and Hamish MacIntyre, the National Party MPs for Roskill and Manawatu, respectively and they established a small group Liberal Party, which they eventually merged into the Alliance. Fran Wilde, the Labour Party MP for Wellington Central, quit Parliament in 1992 to become Mayor of Wellington and her departure prompted a by-election in Wellington Central in December — it was won by Chris Laidlaw, also of the Labour Party. Cam Campion, the National Party MP for Wanganui, announced his resignation from the party on 3 March 1993 and he accused the party of attempting to rig the reselection process against him. Campion remained an independent for the remainder of the term, Winston Peters, the National Party MP for Tauranga, resigned from both his party and his seat on 18 March 1993. His departure prompted a by-election in Tauranga in April — Peters contested, later, he would found the New Zealand First party. Working with David, Inside the Lange Cabinet
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44th New Zealand Parliament
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The 44th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 1993 elections, and it sat until the 1996 elections, the 44th Parliament was the last to be elected under the old FPP electoral system, with voters approving a change to MMP at the same time as they voted in the 1993 elections. The National Party, which had begun the term with a majority, was forced by the end of the term to form a coalition to remain in power. Despite the various maneuverings, however, the National Party remained in government for the duration of the 44th Parliament, the other three parties present at the start of the 44th Parliament, being the Labour Party, the Alliance, and New Zealand First, all remained in opposition. The 44th Parliament consisted of representatives, two more than the previous Parliament. All of these representatives were chosen by geographical electorates, including four special Māori electorates. Ruth Richardson, the National Party MP for Selwyn, quit Parliament in August 1994 and her departure prompted a by-election in Selwyn, which was won by David Carter of the National Party. Peter Dunne, the Labour Party MP for Onslow, left his party in October 1994 and he was an independent for a time before founding the small Future New Zealand party. He would later join with United, Ross Meurant, the National Party MP for Hobson, left his party in September 1994, having clashed on a number of issues with the partys leadership. He eventually established the Right of Centre party, graeme Lee, the National Party MP for Matakana, left his party in 1994, partly due to policy disputes with its leadership and partly due to having lost his Cabinet post in a reshuffle. He founded a new party which became the Christian Democrat Party. Trevor Rogers, the National Party MP for Howick, left his party in June 1995 and he joined Ross Meurants new party. A group of centrist MPs from both the National Party and the Labour Party, along with Peter Dunne and his Future New Zealand party, established a centrist party named United New Zealand in June 1995. The MPs who founded United were Margaret Austin, Bruce Cliffe, Peter Dunne, Clive Matthewson, Pauline Gardiner, Peter Hilt, and John Robertson. Ross Meurant, founder of Right of Centre, came into conflict with his own party in February 1996, trevor Rogers, the sole remaining MP, became leader. Michael Laws, the New Zealand First MP for Hawkes Bay, temple’s Guide to the 44th New Zealand Parliament. Part 1, Votes recorded at each polling place
18.
45th New Zealand Parliament
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The 45th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 1996 elections, and it sat until the 1999 elections, the 45th Parliament was notable in that it was the first to be elected under the new MMP electoral system, a form of proportional representation. It was also notable for the fact that it was the first New Zealand Parliament to have an Asian person, Pansy Wong, in the end, New Zealand First opted for a coalition with the National Party, which had governed in the previous Parliament. The Labour Party continued in Opposition, the 45th Parliament consisted of one hundred and twenty representatives. Sixty-five of these representatives were chosen by geographical electorates, including five special Maori electorates, the remainder were elected by means of party-list proportional representation under the MMP electoral system. There was one held during the term of the 45th Parliament. Jim Gerard, a National Party list MP, resigned from Parliament in April 1997 to take up a post as High Commissioner in Ottawa and he was replaced by Annabel Young, the next candidate on Nationals list. Alamein Kopu, an Alliance list MP, resigned from her party in July 1997 and she eventually formed her own party, Mana Wahine Te Ira Tangata. Jim Bolger, having been replaced as Prime Minister by Jenny Shipley in 1997 and this caused a by-election in his Taranaki-King Country seat, won by Shane Ardern of the National Party. Neil Kirton, a New Zealand First list MP, resigned from his party in July 1998 after ongoing conflict with its leadership, Kirton opposed his partys coalition with the National Party, and believed that the National Party was too dominant in the agreement. After the collapse of the coalition between the National Party and New Zealand First, the partner, New Zealand First. Eight MPs remained with the party, and eight MPs resigned, the MPs who resigned did not remain united, and eventually split four ways. Batten, Elder, Henare, Morgan, and Waitai established the Mauri Pacific party, delamere joined the Te Tawharau party. She was replaced by Gilbert Myles, the candidate on her former partys list. Myles remained attached to New Zealand First, jill White, a Labour Party list MP, resigned from Parliament in 1998 to become Mayor of Palmerston North. She was replaced by Helen Duncan, the candidate on Labours list. Paul East, a National Party list MP, resigned from Parliament in 1999 to take up a post as High Commissioner in London and he was replaced by Alec Neill, the next candidate on Nationals list. Frank Grover, an Alliance list MP, resigned from his party on 11 June 1999 and he joined the Christian Heritage Party
19.
Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand
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The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand between 10 December 1999 and 19 November 2008. In the general election of that year, the Labour Party led by Helen Clark defeated National easily, Labour formed a minority coalition government with the left-leaning Alliance, supported by the Green Party. During this first term, the government pursued a number of reforms, with the disintegration of the Alliance in 2002, Helen Clark called a snap election, even though she still had the confidence of the House. The Alliance failed to return to parliament, although a rump returned as Jim Andertons Progressives, Labour formed a coalition with the Progressives, and turned to the centrist party United Future for confidence and supply. The Government was also faced in this term with the foreshore, Helen Clark was obliged to move even more to the centre, enlisting support for her Government from both New Zealand First and United Future. Almost immediately, the Government parties became involved in a funding scandal. In the 2008 election, the Labour Party lost convincingly to National, created Kiwibank as part of coalition agreement with the Alliance. KiwiRail and ONTRACK were then merged into one organisation, Buy Kiwi Made campaign, Telecommunications industry reform, company and personal income tax cuts under the 2008 New Zealand budget. Began the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme, deposit insurance for New Zealand financial institutions during the Great Recession, established the Supreme Court of New Zealand, replacing appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Constitutional Inquiry into the Constitution of New Zealand, passed the Electoral Finance Act to reform electoral spending and regulate electoral advertising. New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy, passed the Foreshore and Seabed Act, Made further Treaty of Waitangi settlements. Within 3 weeks of taking office, the govt, the wage-related floor of the state pension was restored. Equity Funding was introduced, which provided funding to community-based ECE services most in need. The New Zealand Transport Strategy provided increased funding for initiatives to promote the use of buses, trains, the minimum wage was increased by more than 5% each year during the labour-led government’s second term. The Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act served to make the principal Act more comprehensive by covering more industries, ICT was expanded to students in remote areas so they could receive specialist teaching. The Holidays Act entitled employees to receive time and a half for working on any statutory holiday from 2004 onwards, National Statement on Religious Diversity National Superannuation payments for married couples were increased. A Parental Tax Credit was introduced, a Child Tax Credit was introduced. A Family Tax Credit was introduced, a Modern Apprentices initiative was introduced to develop technological skills
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Government of New Zealand
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The Government of New Zealand, formally Her Majestys Government in New Zealand, is the administrative complex through which authority is exercised in New Zealand. As in most parliamentary democracies, the term Government refers chiefly to the executive branch, based on the principle of responsible government, it operates within the framework that the Queen reigns, but the government rules, so long as it has the support of the House of Representatives. The position of Prime Minister, New Zealands head of government, in practice, the Prime Minister is determined by size of each political party, support agreements between parties and leadership votes in the party that leads the Government. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are formally appointed by the Governor-General, however, the Prime Minister chooses the Cabinet, and by convention, the Governor-General respects the Prime Ministers choices. Cabinet ministers are drawn from elected members of the Prime Ministers party in the House of Representatives, a few more ministers are part of the Executive Council but are outside Cabinet. Most ministers have a portfolio of specific responsibilities such as departments or policy areas, the Prime Minister exercises vast political power, especially in the appointment of government officials and civil servants. The Queen of New Zealand is head of state but plays little part in governing the country, however, the legal authority of the state that is vested in the monarch, known as the Crown, remains the source of the executive power exercised by the Government. The Governor-General presides over the Executive Council, but is not a member, New Zealand had been granted responsible government in 1853 following the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, which was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Governments were set up at state and at level, with initially six provinces. The provinces were abolished by the Abolition of Provinces Act 1876, for the purposes of the Act, the provinces formally ceased to exist on 1 January 1877. The first government that formed along political lines did not appear until 1891, when John Ballance formed the Liberal Party and the Liberal Government. The current Government of New Zealand is the Fifth National Government, led by Prime Minister John Key from 2008 until 12 December 2016, the National Party has parliamentary support from the Māori Party, United Future and ACT. Politics of New Zealand, for a description of jurisdictions, politics. Judiciary of New Zealand Westminster system
21.
Electoral reform in New Zealand
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Electoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems. All New Zealand elections from 1914 to 1996 consistently used the British system of first-past-the-post for parliamentary elections and this system had consistently favoured the two largest parties. From 1936 on, these were the National and Labour parties, governments had been previously formed despite the opposition winning the popular vote in both 1911 and 1931 as well. In its 1984 campaign platform, Labour committed itself to appoint a commission on electoral reform if elected. Labour won that election and in 1985 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Geoffrey Palmer established the Royal Commission on the Electoral System, Palmer had promoted proportional representation as a law professor in his book Unbridled Power. The Royal Commissions 1986 report, entitled Towards a Better Democracy recommended the adoption of the mixed-member proportional representation, recognizing that a parliament dominated by the major parties might fail to implement a sweeping reform of this sort, the commission also proposed a referendum on the issue. During the 1987 election campaign, Labour promised to hold a referendum on MMP at, or before, although Labour was returned to power in that election, it failed to proceed further on the matter due to its own internal divisions. In May 1990, Labour MP John Terris submitted a private bill to force a binding referendum on the electoral system. In 1992, a referendum was held on whether or not FPP should be replaced by a new. Voters were asked two questions, whether or not to replace FPP with a new voting system, and which of four different alternative systems should be adopted instead, the government appointed a panel chaired by the Ombudsman to oversee the campaign. Meanwhile, the Electoral Reform Coalition campaigned actively in favour of the MMP alternative originally recommended by the royal commission and these measures made it possible for voters to make an informed choice on what was otherwise a complicated issue. This led New Zealanders to vote overwhelmingly for change and to indicate a clear, the first question asked voters if they wished to retain FPP or change electoral systems. The result was 84.7 per cent favour of replacing FPP, the second question asked voters which new system should replace FPP. Alternative Vote, used in Australia and Fiji elections, similar to FPP, as noted earlier, an overwhelming majority of those favouring a new electoral system voted for MMP. The percentages of the vote cast for the four possible electoral system options offered in the question were, Source. The second, binding, referendum was held in conjunction with the election on 6 November 1993. Peter Shirtcliffe, chairman of Telecom New Zealand at the time and leader of the CBG, the Electoral Reform Coalition was the main advocate for the adoption of MMP, and had support from several people, including the late Green Party co-leader Rod Donald. MMP faced a battle, as acknowledged in the pro-MMP poster to the side
22.
