New Zealand National Party

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{{Infobox New Zealand Political Party ||name_english = New Zealand National Party |name_maori = |party_logo = ] |party_wikicolourid = NZNP |leader = [John Key |president = [Judy Kirk |deputy = [Bill English |mps = 48 |foundation = 13 May-[14 May [ |ideology = [Liberal Conservatism |international = [International Democrat Union |colours = Blue |headquarters = Willbank House, Willis Street[Wellington |website =http://www.national.org.nz www.national.org.nz -->The New Zealand National Party ("National" or "the Nats") as of 2006 forms the second-largest (in terms of parliamentary seats) political party represented in the New Zealand Parliament, and thus functions as the core of the parliamentary Opposition. "National" has become the largest (in terms of membership) Right-wing politics conservatism political party in New Zealand.

Policies The National Party as of 2007 advocates policies of reducing taxes, reducing social welfare payments, promoting free trade, restoring or maintaining New Zealand's traditional (Western) defence and security alliances and promoting one standard of citizenship for all New Zealanders ("One law for all"). The party's policy-documents contain commitments to doubling New Zealand's economic growth, to giving welfare payments only to "those in genuine need" and to "speedy, full and final settlements to historic Waitangi Treaty of Waitangi claims".

Support Starting historically as a balanced urban/rural movement, National has seemed to appeal more consistently to country voters. At the New Zealand general election, 2005, the Party narrowly won more votes than the New Zealand Labour Party in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, and in the northern cities of Hamilton, New Zealand and Tauranga. It also won almost all of the rural and provincial electoral seats. However, the rival Labour Party won considerably more votes in the cities of Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Organisation National features both regional and electorate-level organisational structures. In light of the New Zealand general election, 2002, a review of the party organisation resulted in decisions to weaken the regional structure and to implement a more centralised structure. The Party President (as of 2006 Judy Kirk) heads the administration outside of National's caucus.

Historically, the youth wing, the New Zealand Young Nationals, commonly known as the "Young Nats", has provided much political impetus as a ginger group: historically it gained a reputation as "the" social organisation in rural New Zealand and in some urban circles.

A group called the Bluegreens exists within National and advises on environmental policy.

History Formation The National Party officially formed in May 1936, but its roots considerably pre-date that period. The party came about as the result of a merger between the United Party of New Zealand (known as the New Zealand Liberal Party until 1927, except for a short period between 1925 and 1927 when it used the name "National Party") and the New Zealand Reform Party. The United Party gained its main support from the cities, and drew upon businesses for money and upon middle class electors for votes, while the Reform Party had a rural base and received substantial support from farmers, who then formed a substantial proportion of the population.

Historically, the Liberal and Reform parties had competed against each other, but from 1931 until 1935 a coalition between the United and Reform parties held power in New Zealand. The coalition went into the New Zealand general election 1935 under the title of the "National Political Federation", a name adopted to indicate that the grouping intended to represent New Zealanders from all backgrounds (in contrast to the previous situation, where United served city-dwellers and Reform served farmers). However, because of the effects of the Great Depression and a perception that the existing coalition government had handled the situation poorly, the National Political Federation lost heavily in 1935 to the New Zealand Labour Party, the rise of which had originally prompted the alliance.

A new party, called the New Zealand National Party, formed at a meeting held in Wellington, New Zealand on May 13 and May 14, 1936. Erstwhile members of the United and Reform parties made up the bulk of the new party. George William Forbes, Prime Minister from 1930 until 1935 and United Party Leader, opened the conference; he served as Leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National Party (largely as a stop-gap measure pending the election of a new leader) from May until November, when the party elected Adam Hamilton as its leader. Hamilton led the Party into its first election in 1938. He got the top job primarily due to a compromise between George William Forbes (former leader of United) and Gordon Coates (former leader of Reform), neither of whom wished to serve under the other. Hamilton, however, failed to counter Labour's popular Prime Minister of New Zealand, Michael Joseph Savage effectively. This, along with perceptions that he remained too much under the control of Coates and that he lacked real support from his party colleagues, saw Hamilton fail to prevent Labour's re-election in New Zealand general election 1938.

In 1940 Sidney Holland replaced Hamilton. The New Zealand general election 1943 saw Labour's majority reduced, but it remained in power (sociology). In the New Zealand general election 1946, National also failed to unseat Labour. However, in the New Zealand general election 1949, thirteen years after the party's foundation, National finally won power, and Holland became Prime Minister.

The First National Government In 1949 National had campaigned on "the private ownership of production, distribution and exchange". Once in power the new Holland Government proved decidedly administratively conservative, retaining, for instance, the welfare state set up by the previous Labour Government; though National gained, and has largely kept, a reputation for showing more favour to farmers and to business than did the Labour Party.

In 1951 the 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute broke out, lasting 151 days. The National government stepped into the conflict, acting in opposition to the maritime trade unions. Holland also used this opportunity to call the 1951 New Zealand general election 1951. Campaigning on an Anti-communism platform and exploiting the Labour Opposition's apparent indecisiveness, National returned with an increased majority, gaining 54 parliamentary seats out of 80.

