New Zealand House of Representatives

Constitutional function

The House of Representatives takes the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as its model. The New Zealand Parliament is based on the Westminster system (that is, the model of the Parliament of the United Kingdom). As a democratic institution, the primary role of the House of Representatives is to provide representation for the people and to pass legislation on behalf of the people (see below).

The executive branch of the New Zealand government (the cabinet) draws its membership exclusively from the House of Representatives. Although it does not elect the Prime Minister, the position of the parties in the House of Representatives is of overriding importance. By convention, a prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Representatives. Thus, whenever the office of prime minister falls vacant, the governor-general appoints the person most likely to command the support of the House—normally the leader of the largest party. This support is immediately tested through a motion of confidence.

The current government is a minority government consisting of the National Party with agreements of confidence and supply from the ACT Party, United Future, and the Māori Party; the current Prime Minister is Bill English.

Members of Parliament

The House of Representatives normally consists of 120 members, known as "Members of Parliament" (MPs). They were known as "Members of the House of Representatives" (MHRs) until the passing of the Parliamentary and Executive Titles Act 1907 when New Zealand became a dominion, and prior to that as "Members of the General Assembly" (MGAs).

The Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives has overall charge of the administration of the House, and presides over sittings. The Leader of the House is an MP appointed by the Prime Minister to arrange government business and the legislative programme of Parliament, while the Leader of the Opposition is the MP who leads the largest opposition party.

Seating in the debating chamber is arranged in a horseshoe pattern. The Speaker of the House sits in a raised chair at the open end of the "horseshoe", giving them a clear view of all MPs. Following the example of the British House of Commons, members of Government are seated on the right hand of the Speaker and members of the Opposition sit opposite. MPs are assigned seating on the basis of the seniority in a party caucus. For example, the prime minister sits on the front row, in the fourth seat along from the Speaker.

Current Parliament

The 51st New Zealand Parliament is the current sitting of the House. Its membership was elected at the 2014 general election and, so far, one subsequent by-election. It consists of 121 MPs; the number of geographical electorates was increased from 70 at the previous election, to account for New Zealand's increasing population.

Based on British traditions, the longest continuously serving MP in the house holds the unofficial title "Father (or Mother) of the House". The current Father of the House in the is Peter Dunne, the leader of the United Future party, having served continuously since the 1984 general election.

The following members of parliament who were first elected more than 40 years ago are still alive:

Number of members

The House started with 37 members in 1854, with numbers progressively increasing to 95 by 1882, before being reduced to 74 in 1891. Numbers slowly increased again to 99 by 1993. In 1996 numbers increased to at least 120 with the introduction of MMP elections (i.e. 120 plus any overhang seats; there has been at least one overhang seat in four of the seven MMP elections held since 1996). The year in which each change in the number of members took effect is shown in the following table.

Elections

Members of Parliament are directly elected to three-year terms, subject to calls for early elections. All New Zealand citizens 18 years or older may vote in general elections, which are conducted by secret ballot. New Zealand was the first self-governing territory to enfranchise women, starting from the 1893 election.

Since the 1996 election, a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) has been used. Under the MMP system each person has two votes; one is for electoral seats (including some reserved for Māori), and the other is for a party. Since the 2014 election, there have been 71 electorate seats (which includes 7 Māori electorates), and the remaining 49 seats are assigned so that representation in parliament reflects the party vote, although a party has to win one electoral seat or 5 percent of the total party vote before it is eligible for these seats.

Last election results

Note

Passage of legislation

The New Zealand Parliament's model for passing Acts of Parliament is similar (but not identical) to that of other Westminster system governments.

Laws are initially proposed to the House of Representatives as bills. They become Acts after being approved three times by House votes and then receiving the Royal Assent from the Governor-General. The majority of bills are promulgated by the government of the day (that is, the party or parties that have a majority in the House). It is rare for government bills to be defeated, indeed the first to be defeated in the twentieth century was in 1998, when the Local Government Amendment Bill (No 5) was defeated on its second reading. It is also possible for individual MPs to promote their own bills, called member's bills — these are usually put forward by opposition parties, or by MPs who wish to deal with a matter that parties do not take positions on. Local government and private individuals (for $2000 and only affecting themselves) may also bring forward legislation.

Proxy voting is allowed, in which members may designate a party or another member to vote on their behalf. An excuse is required.

First Reading

The first stage of the process is the First Reading. The MP introducing the bill (often a minister) will give a detailed speech on the bill as a whole. Debate on the bill generally lasts two hours, with 12 MPs making ten-minute speeches (although they can split their speaking time with another MP) on the bill's general principles. Speaking slots are allocated based on the size of each party, with different parties using different methods to distribute their slots among their MPs.

The MP introducing the bill will generally make a recommendation that the bill be considered by an appropriate Select Committee (see below). Sometimes, it will be recommended that a special Committee be formed, usually when the bill is particularly important or controversial. The House then votes as to whether the bill should be sent to the Committee for deliberation. It is not uncommon for a bill to be voted to the Select Committee stage even by parties which do not support it — since Select Committees can recommend amendments to bills, parties will often not make a final decision on whether to back a bill until the Second Reading.

