Today we are having a doozy of a storm, so I thought I'd spend a bit of time gathering some information on New Zealand's government. The short version. And my take on it. Sorry, no pictures!
There are many similarities between the structure of the Canadian and New Zealand governments. We both operate under a parliamentary system, and have a Governor General representing the Queen. We both have three branches:
- legislature (parliament), with an elected House of Representatives (NZ has no Senate);
- executive branch (ministers and civil service);
- judiciary.
The House of Representatives in NZ has about 120 members for a population of about 4.5 million. Canada's House of Commons has 338 members for a population of almost 36 million.
New Zealand has elections every 3 years, rather than 4 (max) for us. The last elections were held in Sept. 2014 and the results were:
- National party (centre-right): 47% of the vote
- Labour party (centre-left): 25.1 %
- Green party: 10.7%
- NZ First: 8.7%
- Maori party: 1.3%
- others: 7.2%
Since 1996, NZ has had a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system, which means that the proportion of votes a party gets is reflected in the number of seats they have in Parliament. Each elector gets two votes, one for the local candidate and one for the party. This has increased the representation of smaller parties and made it necessary for parties to work together, as it would be very unlikely for any party to have a majority of seats. People I have spoken to here have been quite positive about the MMP voting system.
The main parties have long been the National and Labour parties. The National Party has most often held power in NZ, although Labour was in power from 1984-90 and from 1999 to 2008. John Key, the current head of the National Party, has been PM since 2008. He is regarded as very charismatic, and still seems to be reasonably popular.
Voter turnout in the last election in 2014 was 78%, higher than in the previous election in 2011 (74%). But in the early 1980s voter turnout was over 90%, although it had fallen to the mid-80s through most of the 1990s. In Canada, voter turnout "ballooned" to 68% in our last election, up from something closer to 60% in the prior two elections. None too impressive!
NZ doesn't really have an equivalent of Canada's provinces. Instead it has councils: 12 regional ones covering almost every area of the country, and within them, 16 city and 57 district councils. I see different numbers in different places so these are approximate.
Regional councils have responsibility for environmental planning and natural resources and the city and district councils look after water, rubbish collection, sewage treatment, parks, street lighting, roads, libraries, and the provision of building and environmental permits. Much like our municipal governments.
Interestingly, policing and education are responsibilities of the federal government in NZ, whereas for us they would fall under provincial jurisdiction.
Well, that is enough for now! Let me know if you have other questions!
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