In the New Zealand general election 1954, National again won, though losing some of its seats, and Holland became Prime Minister for a third term. Towards the end of his third term, however, Holland became increasingly ill, and stepped down from the leadership shortly before the general election in 1957. Keith Holyoake, the party's long-standing deputy leader, took Holland's place. Holyoake, however, had insufficient time to establish himself in then public mind as Prime Minister, and lost in the New Zealand general election 1957 to Labour, then under Walter Nash.

Second National Government Nash's government proved very unpopular. Labour quickly acquired a reputation for poor economic management, and much of the public saw its 1958 Budget, known since as the "Black Budget", as miserly and puritanical. After only one term in office, Labour suffered defeat at the hands of Holyoake in the New Zealand general election 1960.

Holyoake's government lasted twelve years, the Party gaining re-election three times (in New Zealand general election 1963, New Zealand general election 1966, and New Zealand general election 1969). However, this period also saw the rise of Social Credit Party (New Zealand), which broke the National/Labour duopoly in parliament, winning former National seats from 1966. Holyoake retired from the Prime Ministership and from the Party leadership at the beginning of 1972, and his deputy, Jack Marshall, replaced him.

Marshall suffered the same fate as Holyoake. Having succeeded an experienced leader in an election-year, he failed to establish himself in time. Marshall had an added disadvantage; he had to compete against the much more popular and charismatic Norman Kirk, then leader of the Labour Party, and lost the ensuing New Zealand general election 1972.

Third National Government image:Robert Muldoon 1977.jpgWithin two years the Party removed Marshall as its parliamentary leader and replaced him with Robert Muldoon, who had previously served as Minister of Finance (New Zealand). An intense contest between Kirk and Muldoon followed. In a stroke of luck for Muldoon, Kirk became ill and died in office (1974); his successor, Wallace Rowling, proved no match for Muldoon, and in the New Zealand general election 1975, National under Muldoon returned comfortably to power.

The Muldoon administration, which favoured economic interventionism economic policies, arouses mixed opinions amongst the majority free market adherents of the modern National. Bill Birch's "Think Big" initiatives, designed to invest public money in major projects, stand in contrast to the Party's as of 2007 views. Muldoon's interventionist economics, increasingly unpopular with both the public and the Party, caused an attempted leadership change in 1980. Led by ministers Derek Quigley, Jim McLay, and James Bolger, the challenge (dubbed the "colonels' coup") against Muldoon aimed to replace him with Brian Talboys, his deputy. However, the plan collapsed as the result of Talboys' unwillingness, and Muldoon kept his position.

Under Muldoon, National won elections in New Zealand general election 1978 and New Zealand general election 1981. However, public dissatisfaction with Government policies grew, and Muldoon's controlling and belligerent style of leadership became less and less appealing. In the 1981 election, National gained fewer votes than the Labour opposition, but could command a small majority in Parliament because of the then-used First Past the Post electoral system.

Dissent within the National Party continued to grow, however. Rebel National MPs Marilyn Waring and Mike Minogue caused particular concern to the leadership, threatening National's thin majority in parliament. When, in 1984, Marilyn Waring refused to support Muldoon's policies on visits by nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships, Muldoon called a snap New Zealand general election 1984. Muldoon made the television announcement of this election while visibly drunkenness, and some believe that he later regretted the decision to "go to the country". National resoundingly lost the election to Labour under David Lange.

Fourth National Government Shortly after this loss, the Party removed Muldoon from the leadership. Jim McLay, who had replaced Brian Talboys as deputy leader shortly before the election, became the new leader. McLay, however, failed to restore the party's fortunes, partly because a bitter Muldoon undermined McLay's position. In 1986 Jim Bolger took over the leadership.

In the New Zealand general election 1990 National defeated Labour in an electoral landslide and formed a new government under Bolger. However, the Party lost support when it continued the economic reforms which had damaged the previous Labour government — these policies, started by Labour Party Finance Minister Roger Douglas and popularly known as Rogernomics, centred on the privatization of state assets and on the removal of tariffs and subsidy. These policies alienated traditional Labour supporters, who saw them as a betrayal of the party's left-wing character, but did not entirely appease the right-wing National party either. Many more conservative National supporters preferred Muldoon's more authoritarian and interventionist policies over the free-market liberalism promoted by Douglas. However, the new National Party Finance Minister, Ruth Richardson, strongly supported Rogernomics, actually believing that Douglas had not gone far enough. (See Ruthanasia.) Her policies encouraged two National MPs to leave the National Party and form the New Zealand Liberal Party (1992). Richardson's views also met with considerable opposition within the National Party Parliamentary Caucus and caused damage to the party's membership base.

