NationMaster - Encyclopedia: New Zealand First

New Zealand First functions as a political party in New Zealand. Commentators dispute the appropriate classification of the party on the traditional political spectrum, but most voters would probably associate it with its controversial campaigns against immigration and against the Treaty of Waitangi. Logo of the New Zealand First Party Usable under the fair dealing rule of New Zealand copyright law, comparable to the wikipedia fair use rule. ... Winston Raymond Peters (born April 11, 1945) is a New Zealand politician and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, outside cabinet. ... Wellington (Te Whanganui-a-Tara or Poneke in MÄori) is the capital of New Zealand, the countrys second largest urban area and the most populous national capital in Oceania. ... EugÃ¨ne Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People, symbolising French nationalism during the July Revolution. ... Conservatism is a political philosophy that usually favors traditional values and strong foreign defense. ... // Political scientists have developed concepts of different ideal types of political parties in order to better compare them with each other. ... A political spectrum is a way of visualizing different political positions. ... The Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (MÄori: Te Tiriti o Waitangi) was signed on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. ...

Winston Peters, the founder of the Party in 1993, continues to lead it. His authority in the party figures significantly, and many people do not believe that New Zealand First would survive without him. Winston Raymond Peters (born April 11, 1945) is a New Zealand politician and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, outside cabinet. ...

Policies

In the 2002 election campaign, New Zealand First focused on three primary policies: The 2002 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. ...

The Party espouses a mixture of economic policies. It opposes the privatisation of state assets (particularly to overseas buyers), which might align it with views generally found on the left of New Zealand politics. On the other hand, it favours reducing taxation (a policy typical of the New Zealand right) and tends to espouse quite conservative views on social issues. Rather than defining the party's precise position on the left-right spectrum, some commentators simply label NZ First as "populist" — in line with its emphasis on direct democracy and on popular referenda. The Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (MÄori: Te Tiriti o Waitangi) was signed on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of valuable goods and services. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or — especially in India — disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... Left-Right politics is the traditional terminology used to describe the two ideological poles of a political spectrum in a society, especially in a democracy. ... Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common persons interests are oppressed or hindered by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the state need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the... Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy,[1] comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate. ... Ballots of the Argentine plebiscite of 1984 on the border treaty with Chile A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ...

The Maori vote

The New Zealand First Party has a part-Maori leader, once held all the then available Maori seats, and continues to receive significant support from voters registered in Maori seats. But as a Party, New Zealand First does not support the retention of the Maori seats and has declared that it will not stand candidates in the Maori seats in the future. It did not stand candidates in the Maori seats in the 2002 General Election or in the 2005 General Election. Look up Leader in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... After the establishment of Westminster-style Parliamentary Government in New Zealand in 1852, the MÄori inhabitants had allotted to them from 1867 specific seats in the New Zealand Parliament. ... The 2002 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. ... Wikinews has news related to: Results of the 2005 New Zealand General Election The 2005 New Zealand general election took place on 17 September 2005 and determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. ...

History

New Zealand First emerged as a political grouping in 1993, shortly before the that year's general election. Peters, the MP for the seat of Tauranga and a former Minister of Maori Affairs, had left the National Party after disputes with its leadership, but Tauranga voters had re-elected him in a special by-election as an independent. 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The 1993 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Tauranga (population 90,906 — 2001 census) is the major city of the western Bay of Plenty on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. ... The New Zealand National Party (National or the Nats) currently forms the second-largest (in terms of seats) political party represented in the New Zealand Parliament, and thus functions as the core of the parliamentary Opposition. ... Look up Leadership in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Tauranga by-election was a by-election in the New Zealand electorate of Tauranga, a city in New Zealands North Island. ...

In the following general election Peters held onto Tauranga. Tau Henare, another New Zealand First candidate, won the Northern Maori seat, giving the party a total of two MPs. This did much to counter the perception of New Zealand First as merely a personality-driven vehicle for Peters. Tau Henare (29 September 1960 - ) is a New Zealand parliamentarian. ...