Proportional representation
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Proportional representation characterizes electoral systems by which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the support an particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result, not just a plurality, or a bare majority, Proportional representation requires the use of multiple-member voting districts, it is not possible using single-member districts alone. In fact, the most proportional representation is achieved when just one super-district is used, the two most widely used families of PR voting systems are party list PR and single transferable vote. Mixed member proportional representation, also known as the Additional Member System, is a hybrid Mixed Electoral System that uses party list PR as its proportional component, with party list PR, political parties define candidate lists and voters vote for a list. The relative vote for each list determines how many candidates from each list are actually elected, lists can be closed or open, open lists allow voters to indicate individual candidate preferences and vote for independent candidates. Voting districts can be small or as large as a province or an entire nation, the single transferable vote uses small districts, with voters ranking individual candidates in order of preference. During the count, as candidates are elected or eliminated, surplus or discarded votes that would otherwise be wasted are transferred to other candidates according to the preferences, STV enables voters to vote across party lines and to elect independent candidates. Voters have two votes, one for their district and one for the party list, the party list vote determining the balance of the parties in the elected body. Biproportional apportionment, first used in Zurich in 2006, is a method for adjusting an elections result to achieve overall proportionality. Some form of representation is used for national lower house elections in 94 countries, party list PR. As with all systems, there are overlapping and contentious claims in terms of its advantages and disadvantages. But does it follow that the minority should have no representatives at all, is it necessary that the minority should not even be heard. Nothing but habit and old association can reconcile any reasonable being to the needless injustice, in a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. A majority of the electors would always have a majority of the representatives, man for man, they would be as fully represented as the majority. Unless they are, there is not equal government, many academic political theorists agree with Mill, that in a representative democracy the representatives should represent all segments of society. The established parties in UK elections can win formal control of the parliament with as little as 35% of votes, in Canada, majority governments are regularly formed by parties with the support of under 40% of votes cast. Coupled with turnout levels in the electorate of less than 60%, in the 2005 general election, for example, the Labour Party under Tony Blair won a comfortable parliamentary majority with the votes of only 21. 6% of the total electorate
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Mixed-member proportional representation
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Mixed-member proportional representation is a hybrid two-tier voting system. MMP was originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag and it was used in Romania, in the 2008 and 2012 legislative elections. MMP is a method that uses party list proportional representation as its proportional component. It is considered a system, which is a distinct voting system. An electoral system is mixed if more than one formula is employed to distribute legislative seats, biproportional apportionment, first used in Zürich in 2006, is a hybrid method for adjusting an elections result to achieve overall proportionality. In Germany, where it is used on the level and on most state levels. In the United Kingdom such systems used in Scotland, Wales, in the Canadian province of Quebec, where an MMP model was studied in 2007, it is called the compensatory mixed-member voting system. In most models the voter two votes, one for a constituency representative and one for a party. In the original variant used in Germany, both votes were combined into one, so voting for a representative automatically meant also voting for the representatives party. Most of Germany changed to the variant to make local MPs more personally accountable. Voters can vote for the person they prefer for local MP without regard for party affiliation. In the 2005 New Zealand election, 20% of local MPs were elected from electorates which gave a different party a plurality of votes, in each constituency, the representative is chosen using a single winner method, typically first-past-the-post. Most systems used closed party lists to elect the non-constituency MPs, depending on the jurisdiction, candidates may stand for both a constituency and on a party list, or may be restricted to contend either for a constituency or for a party list, but not both. If a candidate is on the party list, but wins a constituency seat, in Bavaria the second vote is not simply for the party but for one of the candidates on the partys regional list, Bavaria uses seven regions for this purpose. A regional open-list method was recommended for the United Kingdom by the Jenkins Commission. This can be done by the largest remainder method or a highest averages method, subtracted from each partys allocation is the number of constituency seats that party won, so that the additional seats are compensatory. If a party wins more FPTP seats than the proportional quota received by the party-list vote, in most German states, but not federally until the federal election of 2013, balance seats are added to compensate for the overhang seats and achieve complete proportionality. In the last election in Scotland, the highest averages method resulted in a majority government for the Scottish National Party with only 44% of the party vote, however, Scotland uses the term Additional Member System which, like MMP can either be proportional or semi-proportional
24.
Welfare
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For conceptual models of social well-being, see Social welfare function. Welfare is the provision of a level of well-being and social support for citizens without current means to support basic needs. The welfare state expands on this concept to include such as universal healthcare. In the Roman Empire, the first emperor Augustus provided the Cura Annonae or grain dole for citizens who could not afford to buy food every month, Social welfare was enlarged by the Emperor Trajan. Trajans program brought acclaim from many, including Pliny the Younger, the Song dynasty government supported multiple programs which could be classified as social welfare, including the establishment of retirement homes, public clinics, and paupers graveyards. According to economist Robert Henry Nelson, The medieval Roman Catholic Church operated a far-reaching, early welfare programs in Europe included the English Poor Law of 1601, which gave parishes the responsibility for providing welfare payments to the poor. This system was modified by the 19th-century Poor Law Amendment Act. It was predominantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that a system of state welfare provision was introduced in many countries. Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, introduced one of the first welfare systems for the working classes, in Great Britain the Liberal government of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and David Lloyd George introduced the National Insurance system in 1911, a system later expanded by Clement Attlee. The United States inherited Englands poor house laws and has had a form of welfare since before it won its independence. Modern welfare states include Germany, France, the Netherlands, as well as the Nordic countries, such as Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, esping-Andersen classified the most developed welfare state systems into three categories, Social Democratic, Conservative, and Liberal. In the Islamic world, Zakat, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, has collected by the government since the time of the Rashidun caliph Umar in the 7th century. The taxes were used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, according to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali, the government was also expected to store up food supplies in every region in case a disaster or famine occurred. Welfare can take a variety of forms, such as payments, subsidies and vouchers. A persons eligibility for welfare may also be constrained by means testing or other conditions, Welfare is provided by governments or their agencies, by private organizations, or a combination of both. Funding for welfare usually comes from government revenue, but when dealing with charities or NGOs. Some countries run conditional cash transfer welfare programs where payment is conditional on behaviour of the recipients, the 1890s economic depression and the rise of the trade unions and the Labor parties during this period led to a movement for welfare reform. In 1900, the states of New South Wales and Victoria enacted legislation introducing non-contributory pensions for those aged 65, a national invalid disability pension was started in 1910, and a national maternity allowance was introduced in 1912
25.
