page_title: New Zealand Parliament
section_title: Modern independent legislature
hierarchical_section_title: New Zealand Parliament / History / Modern independent legislature
caption_attribution_description: English: Shows members of the House of Representatives ca 1900-1902. Back row, left to right: Walter Symes (Egmont), John O'Meara (Pahiatua), Alfred Levavasour Durrell Fraser (Napier), Jackson Palmer (Ohinemuri), Charles Hall (Waipawa), William Hughes Field (Otaki), Joseph H Witheford (Auckland) Wiremu Pere (Eastern Maori). Centre row: James Bennet (Tuapeka), Henare Kaihau (Western Maori), Thomas Young Duncan (Oamaru, Minister of Lands), Charles Houghton Mills (Wairau, Commissioner of Trade and Customs), Walter C F Carncross (Taieri), John Stevens (Manawatu). Front row: Alexander W Hogg (Masterton), E M Smith (Taranaki), James Carroll (Waiapu, Minister of Native Affairs), Sir Joseph George Ward (Awarua, Colonial Secretary) and William Hall-Jones (Timaru, Minister of Public Works).
context_page_description: The New Zealand Parliament is the legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The Queen is usually represented by her governor-general. Before 1951, there was an upper chamber, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The New Zealand Parliament was established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning legislatures in the world. It has met in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, since 1865.
  The House of Representatives normally consists of 120 members of Parliament, though sometimes more due to overhang seats. There are 71 MPs elected directly in electorate seats and the remainder are filled by list MPs based on each party's share of the total party vote. Māori were represented in Parliament from 1867, and in 1893 women gained the vote. Although elections can be called early, each three years Parliament is dissolved and goes up for reelection.
  Parliament is closely linked to the executive. The New Zealand Government comprises a prime minister and other ministers.
context_section_description: Originally the New Zealand Parliament remained subordinate to the British Parliament, the supreme legislative authority for the entire British Empire—although, in practice, Britain's role was minimal from the 1890s. The New Zealand Parliament received progressively more control over New Zealand affairs through the passage of Imperial (British) laws such as the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865, constitutional amendments, and an increasingly hands-off approach by the British government. Finally, in 1947, the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act gave Parliament full power over New Zealand law, and the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947, an Act of the British Parliament, allowed the New Zealand Parliament to regulate its own composition. In 1973 a further amendment, the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1973, expanded the territorial jurisdiction of New Zealand's parliament.
  In 1986 a new Constitution Act was passed, restating the few remaining provisions of the 1852 Act, consolidating the legislation establishing Parliament, and officially replacing the name "General Assembly" with "Parliament".
  Beginning in the 1890s, when the New Zealand Liberal Party was established as the first formal political party in New Zealand, political power shifted from the House of Representatives to elections, parties and leaders. The conservative Reform Party was formed in 1909, and the New Zealand Labour Party in 1916. The New Zealand National Party emerged in 1936 from the amalgamation of Reform and a remnant of the Liberals, the United Party. As of the 2017 general election, the current parties represented in the House of Representatives are National, Labour, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand First, and the ACT Party.
  Labour Member of Parliament Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan was the longest-serving female MP (1967–1996) and was also the first MP to give birth while serving in office. National MP Ruth Richardson was the first MP to bring her baby into the debating chamber while fellow National MP Katherine Rich was the first MP to feed her baby in the House. During the 1990s, a child care centre was established for the children of MPs and parliamentary staff. In November 2017, the Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard announced that Parliament would becoming more "baby friendly." Family friendly policies have included making an atrium near the parliamentary chamber accessible to MP's children, giving carers and spouses the same security clearances as MPs, opening the Parliamentary swimming pool to the families of MPs and staff, and updating the family room to have baby-feeding and changing facilities, and a proposed play area on Parliament's lawn.
caption: Chamber of the House of Representatives, c. 1900–1902
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