BRIEF SUMMARY OF NEW ZEALAND

Culture
New Zealand’s cultural influences are predominantly European and Māori. Immigrant groups have generally tended
to assimilate into the European lifestyle, although traditional customs are still followed by many Tongans, Samoans,
and other Pacific peoples. Māori culture suffered greatly in the years of colonization and into the 20th century, and
many Māori were torn between the pressure to assimilate and the desire to preserve their own culture. However,
since the 1950s there has been a cultural renaissance, with a determined effort to preserve and revive artistic and
social traditions. The culture of the Pākehā (the Māori term for those of European descent) has come to incorporate
many aspects of Māori culture. The biennial Te Matatini festival, first held in 1972, celebrates Māori culture,
especially the traditional dance and song performances known as kapa haka. The festival is held over several days,
each time in a different region of New Zealand, and culminates in the national kapa haka championship.

The state has moved progressively to assist and encourage the arts. Creative New Zealand, the national agency for
arts funding, gives annual grants in support of theatre, music, modern dance and ballet, opera, and literature. In
addition, New Zealand was one of the first countries to establish a fund to compensate writers for the loss of royalties
on books borrowed from libraries rather than purchased. The national orchestra is supported by the government
through the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The government also provides taxation and other incentives for
the motion-picture industry, and New Zealand-made films have received growing international recognition.

The Māori culture has seen a renaissance in wood carving and weaving and in the construction of carved and
decorated meeting houses (whare whakairo). Māori waiata (songs) and dances have become increasingly popular,
especially among the young. Māori meetings—whether hui (assemblies) or tangi (funeral gatherings)—are conducted
in traditional fashion, with ancient greeting ceremonies strictly observed. Waves of migrants have also brought
different cultures that are celebrated in a variety of ways—for example, in annual festivals such as the
Chinese Lantern Festival and Lunar New Year and the Indian festival Diwali.

New Zealand cuisine has also been influenced by the foods of immigrants and the expectations of international
tourists. It was originally a combination of traditional British dishes with local delicacies. Fresh seafood was popular
along the coasts; mutton, venison, and meat pies were common. Pavlova, a sweet meringue dish, was and remains
a popular dessert. Food, however, has become more imaginative and cosmopolitan, and there are many restaurants,
bistros, and cafés in the major cities and towns that present a range of classic and ethnic menus. A traditional Māori
feast of meat, seafood, and vegetables is steamed for hours in an earthen oven (hāngī).

New Zealand celebrates a number of national public holidays. Waitangi Day—February 6, the anniversary of the
signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840)—is considered the country’s national day. Commemorations are centred on
Waitangi but are held throughout the country. Public celebrations include Māori ceremonies as well as sporting
events, music, and parades. With the increasing attention paid to Māori history and culture, Waitangi Day has also
become an occasion for reflection on the historical effects of European settlement on the indigenous people. Another,
more sombre, public holiday is ANZAC Day—April 25, the day in 1915 when amphibious New Zealand and
Australian (ANZAC) forces landed at the Gallipoli Peninsula (Turkey) and began one of the iconic battles of World
War I. The holiday honours those who have served in New Zealand’s military forces, especially those killed in war.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF NEW ZEALAND
Society
New Zealand has a parliamentary form of government based on the British model. Legislative power is vested in the
single-chamber House of Representatives (Parliament), the members of which are elected for three-year terms.
The political party or coalition of parties that commands a majority in the House forms the government. Generally, the
leader of the governing party becomes the prime minister, who, with ministers responsible for different aspects of
government, forms a cabinet. The cabinet is the central organ of executive power. Most legislation is initiated in the
House on the basis of decisions made by the cabinet; Parliament must then pass it by a majority vote before it can
become law. The cabinet, however, has extensive regulatory powers that are subject to only limited parliamentary
review. Because cabinet ministers sit in the House and because party discipline is customarily strong, legislative and
executive authorities are effectively fused.
The British monarch is the formal head of state and is represented by a governor-general appointed by the monarch
(on the recommendation of the New Zealand government) to a five-year term. The governor-general has limited
authority, with the office retaining some residual powers to protect the constitution and to act in a situation
of constitutional crisis. For example, the governor-general can dissolve Parliament under certain circumstances.
The structure of the New Zealand government is relatively simple, but the country’s constitutional provisions are more
complex. Like that of Great Britain, New Zealand’s constitution is a mixture of statute and convention. Where the two
clash, convention has tended to prevail. The Constitution Act of 1986 simplified that by consolidating and augmenting
constitutional legislation dating from 1852.

The business of government is carried out by some 30 departments of varying size and importance. Most
departments correspond to a ministerial portfolio, department heads being responsible to their respective ministers
for the administration of their departments. Recruiting and promoting of civil servants is under the control of the State
Services Commission, which is independent of partisan politics. Heads of departments and their officials do not
change with a change of government, thus ensuring a continuity of administration.

As a check on possible administrative injustices, an office of parliamentary commissioner for investigations

There are also a certain number of non-civil-service appointees within the government. They fill positions in
government corporations—commercial ventures in which the government is the sole or major stockholder, such as
NZ On Air (the government’s broadcast funding agency) and Kiwibank (which provides commercial banking and
financial services)—and in a host of bodies with administrative or advisory functions. Political affiliations, as well as
expertise and experience, often figure in appointment decisions for those institutions.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF NEW ZEALAND
Politics
There is universal suffrage for those 18 years of age and older. In 1996 the country’s long-standing simple plurality
(“first past the post”) system was replaced with the mixed member proportional (MMP) method, in which each voter
has two votes, one for an electorate (district) candidate and one for a political party. A party’s representation in the
legislature is proportional to the number of party votes it receives. The new system also enlarged the Parliament to
120 seats—71 elected (including 7 reserved for Māori) from the electorates and 49 from party lists.

While the MMP system has given a boost to small parties, the New Zealand National Party and the New Zealand
Labour Party remain the country’s two major political players. They each have distinct foundations. National’s
traditional support base is in rural and affluent urban districts and among those involved in business and
management. Labour’s is in trade unions and the urban blue-collar workforce. Over time, however, both parties have
broadened their electoral bases. Labour has gained the support of some areas of the business sector and has
attracted more professionals, while the National Party has had some success among higher-paid workers in key
small-town and provincial districts. Increasingly, ideological differentiation between the two parties has become
complex, and intraparty differences in such areas as economic policy have often been greater than they have been
between parties.

MMP has meant that governments are usually coalitions of one of the main parties with one or more of the smaller
parties that hold seats in Parliament. In the early 21st century those included the Green Party, ACT New Zealand,
New Zealand First, and the Māori Party.

In 1893, after a multidecade campaign by woman suffragists, New Zealand became the first country in the world to
extend the vote to all its female citizens. It was not until 1919, however, that women could stand for election, and few
women were elected to Parliament before the 1980s. The women’s movement of the 1970s and ’80s, however, led
an increasing number of women to enter the mainstream political arena, and by the 21st century New Zealand had a
notably high rate of female representation in national office. The country’s first female prime minister, National Party
leader Jennifer Shipley, held office from 1997 to 1999. She was succeeded by Labour leader Helen Clark (1999–
2008). Another woman, Jacinda Ardern, of the Labour Party, became prime minister in 2017.
Participation in the military, called the New Zealand Defence Force, is voluntary, and individuals must be at least 17
years old to join. The country maintains a relatively small military force, with an army and a small naval fleet. Its
defense expenditure as a percentage of the GDP is well below the world average. The military is deployed overseas
mainly in peacekeeping forces. Law enforcement is the responsibility of the New Zealand Police, a cabinet-level
department largely independent (with respect to law enforcement) of executive authority.
New Zealand has one of the oldest social security systems in the world. Noncontributory old-age pensions paid for
from government revenues were introduced in 1898. Pensions for widows and miners followed soon after, and child
allowances were introduced in the 1920s. In 1938 the New Zealand government introduced what was then the most
extensive system of pensions and welfare in the world, which included free hospital treatment,
free pharmaceutical service, and heavily subsidized treatment by medical practitioners.

Since then the system has been eroded in some respects but greatly extended in others. Doctors’ fees, though still
subsidized by the state, have become relatively high. Many people invest in private medical insurance and seek
treatment in private hospitals instead of in public hospitals. There is still a universal pension system, called New
Zealand Superannuation, in which all citizens over age 65 receive an income that is based on the average annual
after-tax wage and adjusted annually for cost-of-living increases.