Nevertheless, National retained office (albeit barely) in 1993, due partly to a strongly recovering economy. At the same time as the New Zealand general election 1993, however, a referendum took place which established the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system for future use in New Zealand general elections. This would have a significant impact on New Zealand politics. Some National Party MPs defected to a new grouping, United New Zealand in mid-1995. And as a result of the new electoral mechanics, the New Zealand First Party, led by former National MP and former Cabinet minister Winston Peters, held the balance of power after the New Zealand general election 1996. After a prolonged period of negotiation, in which New Zealand First played National and Labour off against each other (both parties negotiated complete coalition agreements), New Zealand First entered into a coalition with National.

Under the coalition agreement, Peters became Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand and had the post of Treasurer especially invented for him. New Zealand First extracted a number of other concessions from National in exchange for its support. The influence of New Zealand First angered many National MPs, particularly Jenny Shipley. When, in 1997, Shipley toppled Bolger to become National's new leader, relations between National and its coalition partner deteriorated. After Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet in 1998, the New Zealand First party split into two groups - half the MPs followed Peters out of the coalition, but the remainder broke away, establishing themselves as independents or as members of new parties. From the latter group National gained enough support to continue in government. The visibly damaged National Government managed to survive the parliamentary term, but lost the New Zealand general election 1999 to Labour's Helen Clark and the Alliance (New Zealand political party)'s Jim Anderton, who formed a coalition government.

The contemporary Party Shipley continued to lead the National Party until 2001, when Bill English replaced her. English, however, proved unable to gain traction against Clark, and National suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat in the New Zealand general election 2002, gaining only 27 of 120 seats. Many hoped that English would succeed in rebuilding the party, given time, but a year later polling showed the party performing only slightly better than in the election. In October 2003 English gave way as leader to Don Brash, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand who had joined the National Parliamentary caucus in the 2002 election.

Under Dr Brash, the National Party's overall popularity with voters improved markedly. Mostly, however, the party achieved this by "reclaiming" support from electors who voted for other Centre-Right parties in 2002. National's campaigning on race relations, amid claims of preferential treatment of Māori, and amid their staunch opposition to Labour Party policy during the New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy, generated considerable publicity and much controversy. Strong campaigning on a tax-cuts theme in the lead-up to the New Zealand general election 2005, together with a consolidation of centre-right support, may have contributed to the National Party's winning 48 out of 121 seats in Parliament. National, however, remained the second-largest party in Parliament (marginally behind Labour, which gained 50 seats), and had fewer options for forming a coalition government. With the formation of a new Labour-dominated Government, National remained the major Opposition party.

After the 2005 election defeat Don Brash's leadership of National came under scrutiny from the media and political watchers speculated on the prospect of a leadership challenge before the next New Zealand general election, 2008. Don Brash resigned on November 23 2006, immediately before the release of a Nicky Hager book containing allegedly damaging revelations obtained from private emails. John Key became the leader of the National caucus on 27 November 2006. Key has attempted to create a more "centrist" image, discussing issues such as child poverty.

Parliamentary leaders {|border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" width=75%|-!Leader!Term!Leader of the Opposition!Prime Minister

|-| George William Forbes || 1936 || 1936 |||-| Adam Hamilton ] || 1940 - 1957 || 1940 - 1949 || 1949 - 1957|-| Keith Holyoake ] || 1972 - 1974 || 1972 - 1974 || 1972|-| Robert Muldoon ] || 1984 - 1986 || 1984 - 1986 |||-| James Bolger || 1986 - 1997 || 1986 - 1990 || 1990 - 1997|-| Jenny Shipley ] || 2001 - 2003 || 2001 - 2003 |||-| Don Brash ] || 2006 - present || 2006 - present |||}

Of these leaders, seven have served as Prime Minister. Five have not: Hamilton, McLay, English, Brash and Key. Forbes served as Prime Minister from 1930 to 1935, prior to the formation of New Zealand National Party.

Party Presidents {|border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" width=75%|-!Name!Term

|-| Sir George Wilson || 1936|-| Colonel Claude H. Weston || 1936 – 1940|-| Alex Gordon || 1940 - 1944|-| Sir Wilfred Sim || 1944 - 1951|-| Sir Alex McKenzie || 1951 - 1962|-| John S. Meadowcroft || 1962 - 1966|-| Edward D. Holt || 1966 - 1973|-| Sir George Chapman || 1973 - 1982|-| Sue Wood ] || 1994|-| John Slater || 1994 - 1998|-| Geoff Thompson || 1998 - 2001|-| Michelle Boag || 2001 - 2002|-| Judy Kirk || 2002 - present|}

See also

Political parties in New Zealand
Governments of New Zealand
New Zealand Parliamentary Caucuses and MPs' responsibilities#National Party's current parliamentary caucus

External links

National Party of New Zealand
Bluegreens

Political parties in New Zealand
Governments of New Zealand
New Zealand Parliamentary Caucuses and MPs' responsibilities#National Party's current parliamentary caucus

External links

National Party of New Zealand
Bluegreens

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