With the switch to the MMP electoral system for the 1996 elections, smaller parties could gain a share of seats proportional to their share of the vote. This enabled New Zealand First to win 13% of the vote and 17 seats, including all five Maori seats. New Zealand First's five Maori MPs — Henare (the party's deputy leader), Tuku Morgan, Rana Waitai, Tu Wyllie and Tuariki Delamere — became known as the "Tight Five". The election result put New Zealand First in a powerful position just three years after its formation. Neither of the two traditional major parties (National and Labour) had enough seats to govern alone, and only New Zealand First had enough seats to become a realistic coalition-partner for either. This placed the relatively new party in a position where it could effectively choose the next prime minister. The Additional Member System (AMS) is a voting system where some representatives are elected from geographic constituencies and others are elected under proportional representation from party lists. ... The 1996 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... After the establishment of Westminster-style Parliamentary Government in New Zealand in 1852, the MÄori inhabitants had allotted to them from 1867 specific seats in the New Zealand Parliament. ... Tukoroirangi (Tuku) Morgan (1958 - ) is a former New Zealand politician. ... Rana Waitai is a former New Zealand politician. ... Tutekawa Wyllie (24 October 1954 - ), generally called Tu Wyllie, is a former New Zealand politician. ... Tuariki John Delamere (09 December 1951 - ) is a former New Zealand politician. ... The Tight Five was a nickname given to the five Maori elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1996 from the centrist/nationalist New Zealand First party. ... The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. ... The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealands head of government and is the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand. ...

New Zealand First entered into negotiations with both major parties. Before the election, most people (including many New Zealand First voters) had expected Peters to enter into coalition with Labour. In fact, he harshly attacked his former National colleagues during the campaign, and appeared to promise that he would not even consider going into coalition with them. Many voters who cast their electorate ballot for New Zealand First candidates also gave their party vote to Labour.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links Pt_winstonpeters_ent-lead_200x283. ...

However, to the surprise of the electorate, which had apparently voted for New Zealand First to get rid of National, Peters decided to enter a coalition with National. The most common explanation for this decision involved National's willingness to accept New Zealand First's demands (and/or Labour's refusal to do so). However, Michael Laws (a former National Party MP who served as a New Zealand First campaign-manager) claims that Peters had secretly decided to go with National significantly before this time, and that he merely used negotiations with Labour to encourage more concessions from National. Michael Laws (born 1957) is a New Zealand politician, broadcaster and columnist. ...

Whatever the case, New Zealand First exacted a high price from incumbent Prime Minister Jim Bolger in return for allowing him to stay in power. Winston Peters would serve as Deputy Prime Minister, and would also hold the specially-created office of Treasurer (senior to the Minister of Finance). The National Party also made considerable concessions on policy. The Right Honourable James Brendan Jim Bolger, ONZ, (born 31 May 1935) was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. ... The Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand is second most senior officer in the Government of New Zealand, although this seniority does not necessarily translate into power. ... The Minister of Finance is a senior figure within the government of New Zealand. ...

Initially, New Zealand First had a relatively smooth coalition relationship with National. Despite early concerns about the ability of Peters to work with Bolger, who had sacked Peters from a former National cabinet, the two, who had signed off on a detailed coalition agreement, did not have major problems.

New Zealand First had graver concerns about the behaviour of some of its MPs, whom opponents accused of incompetence and extravagant spending. Many people came to the conclusion that the party's minor MPs had come into parliament merely to provide votes for Peters, and would not make any real contributions themselves. A particularly damaging scandal involved Morgan.

Gradually, however, the coalition tensions became more significant than problems of party discipline. This became increasingly the case after Transport Minister Jenny Shipley gained enough support within the National caucus to force Bolger's resignation and become Prime Minister (8 December 1997). The tensions between the two parties also rose as New Zealand First adopted a more aggressive approach to promoting its policies (including those that National would not implement). This new attitude probably fed off New Zealand First's poor performance in opinion polls, which (to Peters) indicated that the party's success rested on its confrontational style. Many commentators believe that Peters performs better in opposition than in Government. The Right Honourable Jennifer Mary Shipley nÃ©e Robson (born February 4, 1952), Prime Minister of New Zealand from December 1997 to December 1999, was New Zealands first female Prime Minister. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Parliamentary Opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. ...

