Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern is a New Zealand politician serving as the 40th and current Prime Minister of New Zealand since 26 October 2017. She has served as the Leader of the Labour Party since 1 August 2017. Ardern has been the Member of Parliament for the Mount Albert electorate since 8 March 2017. After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern began her career working as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark, she worked in the United Kingdom as a policy advisor to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In 2008, she was elected President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Ardern became a list MP in 2008, a position she held for ten years until her election to the Mount Albert electorate in the 2017 by-election, held on 25 February, she was unanimously elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party on 1 March 2017, following the resignation of Annette King. Ardern became Leader of the Labour Party on 1 August 2017, after Andrew Little resigned from the position following a low poll result for the party.
She is credited with increasing her party's rating in opinion polls. In the general election of 23 September 2017, the Labour Party won 46 seats, putting it behind the National Party, which won 56 seats. After negotiations with National and Labour, the New Zealand First party chose to enter into a minority coalition government with Labour, supported by the Greens, with Ardern as Prime Minister. Ardern describes herself as a progressive, she is the world's youngest female head of government, having taken office at age 37. Ardern became the world's second elected head of government to give birth while in office when her daughter was born on 21 June 2018. Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, Ardern grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara, where her father, Ross Ardern, worked as a police officer, her mother, Laurell Ardern, worked as a school catering assistant, she studied at Morrinsville College, where she was the student representative on the school's Board of Trustees. She attended the University of Waikato, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Communication Studies in politics and public relations.
Ardern was brought into politics by her aunt, Marie Ardern, a longstanding member of the Labour Party, who recruited the teenaged Ardern to help her with campaigning for New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven during his re-election campaign at the 1999 general election. Ardern joined the Labour Party at age 17, became a senior figure in the Young Labour sector of the party. After graduating from university, she spent time working in the offices of Phil Goff and of Helen Clark as a researcher. After a period of time volunteering at a soup kitchen in New York City, Ardern moved to London to work as a senior policy adviser in an 80-person policy unit of then-British prime minister Tony Blair. Ardern was seconded to the Home Office to help with a review of policing in England and Wales. In early 2008, Ardern was elected as the President of the International Union of Socialist Youth, a role which saw her spend time in several countries, including Jordan, Israel and China. Ahead of the 2008 election, Ardern was ranked 20th on Labour's party list.
This was a high placement for someone, not a sitting MP, assured her of a seat in Parliament. Accordingly, Ardern returned from London to campaign full-time, she became Labour's candidate for the safe National electorate of Waikato. Ardern was unsuccessful in the electorate vote, but her high placement on Labour's party list allowed her to enter Parliament as a list MP. Upon election, she became the youngest sitting MP in Parliament, succeeding fellow Labour MP Darren Hughes, remained the youngest MP until the election of Gareth Hughes on 11 February 2010. Opposition leader Phil Goff promoted Ardern to the front bench, naming her Labour's spokesperson for Youth Affairs and as associate spokesperson for Justice, she has made regular appearances on TVNZ's Breakfast programme as part of the "Young Guns" feature, in which she appeared alongside National MP Simon Bridges. Ardern contested the seat of Auckland Central for Labour in the 2011 general election, standing against incumbent National MP Nikki Kaye for National and Greens candidate Denise Roche.
Despite targeting Green voters to vote strategically for her, she lost to Kaye by 717 votes. However, she returned to Parliament via the party list, she maintained an office within the electorate. After Goff resigned from the Party leadership following his defeat at the 2011 election, Ardern supported David Shearer over David Cunliffe, she was elevated to the fourth-ranking position in the Shadow Cabinet on 19 December 2011, becoming a spokesperson for social development under new leader David Shearer. Ardern stood again in Auckland Central at the 2014 general election, she again finished second though increased her own vote and reduced Kaye's majority from 717 to 600. Ranked 5th on Labour's list Ardern was still returned to Parliament where she became Shadow spokesperson for Justice, Small Business, Arts & Culture under new leader Andrew Little. Ardern put forward her name for the Labour nomination for the Mount Albert by-election to be held in February 2017 following the resignation of former Labour leader David Shearer on 8 December 2016.
