The private press is varied and vigorous. The broadcast media are both privately and publicly held and express pluralistic views. Civil society is advanced and nongovernmental organizations, trade unions, and religious groups are outspoken. Religious freedom is respected. The authorities are responsive to complaints of rape and domestic violence, and a Domestic Violence Act came into effect in July 1997.
Trade unions are independent and engage in collective bargaining.
Contracts are now generally drawn up at the factory or even individual level, and wages and union membership rolls have fallen. In 1994, the International Labor Organization criticized a provision of the ECA prohibiting strikes designed to force an employer to sign on to a multicompany contract. The Maori minority and the tiny Pacific islander population face unofficial discrimination in employment and education. The 1983 Equal Employment Opportunities Policy, designed to bring more minorities into the public sector, has been only marginally successful. The Treaty of Waitangi, an agreement reached in the nineteenth century and codified in 1955, leases Maori land in perpetuity to the settlers.