Superannuation
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The terms retirement plan and superannuation tend to refer to a pension granted upon retirement of the individual. Retirement plans may be set up by employers, insurance companies, called retirement plans in the United States, they are commonly known as pension schemes in the United Kingdom and Ireland and superannuation plans in Australia and New Zealand. Retirement pensions are typically in the form of a life annuity. A pension created by an employer for the benefit of an employee is commonly referred to as an occupational or employer pension, labor unions, the government, or other organizations may also fund pensions. Occupational pensions are a form of deferred compensation, usually advantageous to employee, many pensions also contain an additional insurance aspect, since they often will pay benefits to survivors or disabled beneficiaries. Other vehicles may provide a stream of payments. The common use of the pension is to describe the payments a person receives upon retirement. A recipient of a retirement pension is known as a pensioner or retiree, a retirement plan is an arrangement to provide people with an income during retirement when they are no longer earning a steady income from employment. Often retirement plans require both the employer and employee to contribute money to a fund during their employment in order to receive defined benefits upon retirement and it is a tax deferred savings vehicle that allows for the tax-free accumulation of a fund for later use as a retirement income. Funding can be provided in other ways, such as labor unions, government agencies. Pension plans are therefore a form of deferred compensation, a SSAS is a type of employment-based Pension in the UK. Some countries also grant pensions to military veterans, military pensions are overseen by the government, an example of a standing agency is the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Ad hoc committees may also be formed to investigate specific tasks, Commission on Veterans Pensions in 1955–56. In early 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported the percentage of American private-sector workers who have a pension is 13%. Many countries have created funds for their citizens and residents to provide income when they retire, typically this requires payments throughout the citizens working life in order to qualify for benefits later on. A basic state pension is a contribution based benefit, and depends on an individuals contribution history, for examples, see National Insurance in the UK, or Social Security in the United States of America. Many countries have put in place a social pension. These are regular, tax-funded non-contributory cash transfers paid to older people, over 80 countries have social pensions
26.
Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements
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Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements have been a significant feature of New Zealand race relations and politics since 1975. The settlements are typically seen as part of a broader Māori Renaissance, because the Treaty of Waitangi has limited legal standing in itself, the primary means of registering and researching Treaty claims is through the Waitangi Tribunal. The primary means of settling those claims is through negotiations with the government of the day, the Treaty of Waitangi is often considered to be the founding document for European settlement in New Zealand. Initially, there was dispute, as the settlers were able to buy land from the Māori through legal channels. However, after a while, Māori became disillusioned and less willing to sell, consequently, government land agents were involved in a number of dubious land purchases. Agreements were negotiated with only one owner of tribally owned land, unrest and rebellion caused by these actions were met with further punitive land confiscations. Eventually this led to the New Zealand Wars, which culminated in the confiscation of a part of the Waikato. In the 1920s, land commissions investigated the grievances of iwi whose land had been confiscated or otherwise fraudulently obtained in the previous century, by the 1940s, settlements in the form of modest annual payments had been arranged with some iwi. In 1975 the Treaty of Waitangi Act established the Waitangi Tribunal to hear claims of Crown violations of the Treaty of Waitangi and it allowed any Māori to lodge a claim against the Crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. Originally its mandate was limited to claims about issues, that is. Early claims included the Te Reo Māori claim, as a result of the Tribunals report into the claim, in 1987 the government made Te Reo Māori an official language of New Zealand, and established the Maori Language Commission to foster it. The pivotal issue considered by the Tribunal was whether a language could be considered a treasure or taonga, in 1985 the Fourth Labour Government extended the Tribunals powers to allow it to consider Crown actions dating back to 1840, including the period covered by the New Zealand Wars. The number of claims quickly rose, and during the early 1990s, while early Tribunal recommendations mainly concerned a contemporary issue that could be revised or rectified by the government at the time, historical settlements raised more complex issues. The Office of Treaty Settlements was established in the Ministry of Justice to develop government policy on historical claims, in 1995, the government developed the Crown Proposals for the Settlement of Treaty of Waitangi Claims to attempt to address the issues. A key element of the proposals was the creation of an envelope of $1 billion for the settlement of all historical claims. The Crown held a series of hui around the country. The concept of the envelope was subsequently dropped after the 1996 general election. Despite the protest, three settlements were reached during this time
27.
