52nd New Zealand Parliament

52nd Parliament of New Zealand
←51st Parliament 53rd Parliament→
Overview
Term 7 November 2017 –
Election New Zealand general election, 2017
Government Sixth Labour Government
House of Representatives
Members 120
Speaker of the House Rt Hon Trevor Mallard
Leader of the House Hon Chris Hipkins
Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern
Leader of the Opposition Hon Simon Bridges
––Rt Hon Bill English until 27 February 2018
Sovereign
Monarch HM Elizabeth II
Governor-General HE Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy

The 52nd New Zealand Parliament is the current meeting of the legislative branch of New Zealand's Parliament. It was elected at the 2017 general election. The 52nd Parliament consists of 120 members,[1] and is serving from its opening on 7 November 2017 until the next general election. Under section 17 of the Constitution Act 1986, Parliament expires three years "from the day fixed for the return of the writs issued for the last preceding general election of members of the House of Representatives, and no longer."[2] With the date for the return of writs for the general election set at 12 October 2017, the 52nd Parliament must be dissolved on or before 12 October 2020.

The Parliament was elected using a mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) voting system. Members of Parliament (MPs) represent 71 geographical electorates: 16 in the South Island, 48 in the North Island and 7 Māori electorates. The remaining members were elected from party lists using the Sainte-Laguë method to realise proportionality. The number of geographical electorates was increased by one at the 2014 election, to account for the North Island's higher population growth.[3]

2017 general election

The 2017 general election was held on Saturday, 23 September 2017. Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives, with 71 electorate members and 49 list members. Official results indicated that the National Party had won a plurality, winning 56 seats; down from 60 in 2014. The Labour Party won 46 seats, up from 32 at the last election. Their partner, the Green Party won 8 seats, down from 14. New Zealand First won 9 seats, down from 11. ACT won the electorate of Epsom, and enough party votes to avoid an overhang, but failed to win any more party votes to entitle it to more seats.[4] New Zealand First was left in the position of Kingmaker between National and the Labour/Green bloc. On 19 October, Winston Peters announced he was forming a coalition agreement with Labour, with the Greens in a confidence-and-supply agreement.[5][6] The Greens' support, plus the coalition, resulting in 63 seats to National's 56—enough to ensure that Ardern maintains the confidence of the House.

Major events

Legislation

On 31 October 2017, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the government would amend the Overseas Investment Act 2004 by Christmas to categorise existing residential properties as 'sensitive', to restrict its sale to citizens and permanent residents only.[16]

On 8 November 2017, Bill 1-1 extending paid parental leave to 22 weeks from 1 July 2018 and 26 weeks from 1 July 2020, was introduced in the name of Minister of Immigration Iain Lees-Galloway.

Ministry

The Sixth Labour Government began with the 52nd Parliament, following the announcement of a coalition deal between the Labour Party and New Zealand First, with the Green Party providing confidence and supply, thus giving the government 63 seats, opposite the main opposition party, National, with 56 seats. The government was formally sworn in on 26 October 2017 by Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy.

Jacinda Ardern, as Leader of the Labour Party, serves as Prime Minister. Winston Peters, as Leader of New Zealand First, serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Prime Minister Ardern appointed Grant Robertson as Minister of Finance, Ron Mark as Minister of Defence, Kelvin Davis as Minister of Corrections, David Parker as Attorney General, Andrew Little as Minister of Justice, Dr David Clark as Minister of Health, and Chris Hipkins as Minister of Education and Leader of the House.

For a period of six weeks beginning in June 2018, Winston Peters will serve as Acting Prime Minister of New Zealand, while Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern takes up maternity leave. Ardern will be only the second head of government to give birth while in office, after Benazir Bhutto, who gave birth while serving as Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Officeholders

The current officers of the 52nd Parliament are listed below:

Speaker

Other parliamentary officers

The following is a list of other parliamentary officers who are non-political:

Party leaders

Floor leaders

Whips

Shadow Cabinets

Members

The table below show the members of the 52nd Parliament based on the official results of the 2017 general election. Ministerial roles were officially announced on 25 October 2017.

