New Zealand Legislative Council | |
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| Type | |
| Type | Upper house of theGeneral Assembly of New Zealand[a] |
| History | |
| Established | 1853[b] |
| Disbanded | 1 January 1951 (1951-01-01)[c] |
| Preceded by | New Zealand Legislative Council (1841–1853) |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
Length of term |
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| Elections | |
| Appointed bygovernor/governor-general | |
| Meeting place | |
 The original plenary chamber, photographed in 1899 | |
| Parliament House, Wellington | |
| Footnotes | |
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Related topics |
 New Zealand portal |
TheNew Zealand Legislative Council was theupper house of theGeneral Assembly of New Zealand from 1853 to 1950.[2] An earlierlegislative council existed from 1841 when New Zealandbecame a colony; it was reconstituted as the upper house of abicameral legislature when New Zealand becameself-governing in 1852, which came into effect in the following year.
Unlike the electedlower house, theHouse of Representatives, the Legislative Council was wholly appointed by thegovernor-general. TheNew Zealand Constitution Act 1852 had authorised the appointment of a minimum of ten councillors. Beginning in the 1890s, the membership of the upper house became controlled by government of the day. As a result, the Legislative Council possessed little influence. While intended as a revising chamber, in practice, debates and votes typically simply replicated those in the lower house. It was abolished by an Act of Parliament in 1950, with its last sitting in December 1950.
The Council's chamber is no longer used as adebating chamber, but it is used for certain ceremonial functions, such as thespeech from the throne.
The first New Zealand Legislative Council was established by theCharter for Erecting the Colony of New Zealand on 16 November 1840, which createdNew Zealand as a Crown colony separate from New South Wales on 1 July 1841.[3] Originally, the Legislative Council consisted of the governor,colonial secretary, andcolonial treasurer, and a number of senior justices of the peace. The Legislative Council had the power to issueordinances (statutory instruments).[4] It became known as the general Legislative Council when provincial legislative councils were legislated for a few years later.
With the passing of theNew Zealand Constitution Act 1852, the existing Legislative Council was disestablished and a similar appointed body was established, effective from 1853. The new Legislative Council was constituted as the upper house of theGeneral Assembly (or "Parliament"), which did not actually meet until 24 May 1854, 16 months after the Constitution Act had come into force.[5]
The Legislative Council was intended to act as a revising chamber, scrutinising and amending bills which had been passed by the House of Representatives. It could not initiate bills, and was prohibited from amendingmoney bills (legislation relating to finance and expenditure). The model for the Legislative Council's role was theHouse of Lords in the United Kingdom.[6]
TheNew Zealand Constitution Act 1852 provided for councillors to be appointed forlife terms by thegovernor. As the power of the governor over New Zealand politics gradually decreased, it became the convention that appointments were made on the recommendation of thepremier (later prime minister), meaning that councillors were essentially selected by the government of the day.
However, the life term of councillors meant that the Legislative Council always lagged behind the House of Representatives—premiers were frequently hampered in their activities by a Legislative Council appointed by their predecessors. In 1891, life membership was replaced by a seven-year term by the newLiberal Party government ofJohn Ballance. While many Liberals apparently favoured outright abolition, it offered minimal political benefit for a ruling government, and such a radical move would have unnecessarily provoked fears about thenew administration.[7] Instead, term limits were introduced primarily for practical reasons, as Ballance'sconservative predecessor,Harry Atkinson, had stacked the Council with seven conservatives shortly before leaving office. Ballance had considerable difficulty in achieving his reform of the Council, with major clashes occurring between him and the Governor, theEarl of Onslow, who had approved the seven appointments. Ballance's victory is seen as establishing an important precedent in the relationship between governor and prime minister.[8]
The structure of the Legislative Council prior to 1891 was therefore similar to that of theCanadian Senate (which continues as an appointed upper house, although senators are no longer appointed to life terms, and must retire at the age of 75).[9]
The style "The Honourable" could be retained from 1894 by a councillor with not less than ten years service if recommended by the governor. This privilege was extended to one member,William Montgomery, in 1906; and a further eleven members in 1951 after abolition of the Council.[10]
It was specified in the Constitution Act 1852 that the Council would consist of at least ten members. Although not actually a part of the Act, instructions were issued that the number of members should not exceed fifteen. One member was to be selected asspeaker of the Legislative Council, corresponding roughly to the position ofspeaker of the House of Representatives. Aquorum of five members was established.[11]
The first appointments to the Legislative Council were made in 1853, when thirteen members were called to the upper house. They wereJohn Salmon,William Swainson andFrederick Whitaker on 26 May 1853;Mathew Richmond on 23 June 1853; and on 31 December 1853Edmund Bellairs,George Cutfield,William Kenny,John Yeeden Lloyd,Ralph Richardson,Henry Seymour,Henry St. Hill,Henry Petre andJohn Watts-Russell.[12] Gradually, the maximum number of members was raised, and the limit was eventually abolished. The Council reached a peak of 53 members in 1885[11] and 1950.
