It's Parliamentary, My Dear Watson!

Government

The Government of New Zealand is formed by a democratically-elected House of Representatives. The Government is lead by the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Queen of New Zealand and is considered the head of State. The Sovereign implements the legal power of the country and is represented by the Governor-General. The Government advises the Sovereign, who generally will follow the recommendations of the Government. This is known as a constitutional monarchy.

House of Representatives

The House of Representatives are members of Parliament, elected as the people’s representatives for up to a three year term. The usual number of members of Parliament is 120.

New Zealand’s House of Representatives is chosen using the mixed member proportional representation (MMP) voting structure. Each voting member has two votes — one for a local constituent of Parliament and another for a preferred political party. Political parties are represented in Parliament are in proportion to the allocation of votes each party won in the party vote in the general election.

The House of Representatives’ role is to provide the Government (Executive) from amongst its members,
make new laws and update old laws, represent the people, examine and approve Government taxes and spending, and hold the Government to account for its policies and actions.

Parliament

The Sovereign and the House of Representatives make up New Zealand’s Parliament. The Queen’s duties include opening and disbanding the Parliament and consenting to bills being passed through the House of Representatives. There is only one chamber of the Parliament. There is not a higher level such as a senate. This makes New Zealand’s Parliament unicameral.

New Zealand’s system is based on the notion that power is distributed across three branches of government — Parliament, Executive, and the Judiciary. Parliament makes the law. The Executive (Ministers of the Crown known as the Government) administers the law. The Judiciary interprets the law through the courts.

Laws

There is no lone written constitution or law that is superior to the laws passed by the Parliament. The system of governments rules are written in a number of Acts of Parliament and are issued by the authority of the Queen. New laws start as documents called bills. Bills are drafts of proposed new laws. Parliament considers several types of bill in formal stages. Once passed through all those stages, bills become new law and are called Acts of Parliament.

Responsible Government

Government formed by appointing Ministers who must first be elected to the Parliament is termed ‘Responsible government’. In New Zealand, the Government can remain in power only while it has the support or confidence of the majority of House of Representatives. A confidence vote (like passing the budget) can be a test of the voters support. Ministers are responsible to Parliament, both for the performance of the Government, and independently for the performance of their portfolios.