Prior to the First Reading, the Attorney-General will check the bill is consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA). If the bill or part of the bill is inconsistent with NZBORA, they will present a report to the House of Representatives, known as a Section 7 report, highlighting the inconsistencies.

Select Committee stage

The Select Committee will scrutinise the bill, going over it in more detail than can be achieved by the whole membership of the House. The public can also make submissions to Select Committees, offering support, criticism, or merely comments. Written submissions from the public to the committee are normally due two months after the bill's first reading. Submitters can opt to also give an oral submission, which are heard by the committee in Wellington, and numbers permitting, Auckland and Christchurch. The Select Committee stage is seen as increasingly important today — in the past, the governing party generally dominated Select Committees, making the process something of a rubber stamp, but in the multi-party environment there is significant scope for real debate. Select Committees frequently recommend changes to bills, with prompts for change coming from the MPs on the Committee, officials who advise the Committee, and members of the public. When a majority of the Committee is satisfied with the bill, the Committee will report back to the House on it. Unless Parliament grants an extension, the time limit for Select Committee deliberations is six months or whatever deadline was set by the House when the bill was referred.

Second Reading

The Second Reading, like the first, generally consists of a two-hour debate in which MPs make ten-minute speeches. Again, speaking slots are allocated to parties based on their size. In theory, speeches should relate to the principles and objects of the bill, and also to the consideration and recommendations of the Select Committee and issues raised in public submissions. Parties will usually have made their final decision on a bill after the Select Committee stage, and will make their views clear during the Second Reading debates. At the conclusion of the Second Reading debate, the House votes on whether to accept any amendments recommended by the Select Committee by majority (unanimous amendments are not subjected to this extra hurdle).

The Government (usually through the Minister of Finance) has the power (given by the House's Standing Orders) to veto any bill (or amendment to a bill) that would have a major impact on the Government's budget and expenditure plans. This veto could be invoked at any stage of the process, but if applied to a bill as a whole would most likely be employed at the Second Reading stage. This has not occurred since the veto power was introduced in 1996, although many amendments have been vetoed at the Committee of the whole House stage (see below).

If a bill receives its Second Reading, it goes on to be considered by a Committee of the whole House.

Committee of the whole House

When a bill reaches the Committee of the whole House stage, the House resolves itself "Into Committee", that is, it forms a committee consisting of all MPs (as distinct from a Select Committee, which consists only of a few members). When the House is "In Committee", it is able to operate in a slightly less formal way than usual.

During the Committee of the whole House stage, a bill is debated in detail, usually "part by part" (a "part" is a grouping of clauses). MPs may make five-minute speeches on a particular part or provision of the bill and may propose further amendments, but theoretically should not make general speeches on the bill's overall goals or principles (that should have occurred at the Second Reading).

Sometimes a member may advertise his or her proposed amendments beforehand by having them printed on a "Supplementary Order Paper". This is common for amendments proposed by government Ministers. Some Supplementary Order Papers are very extensive, and, if agreed to, can result in major amendments to bills. On rare occasions, Supplementary Order Papers are referred to Select Committees for comment.

The extent to which a bill changes during this process varies. If the Select Committee that considered the bill did not have a government majority and made significant alterations, the Government may make significant "corrective" amendments. There is some criticism that bills may be amended to incorporate significant policy changes without the benefit of Select Committee scrutiny or public submissions, or even that such major changes can be made with little or no notice. However, under the MMP system when the Government is less likely to have an absolute majority, any amendments will usually need to be negotiated with other parties to obtain majority support.

The Opposition may also put forward wrecking amendments. These amendments are often just symbolic of their contrasting policy position, or simply intended to delay the passage of the bill through the sheer quantity of amendments for the Committee of the whole House to vote on.

Third Reading

The final Reading takes the same format as the First and Second Readings — a two-hour debate with MPs making ten-minute speeches. The speeches once again refer to the bill in general terms, and represent the final chance for debate. A final vote is taken. If a bill passes its third reading, it is passed on to the Governor-General, who may (assuming constitutional conventions are followed) give it Royal Assent as a matter of law. It then becomes law.

Select committees

Legislation is scrutinised by select committees. The committees can call for submissions from the public, thereby meaning that there is a degree of public consultation before a parliamentary bill proceeds into law. The strengthening of the committee system was in response to concerns that legislation was being forced through, without receiving due examination and revision. Each select committee has a chairperson and a deputy chairperson. MPs may be members of more than one select committee.

For the 51st Parliament, elected from the 2014 general election in September 2014, there were the following select committees in the House of Representatives, as follows:

Occasionally a special Select Committee will be created on a temporary basis. An example was the Select Committee established to study the foreshore and seabed bill.

Other functions

The House also has several other important functions.

New Zealand Youth Parliament

Accredited news organisations

The following list is of news agencies which are accredited members of the New Zealand House of Representatives press gallery.