LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND
The Political Scene
Would anyone care to write a brief summary of the main political parties and post them to the net for comment?

Why 'New Zealand'
It is simply "New Zealand" - not the "People's Republic of" or "Commonwealth of" or "Kingdom of" or anything like that. It used to be "The Dominion of New Zealand" pursuant to a long-forgotten dream of a kind of federal British empire that one of our early prime ministers (Bill Massey) was keen on, but the "Dominion of" bit was dropped several years ago.

Robin Klitscher gives us:
"The Royal Charter effecting the separation of NZ from the Colony of NSW in 1840 said "the principal Islands, heretofore known as, or commonly called, the 'Northern Island', the 'Middle Island' and Stewart's (sic) Island' shall henceforward be designated and known respectively as 'New Ulster', 'New Munster' and 'New Leinster'".

"In 1846 a further Royal Charter changed this into two Provinces only, New Ulster and New Munster, with New Munster incorporating New Leinster and the North Island up to the latitude at the mouth of the Patea River. Each of the two was to have a Governor and Legislative and Executive Council under the Governor-in-Chief and Executive Council for the whole colony. Limited elections were held in 1851 but before they were completed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 unravelled all that and substituted the six provinces Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago, each with limited elective Councils."

"In 1858 the province of New Plymouth was renamed Taranaki; and between 1858 and 1873 Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Southland and Westland were created."

"The whole provincial arrangement was undone (in the sense of political mapmaking) by the Abolition of the Provinces Act of 1975."

"(Source - McLintock's Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Vol 2 pp 880, 881)"

Constitution
New Zealand shares with Britain and Israel the distinction of being one of the three developed countries that does not have a codified Constitution on the U.S. model. When the country was annexed by Britain in 1840, the British parliament enacted that all applicable law of England as at 1840 became the law of New Zealand. In 1856, the New Zealand parliament was given the power to enact its own law and nothing changed when full independence was achieved (26-9-1907) except that the British parliament lost its overriding authority. We have, thus, never had the problem that Australia and Canada have had of "repatriating" a constitution that was really an Act of the British parliament.

Our constitution, like the British, consists of parliament's own conventions and rules of conduct, some legislation such as the New Zealand Constitution Act (1986, not enacted), and fundamental rules applied by the Courts which go back into English history. It evolves rather than is amended.

The flag of NZ is blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant with four red five-pointed stars edged in white centered in the outer half of the flag; the stars represent the Southern Cross constellation.

Form Of Government
Paul Gillingwater wrote:
"Constitutional monarchy, with a single-chamber parliament."

"The monarch is said to `reign but not rule': except for a residual power to actually govern in the event of some complete breakdown of the parliamentary system, the monarch has merely ceremonial duties and advisory powers. When the monarch is absent from the country, which is most of the time, those duties and powers are delegated to the Governor-General who is appointed by the monarch for a limited term after approval by the government."

"Parliament is the consitutional `sovereign' - there is no theoretical limit on what it can validly do, and the validity, and the validity of the laws which it enacts cannot be challenged in the courts (although the courts do have and use wide-ranging powers to control administrative acts of the government). A new parliament is elected every three years (universal suffrage at age 18).The leader of the party which commands majority support in parliament is appointed prime minister and he or she nominates the other Ministers of the Crown. The ministers (and sometimes the whole majority party in parliament) are collectively called `the government'. Our system almost entirely lacks formal checks and balances - the majority party can virtually legislate as it likes subject only to its desire to be re-elected every three years."

"Until now, members of parliament have been elected on a single-member constituency, winner takes all, system similar to those of Britain and the U.S.A. As a result of referenda conducted in 1993, future parliaments will be elected on a mixed-member proportional system modelled on that of Germany."

"The administration is highly centralised. The country is divided into `districts' (the urban ones called `cities') each with a District (or City) Council and Mayor, but their powers are limited to providing public facilities (not housing) and enforcement of by-laws (local regulations) such as parking regulations. The Police are a single force controlled by the central government."

"The draft of the new electorate Boundaries under MMP is available from http://actrix.gen.nz/general/politics.html There are 3 files:
nth_isle.gif --> north island electorates
sth_isle.gif --> South island electorates
auckland.gif --> Auckland electorates"

Ross Stewart (WWG IT recruiters, Akld, NZ) writes:
"For interest, we've put up (as best we can) details as to how seats will be allocated under MMP. Have a look at:
http://www.clearfield.co.nz/wilson_white/mmp.htm

Announcing the NZ Elections Home Page on the government web server:
http://www.govt.nz/
Material on the server includes:

It will carry the results of the 1996 election as these become available.The address of the elections home page is:
http://www.govt.nz/elections

The Justice System
There is a four-level hearings and appeals system:

The Justice System
Top level Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (London)
Court of Appeal (Wellington)
High Court (in all cities)
Bottom level District Courts (most towns)

There is also the Small Claims Court which handles smaller personal disputes.

Civil and criminal cases start in the District or High Court, depending on their seriousness and appeals go up the chain. Certain rare cases can start in the Court of Appeal. District and High Court judges sit alone or with juries. The Court of Appeal (and on certain rare occasions the High Court) consists of three or five judges sitting "en banc". The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council consists mainly of British Law Lords with New Zealand judges also sitting in New Zealand cases; in theory its decisions merely "opinions" for the benefit of the monarch as the fount of all justice, but in practice its rulings have the force of ultimate appeal.

All judges are appointed by the government - High Court judges are nominated by the Law Society, but District Court judges apply for the job like any other. Various special-purpose courts (Industrial Court, Maori Land Court, Family Court, etc.) exist and have the same status as either a District Court or the High Court.

For the NZ Statutes:
http://io.kete.co.nz/gpprint/gptop.htm

Organisation Membership
New Zealand is a member of the following organsations: