Everything about The New Zealand Labour Party totally explained
The
New Zealand Labour Party is a
New Zealand political party. It describes itself as
centre-left and socially
liberal, and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since
1935.
It is currently the dominant party in the country's ruling coalition, holding 50 of the 121 seats in the
New Zealand Parliament. Labour candidates also stand in many territorial local authorities and councils across New Zealand.
Its current leader is
Helen Clark, the
Prime Minister of New Zealand. Its deputy leader is
Michael Cullen.
History
The Labour Party was established in
1916, bringing together
socialist groups advocating
proportional representation and "the Recall" of
Members of Parliament, as well as the nationalisation of
production and of
exchange. Its origins lie in the British
working-class movement, heavily influenced by Australian radicalism and events such as the
Waihi miners' strike. It is the oldest political party in New Zealand.
Origins
The Labour Party was an amalgamation of a number of early groups, the oldest of which was founded in
1901. The process of unifying these diverse groups into a single party was difficult, with tensions between different factions running strong.
At the turn of the century, the radical side of New Zealand working class politics was represented by the
Socialist Party, founded in
1901. The more moderate leftists were generally supporters of the
Liberal Party. In
1905, a group of working class politicians who were dissatisfied with the Liberal approach established the
Independent Political Labour League, which managed to win a seat in Parliament. This established the basic dividing line in New Zealand's left-wing politics — the Socialists tended to be revolutionary and militant, while the moderates focused instead on progressive reform.
In
1910, the Independent Political Labour League was relaunched as an organisation called the
Labour Party, distinct from the modern party. Soon, however, the leaders of the new organisation decided additional effort was needed to promote left-wing cooperation, and organised a "Unity Conference". The Socialists refused to attend, but several independent labour activists agreed. The
United Labour Party was born.
Soon afterwards, the labour movement was hit by the
Waihi miners' strike, a major industrial disturbance prompted by radicals in the union movement. The movement was split between supporting and opposing the radicals, and in the end, the conservative government of
William Massey suppressed the strike by force. In the strike's aftermath, there was a major drive to end the divisions in the movement and establish a united front — another Unity Conference was called, and this time the Socialists attended. The resulting group was named the
Social Democratic Party.
Not all members of the United Labour Party accepted the new organisation, however, and some continued on under their own banner. Gradually, however, the differences between the Social Democrats and the ULP Remnant broke down, and in
1916, yet another gathering was held. This time, all major factions of the labour movement agreed to unite, establishing the modern Labour Party.
Early days
Almost immediately, the new Labour Party became involved in the acrimonious debate about
conscription, which arose during
World War I — the Labour Party strongly opposed conscription, and a number of its leaders were jailed for their stand against it. This loss of leadership threatened to seriously destabilise the party, but in the end, the party survived.
In its first real electoral test as a united party, the
1919 election, Labour won eight seats. This compared with 47 for the governing
Reform Party and 21 for the
Liberal Party.
Although Labour had split with its more militant faction, (who went on to form various socialist parties) it maintained what were at the time radical socialist policies. Labour's 'Usehold' policy on land was in essence the replacement of freehold tenure by a system of perpetual lease from the State, with all land transfer conducted through the State(the full nationalisation of farmland). This policy was unpopular with voters and was dropped by Labour, along with other more radical policies, throughout the 1920s.
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In the
1922 election, Labour more than doubled its number of seats, winning seventeen. In the
1925 election, it declined somewhat, but had the consolation of soon overtaking the Liberals as the second largest party. Harry Holland became the official
Leader of the Opposition on 16 June 1926, after the
Eden by-election on 15 April elected
Rex Mason (Labour) to replace
Christopher Parr (Reform) who had resigned. After the
1928 election, however, the party was left in an advantageous position — the Reform Party and the new
United Party (a revival of the Liberals) were tied on 27 seats each, and neither could govern without Labour support. Labour chose to back United, the party closest to its own views — this put an end to five terms of Reform Party government.
The rigours of the
Great Depression brought Labour considerable popularity, but also caused tension between Labour and the United Party. In
1931, United passed a number of economic measures which Labour deemed hostile to workers, and the agreement between the two parties collapsed. United then formed a coalition government with Reform, making Labour the Opposition. The coalition retained power in the
1931 election, but gradually, the public became highly dissatisfied with its failure to resolve the country's economic problems. In the
1935 election, the Labour Party won a massive victory, gaining 53 seats to the coalition's 19.
Several of the early Labour Party stalwarts were
Australian-born:
Harry Holland,
Michael Joseph Savage,
Bob Semple,
Paddy Webb, and later
Clarence Skinner,
Mabel Howard and
Hugh Watt.
First Labour Government
Michael Joseph Savage, leader of the Labour Party, became
Prime Minister on
6 December 1935, marking the beginning of Labour's first term in office. The new government quickly set about implementing a number of significant reforms, including a reorganisation of the
social welfare system and the creation of the
state housing scheme. Labour also pursued an alliance with the
Māori Ratana movement. Savage himself was highly popular with the working classes, and his portrait could be found on the walls of many houses around the country.
The opposition, meanwhile, attacked the Labour Party's more left-wing policies, and accused it of undermining free enterprise and hard work. The year after Labour's first win, the Reform Party and the United Party took their coalition to the next step, agreeing to merge with each other. The combined organisation was named the
National Party, and would be Labour's main rival in future years.
Labour also faced opposition from within its ranks. While the Labour Party had been explicitly socialist at its inception, it had been gradually drifting away from its earlier radicalism. The death of the party's first leader, the "doctrinaire"
Harry Holland, had marked a significant turning point in the party's history. Some within the party, however, were displeased about the changing focus of the party, most notably
John A. Lee. Lee, whose views were a mixture of socialism and
social credit theory, emerged as a vocal critic of the party's leadership, accusing it of behaving autocratically and of betraying the party's rank and file. After a long and bitter dispute, Lee was expelled from the party, establishing the breakaway
Democratic Labour Party.
Savage died in
1940, and was replaced by
Peter Fraser, who became Labour's longest-serving Prime Minister. Fraser is best-known as New Zealand's leader for most of
World War II. In the post-war period, however, ongoing shortages and industrial problems cost Labour considerable popularity, and the National Party, under
Sidney Holland, gained ground. Finally, in the
1949 elections, Labour was defeated.
Fraser died shortly afterwards, and was replaced by
Walter Nash, the long-serving
Minister of Finance. It was to be some time before Labour would return to power, however — Nash lacked the charisma of his predecessors, and National won considerable support for opposing the "industrial anarchy" of the
1951 waterfront dispute. In the
1957 election, however, Labour won the narrowest of victories, and returned to office.
Second Labour Government
Nash, Labour's third prime minister, took office in late
1957. Upon coming to power, Labour decided that drastic measures were needed to address
balance of payments concerns. This resulted in the (in)famous "
Black Budget" of
Arnold Nordmeyer, the new Minister of Finance. The budget raised taxes, particularly on alcohol and cigarettes, and was highly unpopular. It is widely thought to have doomed the party to defeat. In the
1960 election, the National Party was indeed victorious.
The elderly Nash retired in
1963, suffering from ill health. He was replaced by Nordmeyer, but the taint of the "Black Budget" ensured that Nordmeyer didn't have any appreciable success in reversing the party's fortunes. In
1965, the leadership was assumed by the younger
Norman Kirk, who many believed would revitalise the party. Labour was defeated again in the next two elections, but in the
1972 election, the party gained a significant victory.
Third Labour Government
Kirk proved to be an energetic Prime Minister, and introduced a number of new policies. Particularly noteworthy were his foreign policy stances, which included strong criticism of
nuclear weapons testing and of
South Africa's
apartheid system. Kirk's health was poor, however, and was worsened by his refusal to slow the pace of his work. In
1974, Kirk was taken ill and died. He was replaced by
Bill Rowling, who didn't have the same charismatic appeal — in the
1975 election, Labour was defeated by National, which was led by
Robert Muldoon.
Rowling remained leader of the Labour Party for some time after his defeat. In the
1978 election and the
1981 election, Labour won a larger share of the vote than National, but failed to win an equivalent number of seats. Rowling himself was compared unfavourably to Muldoon, and didn't cope well with Muldoon's aggressive style. Rowling was eventually replaced by
David Lange, who was seen as more able to counter Muldoon's attacks. In the
1984 election, Labour was victorious.
Fourth Labour Government
When the fourth Labour government came into power led by
David Lange they uncovered a fiscal crisis that had been largely hidden by the outgoing
National government. Government debt was skyrocketing, due largely to the costs of borrowing to maintain a fixed exchange rate. When the result of the election became clear Lange asked Muldoon to devalue the dollar, which he refused to do, resulting in a constitutional crisis and precipitating some of the changes in the
Constitution Act 1986.