When nominations for the Labour Party closed on 12 January 2017, Ardern was the only nominee and was selected unopposed. On
David Carter (politician)
David Cunningham Carter is a New Zealand National Party politician and former Speaker of the House, having previously been a cabinet minister. Carter attended St Bede's College in Christchurch, has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree from Lincoln University, he has farmed sheep and cattle for over 30 years, established the first commercial cattle-embryo transplant company in New Zealand in 1974. Carter stood in the Lyttelton electorate in the 1993 election as a successor to Gail McIntosh, but was defeated by Labour's Ruth Dyson. Carter was first elected to Parliament in the 1994 by-election in Selwyn, replacing the resigning Ruth Richardson. In the 1996 general election he won the Banks Peninsula electorate against Dyson. In the 1999 election he was defeated by Dyson, but entered Parliament as a list MP. In the 2002 election, he failed to recapture the seat and remained a list MP. From 1998 until the National Party's defeat in 1999 Carter was Minister for Senior Citizens, Associate Minister of Revenue, Associate Minister for Food, Fibre and Border Control.
At the end of National's term in office, he was Associate Minister of Education. In 2008, Carter was chosen as the National candidate for the resurrected safe National seat of Selwyn, but opposition to this saw the National candidacy up for grabs again, he pulled out and the candidacy was won by Amy Adams, who won the seat. Carter did not contest an electorate. After National's election victory, he took the portfolios of Agriculture and Forestry. In May 2010, Carter issued a ban on kosher slaughter. Carter held shares in a firm that exports meat, prior to instituting the ban he met senior managers of the firm who wanted a ban on kosher slaughter to reduce their competition. After the 2011 election, Carter was appointed Minister of the new Ministry of Primary Industries. In November 2012 he approved the increased squid fishery SQU6T by 140%, despite recommendations from scientists and the Department of Conservation that this would be detrimental to the endangered New Zealand sealion. On 22 January 2013 the Prime Minister announced that Carter was his preference to replace Lockwood Smith as Speaker of the House.
Carter's appointment was not without controversy, the Labour Party questioned whether he wanted the job. As the opposition was not consulted, as per convention, Trevor Mallard was nominated by Labour and the position was put to a vote on 31 January 2013. Carter won by 62 votes to 52. Consistent with the tradition of newly elected speakers, Carter had to be "dragged to the chair" following the election; the office of Speaker entitles Carter to the title The Right Honourable following a reform of the New Zealand Honours System in 2010. Carter cited his intention to continue as Speaker, "if, the will of Parliament", as the basis for his decision to stand as a list-only candidate in the 2014 general election. On 10 November 2015, Carter controversially failed to acknowledge offence caused to significant numbers of Labour and Green MPs after John Key had accused them of "backing rapists" during a debate about the Christmas Island detention centre; the following day, Carter silenced seven female MPs who stated that they were victims of sexual abuse and stood up to express personal offence to Key's statement, which they called on Key to apologise for.
Carter ruled that the manner in which they stood to address the house was inappropriate and dismissed several of the seven. David Carter MP official site Profile at National Party Profile at New Zealand Parliament Releases and speeches at Beehive.govt.nz
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia; the winners are awarded the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis, the Rugby School pupil who, according to a popular legend, invented rugby by picking up the ball during a football game. Four countries have won the trophy. New Zealand are the current champions, having defeated Australia in the final of the 2015 tournament in England; the tournament is administered by the sport's international governing body. Sixteen teams were invited to participate in the inaugural tournament in 1987, however since 1999 twenty teams have taken part. Japan will host the 2019 Rugby World Cup and France will host in 2023. Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the second tournament, where eight of the sixteen places were contested in a twenty-four-nation tournament; the inaugural World Cup in 1987, did not involve any qualifying process.
In 2003 and 2007, the qualifying format allowed for eight of the twenty available positions to be filled by automatic qualification, as the eight quarter finalists of the previous tournament enter its successor. The remaining twelve positions were filled by continental qualifying tournaments. Positions were filled by three teams from the Americas, one from Asia, one from Africa, three from Europe and two from Oceania. Another two places were allocated for repechage; the first repechage place was determined by a match between the runners-up from the Africa and Europe qualifying tournaments, with that winner playing the Americas runner-up to determine the place. The second repechage position was determined between the runners-up from the Asia and Oceania qualifiers; the current format allows for 12 of the 20 available positions to be filled by automatic qualification, as the teams who finish third or better in the group stages of the previous tournament enter its successor. The qualification system for the remaining eight places is region-based, with a total eight teams allocated for Europe, five for Oceania, three for the Americas, two for Africa, one for Asia.
