While intended as a revising chamber, in practice, debates and votes typically simply replicated those in the lower house.

[5] With the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, the first Legislative Council was disestablished and a similar appointed body was established, effective from 1853.

[6] The Legislative Council was intended to act as a revising chamber, scrutinising and amending bills which had been passed by the House of Representatives.

As the power of the governor over New Zealand politics gradually decreased, it became the convention that appointments were made on the recommendation of the premier (later prime minister), essentially meaning that councillors were selected by the government of the day.

While many Liberals apparently favoured outright abolition, it offered minimal political benefit for a ruling government, and such a radical move would have unnecessarily provoked fears about the new administration.

Ballance had considerable difficulty in achieving his reform of the Council, with major clashes occurring between him and the Governor, the Earl of Onslow, who had approved the seven appointments.

In 1950, when the First National Government appointed several new members to vote the council out of existence, three women were included; Cora Louisa Burrell, Ethel Gould and Agnes Weston.

When responsible government had been granted at the beginning of the 2nd Parliament, the governor, Thomas Gore Browne, was given sufficient authority to make the Legislative Council elected, but no action was taken.

In 1914, a reform proposal to establish a 42 or 43 member council elected by proportional representation for six years was introduced by the Liberals, but postponed due to World War I.

But the 1914 Act "remained like a sword of Damocles suspended above the nominated upper house, available at will or whim to any succeeding government".

To assist its passage into law, Holland appointed twenty members (who were dubbed the "suicide squad") to vote for abolition, just as the Australian state of Queensland had done to abolish its upper house in 1922.

[24] In 1990, the National government of Jim Bolger proposed an elected Senate, an idea advanced partly as an alternative to New Zealand's electoral reform process.

[26][27] In addition, Peter Dunne, then also a Labour MP, argued that other political reforms in New Zealand such as the strengthening of the select committee system, and the introduction of proportional representation, provided adequate checks and balances, which would simply be duplicated by a second chamber.

[28] The Legislative Council Chamber remains the location of the speech from the throne—as following the British tradition, the sovereign (or a representative) does not enter the elected House.

The usher of the Black Rod summons the members of the House of Representatives to attend the Opening of Parliament in the Legislative Council Chamber, where a speech is read usually by the governor-general.