Bank of New Zealand
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The modern-day bank operates a variety of financial services covering retail, business and institutional banking and employs over 5000 people in New Zealand. In 1992 the bank was purchased by the National Australia Bank and is operated as a subsidiary. 1861, The Bank of New Zealand formed as a company and incorporated by The New Zealand Bank Act 1861 creating the company. First branch in New Zealand opened in Queen Street in Auckland,1862, Wellington, Christchurch and London branches opened. Gained the banking account of the New Zealand Government from the Union Bank,1894, The BNZ saved by Government legislation in June. 1895, The BNZ takes over the Colonial Bank, which was in crisis,1940, £1 million interest free loan as a war contribution to the Government. The 74 women in the rise to more than 700 by 1945. 1943, Mobile branch opened in a caravan for American servicemen, Night banking introduced in Auckland, Government announces intention to nationalise the bank. 1945, Nash Government introduces the Bank of New Zealand Bill, once passed the Government paid £7,933,000 in cash, transferable stock, and tax-free stock to the Banks 8,500 shareholders for their shares. The average holding was 495 shares,1966, First computer purchased an IBM 360/30 with a 16k memory, Databank Systems Ltd setup in 1967 with the National Bank of New Zealand, the other three trading banks join in 1968. 1984, BNZ Centre completed on Willis Street, Wellington,1985, Eftpos introduced through petrol stations in a pilot program. 1987, Bank floated on sharemarket with a 15% stock offering,1989, Government reduces its share to 51% by selling 34%, with 30% sold to Capital Markets Ltd, and the remainder to the general public 1990, Government bail out of $380 million to avoid collapse. 1992, National Australia Bank purchased the BNZ and the BNZ becomes a subsidiary of the Australian bank,1992, First call centre opened in Auckland. 1998, Head office moves to Auckland,2008,1 October, The bank rebrands itself and changes its name into BNZ the bank also had a change in logo and colours. Customers are able to bank using telephone banking, internet banking or by visiting one of 180 branches around New Zealand, business banking at Bank of New Zealand has been branded BNZ Partners and provides a full range of banking services for small, medium or large businesses. Bank of New Zealand’s institutional banking division provides banking services for large corporate, financial institutions. In December 2010, BNZ was appointed as lead arranger for the newly formed Auckland Council’s $600 million syndicated loan facility. In June 2010, BNZ was awarded the contract to provide the Auckland Council with comprehensive transactional services, main management and administration functions for Bank of New Zealand are located in Wellington and Auckland and the bank operates a nationwide network of 180 retail stores and business centres
28.
David Caygill
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David Francis Caygill, CNZM, is a former New Zealand politician. After being New Zealands youngest city councillor at 22, he was an MP from 1978 to 1996 and he served as Minister of Finance between 1988 and 1990. Caygills early political philosophies were aligned with the National Party and he chaired the St Albans branch of the Young Nationals as a schoolboy and his allegiance switched to Labour in part due to the Vietnam War, which Labour opposed. Caygill was a councillor of Christchurch City Council from 1971 to 1980, on 29 April 1974, he became the citys youngest ever acting Mayor for a period of five days. Caygill was first elected to Parliament in the 1978 elections as MP for the Christchurch electorate of St Albans, when the Fourth Labour Government was formed after the 1984 elections, Caygill aligned himself with Roger Douglas, the controversial Minister of Finance. Douglas, Caygill, and Richard Prebble were together dubbed the Treasury Troika, when the two became founding members of the ACT New Zealand political party in 1994, Caygill chose not to join them. Caygill was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of National Development, the Prime Minister at that time was David Lange. When Douglas was fired by Prime Minister Lange, Caygill was appointed Minister of Finance in his place, after Lange himself had resigned, Caygill retained his position under both Geoffrey Palmer and Mike Moore, Langes short-lived successors as Prime Minister. In 1991, a year after the Labour Party had lost office, Caygill was replaced as finance spokesperson by Michael Cullen, who was more moderate in his economic policies. Caygill continued to hold a position in the Labour Party, however. At the 1996 elections, Caygill retired from Parliament and he was replaced as deputy leader by Michael Cullen. After leaving politics, Caygill returned to his occupation, law. For some time, he was a partner at Buddle Findlay and he also worked for a number of government bodies, and was chair of the Accident Compensation Corporation. He chaired an inquiry into the New Zealand electricity market in 2000. He is a member of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. He is the chair of the Education New Zealand Trust, in 2010, Caygill was appointed by the National Government as one of the commissioners at Environment Canterbury. He holds the role of deputy chair, Caygill was appointed, in December 2010, as the Chair of the 2011 NZ ETS Review Panel
29.
Economic surplus
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In mainstream economics, economic surplus, also known as total welfare or Marshallian surplus, refers to two related quantities. In Marxian economics, the surplus may also refer to surplus value, surplus product. In the mid-19th century, engineer Jules Dupuit first propounded the concept of economic surplus, on a standard supply and demand diagram, consumer surplus is the area above the equilibrium price of the good and below the demand curve. Yet they in fact pay just the price for each unit they buy. Likewise, in the diagram, producer surplus is the area below the equilibrium price. Yet they in fact receive the equilibrium price for all the units they sell, consumer surplus is the difference between the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay. If a consumer would be willing to pay more than the current asking price, an example of a good with generally high consumer surplus is drinking water. People would pay very high prices for drinking water, as they need it to survive, the difference in the price that they would pay, if they had to, and the amount that they pay now is their consumer surplus. Note that the utility of the first few liters of drinking water is very high, typically these prices are decreasing, they are given by the individual demand curve. The consumers surplus is highest at the largest number of units for which, even for the last unit, the aggregate consumers surplus is the sum of the consumers surplus for all individual consumers. This can be represented graphically as shown in the graph of the market demand. The consumer surplus is the area under the curve and above a horizontal line at the actual price. For more general demand and supply functions, these areas are not triangles and this shows that if we see a rise in the equilibrium price and a fall in the equilibrium quantity, then consumer surplus falls. When supply of a good expands, the falls and consumer surplus increases. Consider an example of linear supply and demand curves, for an initial supply curve S0, consumer surplus is the triangle above the line formed by price P0 to the demand line. If supply expands from S0 to S1, the consumers surplus expands to the triangle above P1, the change in consumers surplus is difference in area between the two triangles, and that is the consumer welfare associated with expansion of supply. Some people were willing to pay the higher price P0, the second set of beneficiaries are consumers who buy more, and new consumers, those who will pay the new lower price but not the higher price. Their additional consumption makes up the difference between Q1 and Q0, the rule of one-half estimates the change in consumer surplus for small changes in supply with a constant demand curve
30.