The last place is determined by an intercontinental play-off. The 2015 tournament involved twenty nations competing over six weeks. There were a pool and a knockout. Nations were divided into A through to D, of five nations each; the teams were seeded before the start of the tournament, with the seedings taken from the World Rankings in December 2012. The four highest-ranked teams were drawn into pools A to D; the next four highest-ranked teams were drawn into pools A to D, followed by the next four. The remaining positions in each pool were filled by the qualifiers. Nations play four pool games. A bonus points system is used during pool play. If two or more teams are level on points, a system of criteria is used to determine the higher ranked; the winner and runner-up of each pool enter the knockout stage. The knockout stage consists of quarter- and semi-finals, the final; the winner of each pool is placed against a runner-up of a different pool in a quarter-final. The winner of each quarter-final goes on to the semi-finals, the respective winners proceed to the final.
Losers of the semi-finals contest for third place, called the'Bronze Final'. If a match in the knockout stages ends in a draw, the winner is determined through extra time. If that fails, the match goes into the next team to score any points is the winner; as a last resort, a kicking competition is used. Prior to the Rugby World Cup, there was no global rugby union competition, but there were a number of other tournaments. One of the oldest is the annual Six Nations Championship, which started in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship, a tournament between England, Ireland and Wales, it expanded to the Five Nations in 1910. France did not participate from 1931 to 1939, during which period it reverted to a Home Nations championship. In 2000, Italy joined the competition. Rugby union was played at the Summer Olympic Games, first appearing at the 1900 Paris games and subsequently at London in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, Paris again in 1924. France won the first gold medal Australasia, with the last two being won by the United States.
However rugby union ceased to be on Olympic program after 1924. The idea of a Rugby World Cup had been suggested on numerous occasions going back to the 1950s, but met with opposition from most unions in the IRFB; the idea resurfaced several times in the early 1980s, with the Australian Rugby Union in 1983, the New Zealand Rugby Union in 1984 independently proposing the establishment of a world cup. A proposal was again put to the IRFB in 1985 and this time passed 10–6; the delegates from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all voted for the proposal, the delegates from Ireland and Scotland against. The inaugural tournament, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was held in May and June 1987, with sixteen nations taking part. New Zealand became the first champions, defeating France 29–9 in the final; the subsequent 1991 tournament was hosted by England, with matches
Ministers of the New Zealand Government
Ministers, in the New Zealand Government, are members of Parliament who hold ministerial warrants from the Crown to perform certain functions of government. This includes advising the governor-general. Ministers collectively make up the executive branch of the New Zealand state. In practice, the governor-general is obliged to follow the advice of the prime minister on the appointment and dismissal of ministers. All ministers serve concurrently as councillors of the Executive Council of New Zealand; these executives are formally titled "ministers of the Crown", as in other Commonwealth realms. The formal powers of the executive are exercised through the Executive Council, which consists of all ministers, is headed by the governor-general; when the Executive Council resolves to issue an order, the order is signed by the governor-general, it becomes binding. A minister is charged with supervising a particular aspect of the government's activities, such as the provision of health services or the upkeep of law enforcement.
A minister is responsible for a corresponding public sector organisation known as a department or ministry. Sometimes, people may be appointed ministers without being given any specific role — they are known as ministers without portfolio; such appointments have become rare today, although sometimes a person may be appointed to a sinecure portfolio such as "Minister of State" for similar purposes. The appointment of ministers is made by the governor-general, who must sign a ministerial warrant before it comes into effect. Governors-general appoint or discharge ministers on the basis of advice from prime ministers, who are themselves appointed by the governor-general on the basis of whether they have the confidence of Parliament; the recommendations that a prime minister chooses to give are theoretically their own affair, but the political party behind them will certainly have views on the matter, most recommendations are made only after negotiation and bargaining. Different parties have different mechanisms for this — the Labour Party, for example, has provision for caucus to select ministers, while in the National Party, a prime minister theoretically has greater authority to make their own selections.
Individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention that a minister is responsible for the decisions and actions of individuals and organisations for which they have ministerial responsibility. Individual ministerial responsibility is not the same as cabinet collective responsibility, which states members of the Cabinet must approve publicly of its collective decisions or resign; the Executive Council functioned as an advisory group to the Governor, ministerial functions were performed by appointed officials, not politicians. The various "ministers" serving on the Council, such as the Colonial Secretary and the Colonial Treasurer, reported to the Governor; when Parliament was established, many believed that they would soon replace these appointed officials, with ministerial positions being given to members of Parliament instead. The Acting Governor, Robert Wynyard, did not agree, saying that the levers of government could not be turned over to Parliament without approval from Britain.
The issue was controversial, ended with the Acting Governor attempting to suspend the 1st New Zealand Parliament. In the 2nd New Zealand Parliament, Parliament was victorious, the first political ministers were appointed in the 1856 Sewell Ministry. Henry Sewell became Colonial Secretary, Dillon Bell became Colonial Treasurer, Frederick Whitaker became Attorney-General, Henry Tancred became a minister without portfolio. Since all ministers have been appointed from among the ranks of Parliament. Parliament made further gains, with the convention being established that the governor-general's actions in the Executive Council were bound by the advice that ministers gave. Today, the Executive Council is not used for deliberation – rather, Cabinet is the forum for debate. Cabinet is a separate meeting of most government ministers, formally presents proposals to the whole Executive Council only when a decision has been reached. Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Agriculture Minister of Conservation Minister of Defence Minister of Education Minister of Finance Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Health Minister of Internal Affairs Minister of Justice Minister of Māori Affairs Attorney-General Scholefield, Guy.
New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949. Wellington: Govt. Printer
Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
In New Zealand, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the individual who chairs the country's elected legislative body, the New Zealand House of Representatives. The individual who holds the position is elected by members of the House from among their number in the first session after each general election; the current Speaker is Trevor Mallard, elected on 7 November 2017. The Speaker is one of the highest-ranking offices in New Zealand; the officeholder fulfils several important functions in relation to the operation of the House, based upon the Westminster parliamentary system. The Speaker presides over the House's debates. Aside from duties relating to presiding over the House, the Speaker performs administrative and procedural functions, remains a Member of Parliament; the Speaker's most visible role is that of presiding over the House when in session. The Speaker presides from the elevated'Speaker's Chair' behind the Table in the debating chamber; this involves overseeing the order in which business is conducted, determining who should speak at what time.
The Speaker is responsible for granting or declining requests for certain events, such as a snap debate on a particular issue. An important part of the Speaker's role is enforcing discipline in the House; the Speaker defers to'Standing Orders', which are the written rules of conduct governing the business of the House. Included in these rules are certain powers available to the Speaker to ensure reasonable behaviour by MPs, including the ability to order disruptive MPs to leave the debating chamber. If a Member of Parliament feels one of these rules has been breached by another member, he or she can interrupt a debate by using a procedure known as a'point of order'; the Speaker must determine whether the complaint is just. Earlier Speaker's rulings on similar points of order are referred to in considering the point raised; the Clerk of the House, who sits directly in front of the Speaker, assists the Speaker in making such rulings. By convention, Speakers have traditionally been addressed inside the debating chamber as "Mr Speaker" or "Madam Speaker".
The Speaker is responsible for directing and overseeing the administration and security of the buildings and grounds of Parliament, the general provision of services to members. In doing so, the Speaker consults and receives advice from the Parliamentary Service Commission, which comprises MPs from across the House; as the most senior office of Parliament, the Speaker has other statutory responsibilities, for example under the Electoral Act 1993. In this role a portion of the Parliament Buildings are given over to the Speaker. Known as the Speaker's Apartments these include his personal office, sitting rooms for visiting dignitaries and a small residential flat which the speaker may or may not use as living quarters; the Speaker chairs three select committees: the Standing Orders Committee the Business Committee the Officers of Parliament Committee. The Business Committee chaired by the Speaker controls the organisation of the business of the House. On the committee, established after the first MMP election in 1996, is the Leader of the House, the Opposition Shadow Leader and the Whips of each party.