The Legislative Council was generally less representative of the New Zealand public than was the House of Representatives. Women were not eligible to serve as councillors before 1941, and only five were appointed.[6] Two,Mary Anderson andMary Dreaver, were appointed in 1946 by theFirst Labour Government. In 1950, when theFirst National Government appointed several new members to vote the council out of existence, three women were included;Cora Louisa Burrell,Ethel Gould andAgnes Weston.[13]Māori were slightly better represented. The first two Māori councillors were appointed in 1872, not long after the creation of theMāori electorates in the House;Mōkena Kōhere andWi Tako Ngātata. Aconvention was established that there should always be Māori representation on the Council.[6]
In January 1891 the outgoingAtkinson Ministry appointed six new members to the Legislative Council, with the object of blocking any radical bills thatJohn Ballance (who became Premier on 24 January) and hisLiberal Government might introduce.[14] They were the last appointments for life as the new government introduced a seven-year term. The new members wereCharles Johnston andJohn Davies Ormond on 20 January; andHarry Atkinson (elected as speaker),James Fulton,William Downie Stewart, andJohn Blair Whyte on 22 January.[15]John Hall had written to Ormond: "It will be a serious disaster if the Council is not strengthened before the Reds get into the saddle."[16]
Petitions were tabled against the "stacking of the Council" by MPs and by Aucklanders.[17] But the stacking has been seen as assisting the Liberal Government, which "might not have survived but for this assistance ... [which] provided a useful unifying influence in the critical early years" and "identified with dramatic clarity the reactionary class enemy ... and acted as a convenient brake on the radicals [who] were asked to settle for moderate measures."[18]
A number of proposals were made that the Legislative Council should be elected, not appointed. Whenresponsible government had been granted at the beginning of the2nd Parliament, the governor,Thomas Gore Browne, was given sufficient authority to make the Legislative Council elected, but no action was taken. In 1914, a reform proposal to establish a 42 or 43 member council elected byproportional representation for six years was introduced by the Liberals, but postponed due toWorld War I. In 1920 it was no longer favoured by the Reform government then in power. But the 1914 Act "remained like asword of Damocles suspended above the nominated upper house, available at will or whim to any succeeding government".[19]
| External image | |
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 Final gathering of the Legislative Council, 1 December 1950 |
By the middle of the 20th century, the Legislative Council was increasingly seen as ineffectual and obsolete. It made little difference to the legislative process, rarely criticising bills sent to it by the House. Some favoured its reform, while others favoured its abolition. Among the latter wasSidney Holland, leader of theNational Party, which was in opposition tothe Labour government.
Holland introduced aprivate member's bill in August 1947 to abolish the Council. The bill was defeated by government MPs, partly on the claim that New Zealand needed to first adopt theStatute of Westminster 1931, otherwise it could not repeal the part of theNew Zealand Constitution Act 1852[a] that established the Council.[2] Parliament passed theStatute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947[20] in November.[2] Then, the New Zealand Parliament passed theNew Zealand Constitution Amendment (Request and Consent) Act 1947, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed theNew Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947, allowing the New Zealand Parliament to amend the Constitution Act and abolish the Legislative Council. However, the Labour government still did not support the abolition.
In 1950, the National Party, now in government, passed the Legislative Council Abolition Act. To assist its passage into law, Holland appointed twenty members (dubbed the "suicide squad") to vote for abolition, just as the Australian state ofQueensland had done to abolishits upper house in 1922. They included former MPsHarold Dickie andGarnet Mackley.[2] To encourage co-operation from other members, Holland also promised to use the money saved through abolition to set up a fund for retired members. A Statutes Revision Committee (abolished in 1986) was established to carry out some of the scrutiny that the Legislative Council had been intended for. Although abolition was intended as an interim measure,[citation needed] no serious attempts were made to introduce a new second chamber, and Parliament has been unicameral since.[21]
Support forbicameralism is not completely absent, and there have been occasionalproposals for a new upper house orSenate.[21] A constitutional reform committee chaired byRonald Algie proposed an appointed Senate in 1952.[22] The short-livedLiberal Party campaigned on re-establishing an upper house in the1963 election.[23][24] In 1990, theNational government ofJim Bolger proposed an elected Senate, an idea advanced partly as an alternative toNew Zealand's electoral reform process.[25]
Unicameralists in New Zealand, like former Prime MinisterSir Geoffrey Palmer, argued that the country is a small and relatively homogeneousunitary state, and hence does not need the same arrangements asfederal states likeAustralia orCanada.[26][27] In addition,Peter Dunne, then also a Labour MP, argued that other political reforms in New Zealand such as the strengthening of theselect committee system, and the introduction ofproportional representation, provided adequate checks and balances, which would simply be duplicated by a second chamber.[28]
The Legislative Council Chamber remains the location of thespeech from the throne—as following the British tradition, the sovereign (or a representative) does not enter the elected House. Theusher of the Black Rod summons the members of the House of Representatives to attend theOpening of Parliament in the Legislative Council Chamber, where a speech is read usually by the governor-general.[29] It is also used for some select committee meetings, as well as meetings of theCommonwealth Parliamentary Association and other official functions.
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