Caucus
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A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The term originated in the United States, but has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, as the use of the term has been expanded, the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures. The origin of the caucus is debated, but it is generally agreed that it first came into use in the British colonies of North America. He has a large House, and he has a moveable Partition in his Garrett, which he takes down, there they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one End of the Garrett to the other. In the early days of the Republic a very different method was pursued in order to place the candidates for the highest office in the land before the people, in the first place, as to the origin of the caucus. In the early part of the century a number of caulkers connected with the shipping business in the North End of Boston held a meeting for consultation. That meeting was the germ of the caucuses which have formed so prominent a feature of our government ever since its organization. No wholly satisfactory etymology has been documented, james Hammond Trumbull suggested to the American Philological Association that it comes from an Algonquian word for counsel, cau´-cau-as´u. The word might derive from the Algonquian cawaassough, meaning an advisor, talker. This explanation was favoured by Charles Dudley Warner, an analogical Latin-type plural cauci is occasionally used. The degree to which caucuses are used can be a key defining element, in United States politics and government, caucus has several distinct but related meanings. Members of a party or subgroup may meet to coordinate members actions, choose group policy. There is no provision for the role of parties in the United States Constitution. In the first two elections, the Electoral College handled nominations and elections in 1789 and 1792 which selected George Washington. After that, Congressional party or a state legislature party caucus selected the partys presidential candidates, nationally, these caucuses were replaced by the party convention starting in 1832 following the lead of the Anti-Masonic Party 1831 convention. Since 1980 such caucuses have become, in the aggregate, an important component of the nomination process. Another meaning is a sub grouping of officials with shared affinities or ethnicities who convene, often but not always to advocate, agitate, lobby or to vote collectively, on policy. At the highest level, in Congress and many state legislatures, Democratic, there can be smaller caucuses in a legislative body, including those that are multi-partisan or even bicameral
31.
State housing
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State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Housing New Zealand Corporation, in excess of 31,000 former state houses exist, which are now privately owned after large-scale sell-offs during recent decades. Since 2014, state housing has been part of a social housing system. Local bodies were not interested in enforcing existing regulations, such as minimum street widths, the Liberal Government, first elected in 1890, believed that the slums would cease to be a problem as workers moved to the country to become farmers or small town merchants. Instead, the continued to grow. Prime Minister Richard Seddon introduced the Workers Dwellings Act in 1905 to provide well-built suburban houses for workers who earned less than £156 per annum. He argued that these houses would prevent the decline of living standards in New Zealand, by breaking private landlords control over rental housing, housing costs for everyone would decline. The bill passed by 64 votes to 2, despite criticism over the cost of the scheme, the distance the houses would be from workplaces, particularly ports, Seddon estimated that 5,000 houses would be built under the scheme. The Act allowed for workers to rent weekly, lease for 50 years with a right of renewal, in practice, the Government did not initially advertise the weekly rental, but emphasised the lease with the right to buy. The Act specified that workers could be male or female, the standard of materials and construction was high, because the Government was determined that the houses would not become slums. The Act specified that the rent was to be 5% per annum of the capital cost of the house and land, together with insurance and rates. The initial specification was that houses should cost no more than £300 and this resulted in weekly rents ranging between 10s 6d and 12s 7d. All the houses had five rooms—a living room, a kitchen/dining room and this allowed boys and girls to be given separate bedrooms from each other. Some houses were built of wood, some of concrete, twenty-five houses were built at Petone in 1905. Only four applications were received to lease them, Workers could reach Wellington with a 20-minute walk followed by a 30-minute train ride, but the train cost another two shillings a week. This left a family no better off than continuing to rent in Wellington, the Government was forced to allow weekly tenancies and to raise the maximum income level to attract families to the houses. Other settlements such as the one in Belleknowes, Dunedin also had trouble finding renters, Houses built in central suburbs, such as the eight in Newtown and twelve in Sydenham, New Zealand, attracted tenants much more readily. After Seddons death in 1906, the Government Advances to Workers Act allowed urban landowners to borrow up to £450 from the Government at low interest rates to build their own houses and this proved much more popular than the state housing system
32.