The Speaker is expected to conduct the functions of the office in a neutral manner though the Speaker is a member of the governing party. Only three people have held the office despite not being from the governing party. In 1923, Charles Statham was backed by Reform so as not to endanger the party's slim majority, retained his position under the Liberal Party. In 1993, Peter Tapsell was backed by the National Party for the same reason. Bill Barnard, elected Speaker in 1936, resigned from the Labour Party in 1940 but retained his position. A speaker lost the right to cast a vote, except when both sides were balanced; the Speaker's lack of a vote created problems for a governing party – when the party's majority was small, the loss of the Speaker's vote could be problematic. Since the shift to MMP in 1996, the Speaker has been counted for the purposes of casting party votes, to reflect the proportionality of the party's vote in the general election; the practice has been for the Speaker to participate in personal votes by proxy.
In the event of a tied vote the motion in question lapses. The Speaker is always a Member of Parliament, is elected by the House at the beginning of a parliamentary term. If the office of Speaker becomes vacant during a parliamentary term, the House must elect a new Speaker when it next sits; the election of a speaker is presided over by the Clerk of the House. It is not unusual for an election to be contested. If there are two candidates, members vote in the lobbies for their preferred candidate. In the case of three or more candidates, a roll-call vote is conducted and the candidate with the fewest votes eliminated, with the process continuing until one candidate has a majority. Members may vote only if they are present in person: no proxy votes are permitted, it is traditional for the Speaker to'pretend' he or she did not want to accept the position. Upon election the Speaker is customarily'dragged' to the front of the House. A symbolic piece of rope was kept beside the Chair as a reminder that an English House of Commons Speaker was physically held in the Chair by members so that the
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. Elizabeth was born in London as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was educated at home, her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In 1947, she married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, with whom she has four children: Charles, Prince of Wales; when her father died in February 1952, she became head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ceylon. She has reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation, the decolonisation of Africa. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and realms, including South Africa and Ceylon, became republics.
Her many historic visits and meetings include a state visit to the Republic of Ireland and visits to or from five popes. Significant events have included her coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver and Diamond Jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012 respectively. In 2017, she became the first British monarch to reach a Sapphire Jubilee, she is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch as well as the world's longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state, the oldest and longest-reigning current monarch and the longest-serving current head of state. Elizabeth has faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the royal family, in particular after the breakdown of her children's marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992 and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales. However, support for the monarchy has been and remains high, as does her personal popularity. Elizabeth was born at 02:40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King George V.
Her father, the Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, the Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfather's London house: 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. She was baptised by the Anglican Archbishop of York, Cosmo Gordon Lang, in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on 29 May, named Elizabeth after her mother, Alexandra after George V's mother, who had died six months earlier, Mary after her paternal grandmother. Called "Lilibet" by her close family, based on what she called herself at first, she was cherished by her grandfather George V, during his serious illness in 1929 her regular visits were credited in the popular press and by biographers with raising his spirits and aiding his recovery. Elizabeth's 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.
Lessons concentrated on history, language and music. Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family; the book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, her attitude of responsibility. 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." Her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as "a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved". During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward and her father. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, as Edward was still young. Many people believed he would 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, after her father.
That year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Elizabeth's father became king, she became heir presumptive. If her parents had had a 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. Elizabeth received private tuition in constitutional history from Henry Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton College, learned French from a succession of native-speaking governesses. A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed so she could socialise with girls her own age, she was enrolled as a Sea Ranger. In 1939, Elizabeth's parents toured the United States; as in 1927, when her parents had toured Australia and New Zealand, Elizabeth remained in Britain, since her father thought her too young to undertake public tours. Elizabeth "looked tearful", they corresponded and she and her parents made the first royal transatlantic telephone call on 18 May.
In September 1939, Britain entered the Second World War. Lord Hailsham suggested that the two princesses should be evacuated to Canada to avoid the frequent aerial bombing; this was rejected by Elizabeth's mother. I won't leave wit
