In this section, an introduction to, and general description of the New Zealand political system and constitutional structure is included. The knowledge about New Zealand central and local government structure is well represented and reflected in the e- government ontology structure illustrated in Chapter 5 of this thesis.
2.1.1 Constitution
The constitution of New Zealand, which follows the Westminster system, consists of a collection of statutes, referred to as acts of parliament, treaties, decisions of the courts and unwritten constitutional conventions. The constitution system is based on the principle that power is distributed across three government branches: Parliament, the Executive, and the Judiciary.
The notional source of the executive, judicial and legislative power in New Zealand rests with the head of state, the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor General represents the Queen in the Realm of New Zealand. This system is known as a constitutional monarchy.
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2.1.2 Government
The New Zealand Government is formed from a democratically elected House of Representatives. The Government advises the Head of State of New Zealand, who acts on the advice of the Government in all but the most exceptional circumstances. Based on the power distribution of New Zealand government system, Parliament makes the law. The Executive (Ministers of the Crown also known as the Government) administers the law. The Judiciary interprets the law through the courts.
New Zealand has no single written constitution or any form of law that is higher than laws passed in Parliament. The rules about how the New Zealand system of government works are contained in a number of Acts of Parliament, documents issued under the authority of the Queen, relevant English and United Kingdom Acts of Parliament, decisions of the court, and unwritten constitutional conventions. These Acts establish how people vote, the term of Parliament, the power of Parliament, the formation of the Government, and individual rights.
2.1.3 Electoral System
New Zealand adopted mixed member proportional (MMP) as its electoral system for the House of Representatives in 1994. The term of the Parliament is a maximum three- year term. New Zealand citizens, along with permanent residents who have been in New Zealand for a year and are over the age of 18, are required to enrol; however, it is not compulsory to vote. Every New Zealand citizen who is enrolled as an elector, and who is not disqualified from enrolling, is eligible to be a candidate for election as an MP.
The New Zealand electoral system is a two-tiered system. The lower tier determines the local electorate representative; the upper, over-riding tier determines the proportionality of the political parties in the House of Representative. Each voter has two votes, a party vote and an electorate vote. The party vote determines the upper tier of the electoral system; it decides how many seats (members of parliament) each party gets in parliament. Once the political parties have reached an adequate accommodation, and a government is able to be formed, it is expected that the parties will make appropriate public statements of their intentions. At this point the Governor- General will seek to ascertain where the confidence of the House lies, based on the parties' public statements, and confirm that a government can be formed.
The term electorate has a range of meanings within New Zealand. It can be used to describe the people who are entitled to vote in an electorate, define a voting district
14 where people are entitled to vote and in some situations it can refer to seats within the New Zealand parliament. The Representation Commission determines electorate boundaries, which must be redrawn after each five-yearly population census and after Māori Electoral Option data is received. The Commission decides the electorate boundaries using demographic, cultural and geographic criteria set in law. Under legislation, there are always 16 South Island general electorates. The population quota for each South Island general electorate is calculated by dividing the population of the South Island by 16. Because all electorates are required to be of similar size, the number of Māori electorates and North Island electorates are calculated by dividing the relevant electoral populations by the South Island quota. In the 2008 and 2011 elections the number of electorate general electorate and Maori seats was set at 63 and 7 respectively, of the remaining 120 seats, 60 were set aside for list seats.
2.1.4 Parliamentary system
New Zealand Government is formed from a democratically elected House of Representatives. As one of the three branches of the Government, Parliament makes laws and holds the Government to account for its policies, actions and spending.
2.1.4.1 Parliamentary entities
New Zealand’s Parliament consists of the Sovereign and the House of Representatives. The Sovereign’s role in Parliament includes opening and dissolving Parliament, and giving the Royal assent to bills passed in the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives consists of members of Parliament who are elected as the people’s representatives for a term of up to 3 years. The usual number of members of Parliament is 120, but there are electoral circumstances when this could vary upwards.