Soup kitchen
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A soup kitchen, meal center, or food kitchen is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a below market price. Frequently located in neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations. Many historical and some modern soup kitchens serve only soup with perhaps some bread, while societies have been using various methods to share food with the hungry for millennia, the first soup kitchens in the modern sense may have emerged in the late 18th century. By the late 19th century, they were to be found in several American and European cities, in the United States and elsewhere, they became more prominent in the 20th century during the Great Depression. With the improved economic conditions that followed World War II, soup kitchens became less widely used, in the United States there was a resurgence in the use of soup kitchens following the cutbacks in welfare that were implemented in the early 1980s. In the 21st century, the use of soup kitchens expanded in both the United States and Europe, following the lasting global inflation in the price of food began in late 2006. Demand for their services grew as the Great Recession began to worsen economic conditions for those on low income, in much of Europe, demand further increased after the introduction of austerity-based economic policies from 2010. The earliest occurrences of soup kitchens are difficult to identify, throughout history, societies have invariably recognized a moral obligation to feed the hungry. The philosopher Simone Weil wrote that feeding the hungry when one has resources to do so is the most obvious obligation of all. She also said that as far back as Ancient Egypt, it was believed that people needed to show they had helped the hungry in order to themselves in the afterlife. Soup has long been one of the most economical and simple ways to supply food to large numbers of people. As markets began to replace the older forms of resource allocation such as Redistribution, Reciprocity, but food insecurity could become worse for the poorest section of society, and the need arose for more formal methods for providing them with food. Christian churches traditionally provided food for the hungry since Late antiquity, the earliest modern soup kitchens were established by the inventor Sir Benjamin Thompson, who was employed as an aide-de-camp to the Elector of Bavaria in the 1790s. Thompson was an American loyalist refugee from New England an inventor who was ennobled by Bavaria as Count Rumford, the count was a prominent advocate of hunger relief, writing pamphlets that were widely read across Europe. His message was well received in Great Britain, where he had previously held a senior government position for several years and was known as the Colonel. An urgent need had arisen in Britain for food relief. While technological development and economic reforms were rapidly increasingly overall prosperity, conditions for the poorest were often made worse, as traditional ways of life were disrupted. While soup kitchens were generally regarded, they did attract criticism from some, for encouraging dependency
33.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
34.
Bill Birch
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Sir William Francis Birch GNZM, usually known as Bill Birch, is a former New Zealand politician. He served as Minister of Finance for several years in the fourth National government, Birch was born in Hastings on 9 April 1934. He gained his qualifications at Hamiltons Technical High School and through Wellington Technical Correspondence School and he was trained as a surveyor, and established a business in Pukekohe, a small town south of Auckland. Birch quickly became involved in various Pukekohe community organisations and he served on Pukehohes borough council from 1965 to 1974, and was deputy mayor from 1968 to 1974. Birch first entered parliament in the 1972 election, as the National Partys candidate for the Franklin electorate, National won the 1975 election, and formed the third National Government, whilst Birch was re-elected in Franklin. The Franklin electorate was abolished in the 1977 electoral redistribution and the area divided between several different electorates. Pukekohe was the northernmost settlement in the new Rangiriri electorate, Birch was re-elected in Rangiriri in 1981, but the electorate was abolished through the 1983 electoral redistribution. For the 1984 election, Pukekohe was again located in the reconstituted Franklin electorate, and Birch won that election, through the 1987 electoral redistribution, Pukekohe belonged to the new Maramarua electorate from 1987 to 1993, and Birch served that electorate for two parliamentary terms. For one term beginning in 1993, he represented the reconstituted Franklin electorate, Birch retired in 1999 after 27 years in Parliament. After holding a number of internal National Party positions, Birch was made Minister of National Development, Minister of Energy, in 1981, he swapped the Science and Technology role for the Regional Development portfolio. As Minister for National Development, Birch was closely involved in the Think Big project, when National lost the 1984 election, Birchs ministerial career was interrupted, but he remained in parliament. After National regained power in the 1990 election, Birch re-entered cabinet as part of the fourth National government, as Minister of Labour, Birch introduced the Employment Contracts Act, which radically liberalised the labour market, most noticeably by reducing the power of trade unions. In 1992, Birch was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, during this period, Birch clashed a number of times with the controversial Minister of Finance, Ruth Richardson. The Prime Minister, Jim Bolger, had never been a supporter of Richardsons strong laissez-faire policies, at the 1993 election, which National nearly lost, Richardson was removed from her Finance role, and Birch was elevated in her place. Birchs appointment to the Finance portfolio raised eyebrows, given Birchs association with the Think Big projects, however, he soon developed a reputation for a frugal finance minister, delivering a succession of balanced budgets. He also privatised a number of state assets, after the 1996 election, National needed to form a coalition with the New Zealand First party in order to govern. New Zealand Firsts leader, Winston Peters, insisted on control of the Finance role as part of the coalition agreement, the Minister of Finance role was split into two separate offices, one given the title Treasurer and the other still called Minister of Finance. Treasurer, the title, was given to Winston Peters
35.
National Australia Bank
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National Australia Bank is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation and customers. NAB was ranked 21st largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation and 41st largest bank in the world as measured by assets in 2014. As of November 2014 NAB operated 1,590 branches and service centres, NAB has a AA- long term issuer rating by Standard & Poors. National Australia Bank was formed as National Commercial Banking Corporation of Australia Limited in 1982 by the merger of National Bank of Australasia, the resulting company was subsequently renamed National Australia Bank Limited. The expanded financial base of the merged entity triggered significant offshore expansion over ensuing years, representative offices were established in Beijing, Chicago, Dallas, Seoul, San Francisco, Kuala Lumpur, Athens, Frankfurt, Atlanta, Bangkok, Taipei, Shanghai, Houston and New Delhi. In 1987, NAB bought Clydesdale Bank and Northern Bank from Midland Bank and it rebranded Northern Bank branches in the Republic of Ireland to National Irish Bank and changed both banks logos from that of the Midland Bank. In 1990, NAB bought Yorkshire Bank, further acquisitions followed – Bank of New Zealand in 1992, which at the time had about a 26% market share in the New Zealand market, and Michigan National Bank in 1995. NAB encountered a period in the period 2000–2005. The foreign currency trader fraud was the catalyst for the resignations of CEO Frank Cicutto, the resignations were preceded by a Board revolt where Catherine Walters emerged as a whistle blower citing serious culture issues at the company having led to the string of failures. Frank Cicutto was CEO of NAB from 1999 to 2004, the Australian economic environment during his leadership was stable and productive after 17 consecutive years of economic growth since 1992, averaging 3.3 per cent per annum. In February 2004, John Stewart was appointed CEO of NAB following the sacking of Cicutto, Stewart proceeded with a far reaching re-organisation of the company along regional lines leading to the appointment of Ahmed Fahour as the CEO of Australia in September 2004. On 20 February 2009 Fahour stepped down from the Principal Board and Group Executive Committee. In 2005, NAB announced a cut of 2,000 Australian jobs as part of a global cost-cutting program with the intention of cutting around 4,200 positions – about 10. 5% of its total workforce globally. It began to back office positions offshore, beginning with a pilot with 23 jobs from the accounts payable department in Melbourne going to Bangalore. Later that year, it sold Northern Bank and National Irish Bank to the Danish Danske Bank, over 200 additional jobs had been sent offshore by 2006. As part of the culture change program, a new Australian head office was built at Docklands in Melbourne. This building is characterised by its open layout and was officially opened in October 2004. After Cameron Clyne became CEO in 2009, the Docklands building became the global headquarters replacing 500 Bourke Street, by 2006, NAB had turned its fortunes around, reporting an industry record $4.3 billion profit and winning two local Bank of the Year awards
36.
