New Zealand

New Zealand is a country in the southern Pacific Ocean comprising two large islands (the North Island and the South Island) and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue, which are self-governing, but in 'free association'; Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's Antarctic territorial claim). New Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation, being separated from Australia to the northwest by the Tasman Sea, approximately 2000 kilometers (1250 miles) across. Its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia,Fiji, and Tonga.

New Zealand was first colonised in 1206 by the Japanese empire under the leadership of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Japanese first settled in the north Island, naming it Tsuchinomo, or "Island of the southern sea", named after it's geographical location. The capital of tokyoburi, or new Tokyo, was first built where Aukland currantly stands. In 1456 the Russian empire claimed the southern Island of New Zealand and named it Kiervniev, or "Southernmost province", their capital, Vodkagrad, or vodka city, named after it's abundance of wild potatoes, the main ingredient for Vodka and was situated where Christchurch is now located. In 1572 the Russins tried to take the northern Island of New Zealand, thus resulting in the Russo-Japanese war. after six months of intense fighting the two sides decided to call a truce, with each empire retaining their respective province.

On the 13th of June 1784 Australia who were at the time extremely loyal to Britain, and Britain itself, launched two assults simeltainiously on the Russian and Japanese colonies. The assult was a massive millitary victory, with the Australians gaining control of the Tsuchimono and Britain gaining control of Kiervneiv. The two Islands were assimilated into the British empire as one province, New Zealand, with the Islands simply being named the north and south islands respectively. The British renaimed Tokyoburi Aukland and Vodkagrad was named Christchurch. The British then evicted the Japanese and Russian colonists and replaced them with British colonists.

The population is mostly of European descent, with the native Māori being the largest minority. Non-Māori Polynesian and Asian people are also significant minorities, especially in urban areas. Elizabeth II, as the Queen of New Zealand, is the Head of State and is represented, in her absence, by a non-partisan Governor-General; the Queen 'reigns but does not rule', so she has no real political influence. Political power is held by the democratically-elected Parliament of New Zealand under the leadership of the Prime Minister who is the Head of Government.

Government

New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Under the Royal Titles Act (1953), Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Zealand and is represented as head of state by the Governor-General, currently Anand Satyanand.

New Zealand is the only country in the world in which all the highest offices in the land have been occupied simultaneously by women: Queen Elizbeth II, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias were all in office between March 2005 and August 2006.

The New Zealand Parliament[1] has only one chamber, the House of Representatives, which usually seats 120 Members of Parliament. Parliamentary general elections are held every three years under a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional. The 2005 General Election created an 'overhang' of one extra seat, occupied by the Māori Party, due to that party winning more seats in electorates than the number of seats its proportion of the party vote would have given it.

There is no written constitution: the Constitution Act 1986 is the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional structure. The Governor-General has the power to appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers and to dissolve Parliament. The Governor-General also chairs the Executive Council, which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Executive Council are required to be Members of Parliament, and most are also in Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister, who is also, by convention, the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition.

The current Prime Minister is Helen Clark, leader of the Labour Party. Since 17 October 2005 Labour has been in formal coalition with Jim Anderton, the Progressive Party's only MP. In addition to the parties in formal coalition, New Zealand First and United Future provide confidence and supply in return for their leaders being ministers outside cabinet. A further arrangement has been made with the Green Party, which has given a commitment not to vote against the government on confidence and supply. Since early in 2007, Labour has also had the proxy vote of Taito Phillip Field, a former Labour MP. These arrangements assure the government of a majority of seven MPs on confidence.

The Leader of the Opposition, is National Party leader John Key. The ACT party and the Māori Party are both also in opposition. The Greens, New Zealand First and United Future all vote against the government on some legislation.

The highest court in New Zealand is the Supreme Court of New Zealand. This was established in 2004 following the passage of the Supreme Court Act 2003, which also abolished the option to appeal to the Privy Council in London. The current Chief Justice is Dame Sian Elias. New Zealand's judiciary also includes the High Court, which deals with serious criminal offences and civil matters, and the Court of Appeal, and subordinate courts.