The Government is made up of members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Governor-General as Ministers of the Crown. The Government is then responsible for day-to-day administration of the country. The House must have ‘confidence’ in the Government for it to continue in office. This is known as ‘responsible government’.
After a bill is introduced into Parliament and has been given its first reading, and except when it is ‘passed under urgency’ it is then referred to a select committee. Select committees are small groups of MPs working on behalf of the House and examining bills in detail. There are up to 13 subject-area select committees, plus any number of
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ad hoc committees set up from time to time for particular purposes. Select committees often ask the public for submissions when they are considering a proposed law or inquiry.
In Parliament, people have specific responsibilities, for example:
Sovereign: The role of Sovereign is represented by the Governor-General.
Speaker of the House: The Speaker presides over the House of Representatives
and takes the responsibility of chairing the meetings of the House, making rulings on points of procedure, chairing three select committees, acting as landlord for Parliament’s buildings and representing the House to other Parliaments and organizations.
Deputy and Assistant Speaker: The Deputy and Assistant Speaker are both
appointed by the House from amongst its members. The Deputy Speaker may perform the Speaker’s role when the Speaker is absent.
Prime Minister: The Prime Minister, as leader of the Government, is responsible for accounting for its activity by answering questions during question time, delivering the annual Prime Minister’s statement and leading the Government’s contribution in major debates.
Ministers: The ministers are appointed by the Governor-General based on the
advice given by the Prime Minister. Ministers of the Crown are members of the Executive Government and may also be part of Cabinet. Only members of the House of Representatives can become a Minister. The Ministers are responsible for introducing bills to the House related to their portfolios, and leading debate on those bills. They are also required to account for their portfolios by replying to questions during question time.
Leader of the House: This person manages Government business in the House.
Leader of the Opposition: He is the members who leads the largest political party that is not part of the Government. The role of the Leader of the Opposition is to be the leader of the ‘government-in-waiting’ and to lead opposition responses in major debates.
Whips: They are the members of Parliament who are organisers and
administrators of the members in each of the political parties in the House. The whips take the responsibility of preparing lists of members from their party to speak in debates, making sure that members of their party are in the House when needed, negotiating with other whips on House business, and casting votes on behalf of their parties during a party vote.
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2.1.4.2 Executive authorities
New Zealand Cabinet is central to New Zealand government system, it is established by convention and it is an informal body in legal terms. Those with statutory authority to act exercise the legal powers of the executive, including the Governor-General, the Executive Council, and individual Ministers:
Cabinet: The Cabinet is the central decision-making body of executive
government and it provides a collective platform for Ministers to decide significant government issues. The Prime Minister and Ministers of the Crown serve as members of the Cabinet.
Executive Council: It is the part of the executive branch of government that
carries out formal acts of government; it is the highest formal instrument of government. The Executive Council is the body, which legally serves the functions of the Cabinet. By convention, the Executive Council includes all Ministers of the Crown, whether those Ministers are inside or outside Cabinet; the Governor-General presides over, but is not a member of it.
There are currently twenty members in the Cabinet. In additional to a Minister’s portfolio responsibilities, a minister may have additional delegated responsibilities. A full list of the Cabinet members can be found from the New Zealand Cabinet Office website (Cabinet, 2007). An example of the range of responsibilities of three members of the Cabinet is shown in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1 List of 3 members in the Cabinet and their responsibilities (Cabinet, 2007)
Ministerial Portfolios Other responsibilities
Rt Hon John Key Prime Minister Minister of Tourism
Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services
Minster in Charge of the NZ Security Intelligence Service
Minister Responsible for the GCSB Hon Bill English
Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Finance Minister for Infrastructure Hon Gerry Brownlee
Minister for Economic Development Minister of Energy and Resources
Leader of the House
Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery
Associate Minister for the Rugby World Cup
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In the e-government ontology in this thesis, ministerial portfolios and other
responsibilities are found in the NZParliamentPosition class as displayed in
Figure 2-1
Figure 2-1 Parliamentary positions as represented in the e-government ontology