Tranz Rail
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Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited, was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003. The New Zealand railway network was built by provincial governments. From 1880 a central Government department, the New Zealand Railways Department, was responsible for operating most of the railway network. A few private lines were built, but only one, the Wellington, the W&MR was nationalised in 1908. In 1931 due to increasing competition from road carriers, the Transport Licensing Act 1931 was passed, restricting road cartage, in 1982, the same year the land transport sector was deregulated, the Railways Department was reconstituted as the New Zealand Railways Corporation, a statutory corporation. The Fourth Labour Government passed the New Zealand Railways Corporation Restructuring Act 1990 on 28 August of that year, the government wrote off NZ$1.3 billion in debt acquired by the company from the Railways Corporation, and injected a further $300 million in capital. Despite this capital injection the company remained only marginally profitable, reporting after-tax profits of $36.2 million in 1992, the Railways Corporation retained ownership of the land beneath the railway tracks and yards, which New Zealand Rail paid $1 per year to lease. The Bolger National government, elected following the defeat of the fourth Labour government in elections held in October 1990, the company was sold for $328.3 million to a consortium named Pylorus Investments Limited, shortly afterwards renamed Tranz Rail Limited. Although Jones survived the accident, he was blind and had a leg amputated. In 1994 the company sold its 15% stake in Clear Communications for $72.6 million, the company had gained its shareholding by selling its fibre optic network along the North Island Main Trunk to Clear. New Zealand Rail carried its corporate brand until 18 October 1995, on the same day Tranz Rail Holdings Limited made a $100 million capital repayment to the Fay Richwhite consortium, largely financed by the sale of shares in Clear Communications. Tranz Rail listed on 14 June 1996 on the New Zealand Sharemarket,31 million new shares, equivalent to 25% of the company, were issued to the public at $6.19. The share price reached $9.00 in the middle of 1997, Berkshire Fund sold most of its shares at more than $8 each between November 1996 and March 1997. In 1998, Alex van Heeren sold his holding for a profit of more than $42 million, and the next year Fay Richwhite sold 6.2 million shares at an average $3.67 a share. On 8 February 2002, Fay Richwhite sold 17.6 million shares at $3.60 a share and Berkshire Fund sold 4.3 million shares on 12 February that year at the same price. In partnership with Wisconsin Central as the Australian Transport Network, Tranz Rail invested in Tasmanian rail operator TasRail in 1997, from 1998 Tranz Rail sold twelve members of its DQ class and three QR class locomotives to TasRail. The locomotives were rebuilt at the Hutt Workshops, the DQ locomotives were originally imported by New Zealand Rail in 1995 from Queensland Rail as an alternative to buying new locomotives. However, in service they proved unpopular with crews, due to excessive vibration
37.
Ministry of Works and Development
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The Ministry had its own Cabinet-level responsible minister, the Minister of Works or Minister of Public Works. This building held the Vogel Computer, one of the largest in New Zealand, the Ministry moved to the Vogel Building in about 1965 from the Old Government Building on Lambton Quay. The ministry was renamed the Ministry of Works on 16 March 1943 under the Ministry of Works Act, during the latter years of the Ministry there were seven District Offices each headed by a District Commissioner of Works. In each District there were a number of Residency Offices and each had a number of Depots, in addition there were Project Offices set up for a particular purpose, such as to build a power project, airport, tunnel or irrigation scheme. The corporation had two subsidiaries, Works Consultancy Services and Works Civil Construction. These were sold in 1996 and became Opus International Consultants and Works Infrastructure respectively, bob Semple tank Ohakea and Whenuapai aircraft hangars Stony Batter Wrights Hill Fortress Waitaki Dam Roxburgh Dam Tekapo A Benmore Power Station Aviemore Dam Tekapo B Ohau A, B and C. Lake Ruataniwha Clyde Dam In the North Island, the Tongariro Power Scheme was completed between 1964 and 1983. The PWD owned its own locomotives and rolling stock, some second-hand from the Railways Department, one example is a 6.4 km branch line built in 1928 from near the terminus of the Railways Departments Kurow Branch to a hydro-electric dam project on the Waitaki River. This line was removed in April 1937 as the PWD no longer required it, the block of numbers 501 to 550 were reserved by PWD, whilst numbers 1-500 and 551 onward were NZR locomotives. In later years, this agreement with New Zealand Railways Department was given flexibility, from World War 2, PWD used a new system of fleet numbers, with the year of introduction, followed by actual fleet number. Opus International Group Works Infrastructure Downer EDI Works By Design, A brief history of the Public Works Department Ministry of Works 1870-1970 by Rosslyn J. Noonan
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