Political history of New Zealand
Similar to Britain, suffrage in New Zealand was initially limited to males over 21 who were British subjects and owned a certain amount of land, effectively excluding Māori from voting rights.
Some iwi cluster into larger groupings that are based on whakapapa (genealogical tradition) and known as waka (literally "canoes", with reference to the original migration voyages).
[1]: 38 New Zealand's connection to the British Empire began in 1830, initiated by Te Rauparaha, who sought the help of English Captain Stewart.
The movement sought to establish a monarch who could claim status similar to that of Queen Victoria, and thus allow Māori to deal with Pākehā (Europeans) on equal footing.
Violence over land ownership broke out first in the Wairau Valley in the South Island in June 1843, but rising tensions in Taranaki eventually led to the involvement of British military forces at Waitara in March 1860.
At the peak of hostilities in the 1860s, 18,000 British Army troops, supported by artillery, cavalry and local militia, battled about 4,000 Māori warriors[25] in what became a gross imbalance of manpower and weaponry.
[29][30][31] The termination of provincial governance in 1876 led New Zealand to adopt a political framework with a unitary and centralized structure, featuring a bicameral system.
'[1]: 90–91 The expansion of voting rights to all adult men in December 1879, combined with the implementation of the secret ballot in 1870, positioned New Zealand as an early adopter of democratic principles and led to a shift towards national issues in electoral debates.
After Vogel, as colonial treasurer, proposed borrowing the large sum of 10 million pounds, New Zealand developed a significant infrastructure of roads, railways and communication, all administered by central government.
The government formed following the founding of the Liberal Party after the victory of liberal-leaning members of Parliament, led by John Ballance, at the 1890 general election.
In 1905 a group of working-class politicians who were dissatisfied with the Liberal approach established the Independent Political Labour League,[35] which managed to win a seat in Parliament in the 1908 election.
[40] The movement split over supporting or opposing the radicals, and in the end, the conservative Reform Party government of William Massey suppressed the strike by force.
[1]: 115 These councils were meant to strike a balance between the indigenous communities' desires to retain their remaining land and settler demands for new territory.
[44] The adoption of the designation of Dominion would, "raise the status of New Zealand" stated Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward and "… have no other effect than that of doing the country good".
Later the same year, formal coalition talks took place between United, Reform, and Labour, with a "unity government" proposed to counter the Great Depression.
However, because of the effects of the depression and a perception that the existing coalition government had handled the situation poorly, the National Political Federation lost heavily in 1935 to the Labour Party, the rise of which had prompted the alliance.
Campaigning on an anti-Communist platform and exploiting the Labour Opposition's apparent indecisiveness, National returned with an increased majority, gaining 54 parliamentary seats out of 80.
Holyoake, however, had insufficient time to establish himself in the public mind as prime minister, and lost in the general election later that year to Labour, then led by Walter Nash.
[62] The resulting Second Labour Government of New Zealand from 1957 to 1960 only lasted for one term, however, largely owing to the unpopular tax increases of the 1958 Black Budget.
[65] Holyoake accepted the post-war political consensus; he believed in the necessity of a mixed economy, championing a Keynesian strategy of public investment to maintain demand.
To engage with crime, Muldoon built "unusually close relationships" with criminal gangs; he personally favoured Black Power, and he and his wife Thea met with them on several occasions.
In addition to the controversy of the Springbok tour, he began a smear campaign against Labour MP Colin Moyle for allegedly being gay, visited strip clubs, and once personally punched demonstrators at a protest.
The Labour government also enacted nuclear-free legislation, which led to the United States suspending its treaty obligations to New Zealand under the ANZUS alliance.
This programme, popularly known as "Ruthanasia" after Finance Minister Ruth Richardson, involved the reduction of social welfare benefits and the introduction of fees for healthcare and tertiary education.
The controversial Employment Contracts Act was repealed, replaced by an Employment Relations Act more friendly to unions and collective bargaining; a state-owned bank, Kiwibank, was created at the behest of the Alliance; a majority stake in the national airline, Air New Zealand, was purchased; and the public health sector was reorganised with the re-establishment of partly-elected district health boards.
This second term was notable largely for its social and constitutional legislation, with the government establishing a Supreme Court and ending appeals to the Privy Council, decriminalising prostitution, and providing for civil unions.
In response to New Zealand's rising debt, Finance Minister Bill English made budget deficit-reduction his main priority for the first term.
[93] After negotiations, New Zealand First chose to enter a minority coalition government with Labour, supported by the Green Party, with Ardern as prime minister.
In March 2019, in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, Ardern reacted by rapidly introducing strict gun laws, winning her wide recognition.
[97] Ardern moved the Labour Party further to the centre towards the October 2020 general election, promising to cut spending during the remainder of the COVID-19 recession.