On 14 August 1998, Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet. This occurred after an ongoing dispute about a relatively minor matter (the sale of the government's stake in Wellington International Airport). The issue itself appeared merely the outward manifestation of much deeper disagreement. August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Wellington International Airport (IATA: WLG, ICAO: NZWN) is an international airport located on the Rongotai isthmus, 7 km southeast of central Wellington, New Zealands capital city. ...

Peters immediately broke off the coalition with National. However, several other MPs, unwilling to follow Peters out of government, tried to replace Peters with Henare. This caucus-room coup failed, and most of these MPs joined Henare in forming a new party, Mauri Pacific, while others established themselves as independents. Many of these MPs had previously come under public scrutiny for their behaviour. Until 1999, however, they provided National with enough support to continue on without the rump New Zealand First. Mauri Pacific (literally meaning spirit of the Pacific) was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

In the 1999 elections the voters gave New Zealand First a severe mauling. Some voters had apparently not forgiven Peters for going into coalition with National after being led to believe that a vote for him would help get rid of National. The party gained only 4% of the vote, and would not have received any seats in Parliament had Peters not held onto his electorate seat of Tauranga. (Under New Zealand's MMP rules, a party must either win an electorate seat or 5% of the vote to qualify for representation.) Peters held his Tauranga seat by a mere 63 votes, and New Zealand First received (by proportionality) only five seats in total. The 1999 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 46th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ...

By the election of 2002, however, the party had rebuilt much of its support. This occurred largely due to Peters' three-point campaign against immigration, Treaty costs, and crime. The party won 10% of the vote - a considerable improvement on its previous performance (although still not as good as its performance in 1996), and New Zealand First won thirteen seats in parliament. Winston Peters' campaign phrase "can we fix it? yes we can" gained much media attention, as the same line appears in theme music for the children's television programme Bob The Builder. The 2002 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. ... Bob the Builder Bob the Builder is a childrens television character created by Keith Chapman. ...

It appears that New Zealand First had hoped to play in 2002 a similar role to the one it had in 1996, where it found itself able to give power to either Labour or National depending on which offered the best deal. However, National's vote had collapsed to the extent that it could not form a government even with New Zealand First's support, depriving the party of its negotiating advantage. In the end, however, this proved irrelevant, as Labour refused to consider an alliance with New Zealand First in any case. Instead, Labour relied on support from the newly-significant United Future Party. Peters appeared angry over this. Current United Future logo United Future New Zealand is a political party in the New Zealand parliament with three MPs -- one electorate MP (leader Peter Dunne) and two list MPs (see MMP for the difference). ...

After the 2002 election New Zealand First continued to promote its policies strongly. In light of National's decreased strength, New Zealand First attempted to gain more prominence in Opposition, frequently attacking the Labour Coalition government on a wide range of issues. Speculation has occurred on efforts to create a more united front linking New Zealand First, National, and ACT, but Peters has rejected this scenario, saying that the New Zealand voters will decide what alliances are necessary (even though New Zealand never votes directly on preferred coalitions). Unlike ACT, which pursues the role of the "natural" right-wing coalition partner to National, New Zealand First welcomes coalition with any major party, regardless of the political spectrum. ACT New Zealand is a free market liberal party in the New Zealand Parliament. ...

For a period in early 2004 New Zealand First experienced a brief decline in the polls after Don Brash became leader of the National Party, a change which hugely revived National's previously fallen fortunes. The votes that had apparently previously switched to New Zealand First from National seemed to return to support Brash, and many commentators predicted that New Zealand First would lose a number of its seats in the next election. By 2005 however the proportions had changed again, and as the campaign for the September 2005 election got under way, New Zealand First had again reached the 10% mark in political polling. Dr Donald Thomas Brash (born 24 September 1940), New Zealand politician, served as the Leader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the National Party, the countrys main opposition party from 28 October 2003 to 27 November 2006. ...