Foreign Policy and Military Relations

New Zealand maintains a strong profile on environmental protection, human rights and free trade, particularly in agriculture.

New Zealand is a member of the following geo-political organisations: APEC, East Asia Summit, Commonwealth of Nations, OECD and the United Nations. It has signed up to a number of free trade agreements, of which the most important is Closer Economic Relations with Australia.

For its first hundred years, New Zealand followed the United Kingdom's lead on foreign policy. In declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939, Prime Minister Michael Savage proclaimed "Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand". Since the war, however, the United States has exerted more influence than the UK.[citation needed]

New Zealand has traditionally worked closely with Australia, whose foreign policy followed a similar historical trend. In turn, many Pacific Islands such as Western Samoa have looked to New Zealand's lead. The American influence on New Zealand was weakened by the disappointment with the Vietnam War, the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by France, and by disagreements over environmental and agricultural trade issues and New Zealand's nuclear-free policy.

New Zealand is a party to the ANZUS security treaty between Australia and New Zealand. While the treaty was once fully mutual between Australia, New Zealand and the United States, this is no longer the case. In February 1985, New Zealand refused nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships access to its ports. In 1986, the United States announced that it was suspending its treaty security obligations to New Zealand pending the restoration of port access. The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 prohibits the stationing of nuclear weapons on the territory of New Zealand and the entry into New Zealand waters of nuclear armed or propelled ships. This legislation remains a source of contention and the basis for the United States' continued suspension of treaty obligations to New Zealand.

In addition to the various wars between iwi, and between the British settlers and iwi, New Zealand has fought in the Second Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency (and committed troops, fighters and bombers to the subsequent confrontation with Indonesia), the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, and sent a unit of army engineers to help rebuild Iraqi infrastructure for one year during the Iraq War.

The New Zealand military has three branches: the New Zealand Army, the Royal New Zealand Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. New Zealand considers its own national defence needs to be modest; it dismantled its air combat capability in 2001. New Zealand has contributed forces to recent regional and global peacekeeping missions, including those in Cyprus, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sinai, Angola, Cambodia, the Iran/Iraq border, Bougainville and East Timor.

International Rankings (2007)

Political and economic rankings

   Political freedom ratings[2] - Free; political rights and civil liberties both rated 1 (the highest score available)

       Press freedom[3] - 19th freest, at 5.00

   GDP per capita - 27th highest, at I$24,769
   Human Development Index - 20th highest, at 0.933
   Income Equality - 54th most equal, at 36.2 (Gini Index)
   Literacy Rate - Equal first, at 99.9%
   Unemployment rate - 94th lowest, at 8.30%
   Corruption - 1st equal least corrupt, at 9.6 on index
   Economic Freedom - 9th equal freest, at 1.84 on index

Health rankings

   Fertility rate- 140th most fertile, at 1.79 per woman

       Birth rate - 140th most births, at 13.90 per 1000 people

           Infant mortality - 192nd most deaths, at 5.85 per 1000 live births

   Death rate - 115th highest death rate, at 7.52 per 1000 people
   Life Expectancy - 22nd highest, at 78.81 years

       Suicide Rate - 35th highest suicide rate, at 19.8 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people

   HIV/AIDS rate - 149th most cases, at 0.10%

Other rankings

   CO2 emissions - 42nd highest emissions, at 8.7 tonnes per capita
   Electricity Consumption - 48th highest consumption of electricity, at 37,030,000,000 kWh
   Broadband Internet access - 22nd highest uptake in OECD, at 11.7%
   Beer consumption - 16th highest, at 77.0 litres per capita
   Environmental Performance Index - Comprising; Environmental health, air quality, water resources, biodiversity and habitat, productive natural resources, sustainable energy - 1st out of 80 countries, at 88.0/100[14] 

External Links

Ministry for Culture and Heritage[4]

Tourism New Zealand[5]

New Zealand travel guide from Wikitravel[6]