Overview

This table shows the number of MPs in each party:

Affiliation Members[4]
At 2017 election Current
Labour 46 46
NZ First Coa 9 9
Green CS 8 8
Government total 63 63
National 56 55
ACT 1 1
Opposition total 57 56
Vacant 0 1
Total 120 119
Working Government majority 6 7

Notes

  • ^Coa New Zealand First announced a coalition agreement with the Labour Party on 19 October 2017.
  • ^CS The Green Party entered into confidence-and-supply agreement with the Labour Party on the same day as the coalition was announced.
  • The Working Government majority is calculated as all Government MPs less all other parties.

Members

Seating plan

The chamber is in a horseshoe-shape.

As of 7 November 2017 (start)

As of 27 June 2018 (current)

Committees

The 52nd Parliament has 12 select committees and 5 specialist committees. They are listed below, with their chairpersons:

Committee Chairperson Government–Opposition divide
Select committees
Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee Jonathan Young (National) 5–5
Education and Workforce Committee Sarah Dowie (National) 6–5
Environment Committee Deborah Russell (Labour) 5–4
Finance and Expenditure Committee Michael Wood (Labour) 7–6
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee Simon O'Connor (National) 4–4
Governance and Administration Committee Brett Hudson (National) 4–4
Health Committee Louisa Wall (Labour) 4–4
Justice Committee Raymond Huo (Labour) 4–4
Māori Affairs Committee Rino Tirikatene (Labour) 4–4
Primary Production Committee Hon David Bennett (National) 4–4
Social Services and Community Committee Gareth Hughes (Green Party) 5–4
Transport and Infrastructure Committee Darroch Ball (NZ First) 5–4
Specialist committees
Business Committee Rt Hon Trevor Mallard (Labour) 7–5
Officers of Parliament Committee Rt Hon Trevor Mallard (Labour) 4–2
Privileges Committee Hon David Parker (Labour) 5–5
Regulations Review Committee Hon Jacqui Dean (National) 3–3
Standing Orders Committee Rt Hon Trevor Mallard (Labour) TBD

Summary of changes during term

The following changes occurred in the 52nd Parliament:

# Electorate Incumbent Winner
Party Name Date vacated Reason Party Name Date elected Change
1. List National Bill English 13 March 2018 [18] Resigned National Maureen Pugh 20 March 2018 [19] List
2. List National Steven Joyce 2 April 2018 [20] Resigned National Nicola Willis 3 April 2018 List
3. Northcote National Jonathan Coleman 15 April 2018 [21] Resigned National Dan Bidois 9 June 2018 By-election

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Our system of government". Electoral Commission (New Zealand). Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Constitution Act 1986". Parliamentary Counsel Office. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "Reviewing electorate numbers and boundaries". Elections New Zealand. Archived from the original on 9 November 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  4. 1 2 "2017 General Election - Official Result". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  5. 1 2 Chapman, Grant (19 October 2017). "Full video: NZ First leader Winston Peters announces next Government". Newshub. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  6. 1 2 Hurley, Emma (19 October 2017). "An 'historic moment' for the Green Party – James Shaw". Newshub. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  7. ↑ Electoral Commission (12 October 2017). "2017 General Election Writ Returned". Scoop. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  8. ↑ "New government ministers revealed". Radio New Zealand. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  9. ↑ Hurley, Emma (26 October 2017). "As it happened: Jacinda Ardern sworn in as Prime Minister". Newshub. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  10. 1 2 "Public event – Opening of the 52nd Parliament". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  11. ↑ "Teary and emotional Bill English calls its quits - now what". Stuff. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  12. ↑ "National MP Jonathan Coleman resigns from politics". Newshub. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Grant Robertson's Budget 2018: At a glance - what you need to know". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  14. ↑ "Clare Curran resigns as minister, citing 'intolerable' pressure". Stuff. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  15. ↑ Hurley, Emma (20 September 2018). "Meka Whaitiri removed as Minister". Newshub. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  16. ↑ Hickey, Bernard; Sachdeva, Sam (31 October 2017). "Labour's first act is to ban foreign buyers". Newsroom. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  17. ↑ "Parliament's Serjeant-at-Arms". Parliament NZ. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  18. ↑ New Zealand Parliament. "Rt Hon Bill English". parliament.nz. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  19. ↑ New Zealand Parliament. "Maureen Pugh". parliament.nz. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  20. ↑ New Zealand Parliament. "Tuesday, 20 March 2018 - Volume 728 (Hansard)". parliament.nz. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  21. ↑ New Zealand Parliament. "Thursday, 29 March 2018 - Volume 728 (Hansard)". parliament.nz. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
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