Pre-election polls put New Zealand First ahead of the other minor parties. Some thought it likely that in the event of a National minority, unless ACT's fortunes could dramatically improve; Brash would have to form a second coalition or seek a support agreement with New Zealand First to be able to form a Government. Peters announced (in his "Rotorua speech") that he would support the party that won the most seats, or at least abstain in no-confidence motions against it. However, he also said he would not support any government that included the Greens within the Cabinet. Rotorua is a city located on the southern shore of Lake Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. ... A motion of no confidence, also called a motion of non-confidence, a censure motion, a no-confidence motion, or simply a confidence motion, is a parliamentary motion traditionally put before a parliament by the opposition in the hope of defeating or embarrassing a government. ... Current Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand logo Wikinews has news related to: Greens Party refines Buy Kiwi Made scheme The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party in the New Zealand parliament. ...

In the 2005 elections, however, the smaller political parties (including New Zealand First) suffered a severe mauling. Though it remained the third-largest party in the house, New Zealand First took only 5.72 percent of the vote, a considerable loss from 2002, and just barely enough to to cross the MMP proportionality quota. In addition, Peters narrowly lost his previously safe constituency seat of Tauranga by 730 votes to National's Bob Clarkson, and became a list MP. Wikinews has news related to: Results of the 2005 New Zealand General Election The 2005 New Zealand general election took place on 17 September 2005 and determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. ... A safe seat is a seat in a legislature which is regarded as fully secured by a certain political party with very little chance of an election upset because of the nature of the electorate in the constituency concerned. ... This article or section needs to be wikified. ... A list MP is a Member of Parliament (MP) who is elected from a party list rather than from a geographical constituency. ...

New Zealand First currently has seven MPs, all elected on the party list: 2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Following the 2005 election, New Zealand First agreed to a supply and confidence agreement with the Labour Party (along with United Future) in return for policy concessions and the post of Foreign Minister (outside Cabinet) for Peters. Much of the New Zealand media criticised this move as a withdrawal from Peter's earlier position (outlined in his "Rotorua speech") that his party would sit on the crossbenches and thus stay out of government. Winston Raymond Peters (born April 11, 1945) is a New Zealand politician and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, outside cabinet. ... Peter Brown (born 1939) is a member of the New Zealand Parliament, and deputy leader of the New Zealand First party. ... For the American Congressman, see Brian Donnelly (Massachusetts). ... Major Ron Stanley Mark is a New Zealand politician. ... Doug Woolerton is a New Zealand politician. ... Barbara Stewart is a New Zealand politician. ... Pita Paraone is a New Zealand politician. ... Current United Future logo United Future New Zealand is a political party in the New Zealand parliament with eight MPs-- seven list MPs, and one electorate MP, leader Peter Dunne (see MMP for the difference). ... The Minister of Foreign Affairs is a major portfolio in the Cabinet of New Zealand. ... The New Zealand Cabinet functions as the policy and decision-making body of the New Zealand governments executive branch. ...

Soon after the 2005 election Peters launched a legal challenge against Clarkson. The case alleged that Clarkson had spent more than the legal limit allowed for campaign budgets during elections in New Zealand. This legal bid ultimately failed, with a majority of the judges in the case declaring that Clarkson had not overspent.

Office-holders

Winston Raymond Peters (born April 11, 1945) is a New Zealand politician and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, outside cabinet. ... Tau Henare (29 September 1960 - ) is a New Zealand parliamentarian. ... Peter Brown (born 1939) is a member of the New Zealand Parliament, and deputy leader of the New Zealand First party. ... Doug Woolerton is a New Zealand politician. ... Dail Jones is a New Zealand politician. ...

Contents

Policies

The Maori vote

History

Office-holders

See also

External link