Throughout the first term of the fourth Labour government, the cabinet remained largely unified and a number of radical financial reforms were embarked upon to improve the ailing economic and fiscal situation. In 1987 Labour won a first-past-the-post election for the last time (the
mixed member proportional system was introduced in 1996). It wasn't until this second term, which increased Labour's majority and was won mostly on the back of its anti-nuclear stance, that considerable divisions over economic policy began to arise within the cabinet. The Minister of Finance,
Roger Douglas, was a supporter of
free market theories, and sought to implement sweeping reforms ("
Rogernomics") to the economy and tax system. Others within the party, however, saw this as a betrayal of the party's left-wing roots. The party was also criticised by the
Council of Trade Unions.
Opposition to Douglas's reforms remained strong — eventually, a Labour MP,
Jim Anderton, left to establish the
NewLabour Party, eventually forming the basis of the left-wing
Alliance. At the same time, Douglas was pressing onwards, proposing a
flat tax rate. Finally, David Lange forced Douglas to resign, and shortly afterwards resigned himself.
Lange was replaced by
Geoffrey Palmer. Palmer, however, was unable to counter widespread discontent among Labour's traditional supporters, and a few months before the
1990 election, Palmer was replaced by
Mike Moore. The Labour Party suffered its worst defeat since it first took office in 1935.
Moore was eventually replaced by
Helen Clark, who led the party in opposition to the National Party government of
Jim Bolger. During the period in opposition, the party made a measured repudiation of Rogernomics, although has never returned to the strong left-wing stance it originally took (it defines itself today as "centre-left" rather than simply "left"). When the
1996 election, the first conducted under the
MMP electoral system, gave the balance of power to the centrist
New Zealand First party, many believed that Labour would return to power, but in the end New Zealand First allied itself with National. This coalition was unstable, however, and eventually collapsed, leaving National to govern as a
minority government. In the
1999 election, Labour returned to power at the head of a coalition government.
Major pieces of legislation:
- Treaty of Waitangi Amendment Act 1985 — extended the scope of the Waitangi Tribunal to retrospective claims dating back to the Treaty
- Constitution Act 1986 — codified important constitutional conventions
- Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 — legalised homosexual relations
- Immigration Act 1986 — liberalised immigration, particularly skilled migration, into NZ.
- Māori Language Act 1987 — made Te Reo Māori an official language.
- State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 — established the first SOEs
- State Sector Act 1988 — made the civil service more business-like with Chief Executives instead of Permanent Secretaries
- Public Finance Act 1989 — changed the reporting and accountability for government expenditure
- Reserve Bank Act 1989 — enabled the Reserve Bank to autonomously pursue an inflation target
- New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 — enumerated civil, political and criminal procedure rights
Other important achievements:
- Establishment of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System
- Declaring New Zealand to be a nuclear-free zone
Fifth Labour Government
After the 1999 election, a coalition government of Labour and the Alliance took power, with Helen Clark as Prime Minister. This government, while undertaking a number of reforms, wasn't particularly revolutionary when compared to previous Labour governments, and maintained a high level of popularity. The Alliance, however, fell in popularity and split internally, the latter factor being one of the reasons cited by Helen Clark for her calling the
2002 election several months early, which Labour comfortably won. Labour is now in coalition with the
Progressive Party, a faction of the old Alliance.
In early
2004, the Labour Party came under attack for its policies on the
foreshore and seabed controversy. There were significant internal tensions within the party, eventually culminating in the resignation of junior minister
Tariana Turia and her establishment of the new
Māori Party.
Following the
2005 general election, Labour formed a coalition with the
Progressive party, and entered into complex confidence and supply agreements with the centre-right
United Future party and the centrist
New Zealand First party, which gave both parties' leaders a Ministerial portfolio, while remaining outside of Cabinet. A limited support agreement was also made with the
Green party, whereby certain policy concessions were to be made to the Greens in return for abstention on confidence and supply votes.
Leaders
To date,
Helen Clark is the longest serving leader of the Labour Party, although some dispute exists as to when
Harry Holland officially became leader.
List of leaders
The following is a complete list of Labour Party leaders:
List of Presidents
The following is a list of Labour Party presidents:
Further Information
Get more info on 'New Zealand Labour Party'.
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