NEW ZEALAND

The registration procedure for political parties and individual candidates in New Zealand, as specified in the 1993 Electoral Act, is fair and transparent. Compliance is monitored by the independent and highly professional Electoral Commission. If there have been problems, these were on the part of political parties which were late in submitting necessary documents. According to the Electoral (administration) Amendment Act 2010, the tasks of the Electoral Commission and of the chief electoral office (the organization of elections and referendums) will be combined in the electoral commission starting from October 1, 2010. The aim is to avoid duplication of functions and to enhance efficiency. These changes will not affect the fairness of the electoral process.

Allocation of election broadcasting time and funds is fair. It is monitored by the independent Electoral Commission. The procedures are laid down in the Electoral Act 1993 and the Broadcasting Act 1998. This ensures fair coverage of different political positions. Some earlier deficiencies that had to do with regulations that had not been adapted to the new reality of a mixed-member proportional electoral system have been addressed in the Electoral Finance Act 2007. However, this led to new problems. In the end, the Electoral Finance Act was repealed in 2009 and a revised bill is currently being discussed. Nevertheless, the major problems resulting from the transfer from an essentially two-party to a multiparty system have been dealt with satisfactorily.

New Zealand’s electoral process is very inclusive. Permanent residents are given the right to vote in national elections. On the other hand, citizens who have been out of the country for more than three years are denied participation. Beyond legal regulations, there are intensive and ongoing activities, especially by the Electoral Commission, to increase political efficacy and turnout by ethnic minorities as well as young voters.

The Electoral Finance Act 2007 sought to reform party financing and election campaign financing in a comprehensive manner. However, the act was repealed in 2009 due to a number of problems resulting from legal definitions. Parliament is currently working on a modified version of the Electoral Finance Act to be put in place before the next general election. Party financing and electoral campaign financing is monitored by the independent Electoral Commission. Registered parties have upper ceilings regarding election campaign financing (including by-elections). Upper limits for anonymous donations as well as donations from abroad are comparatively low.

Freedom of the media is regulated by the Broadcasting Standards Authority. In addition, it is safeguarded by the New Zealand Press Council, an independent organization that hears complaints from consumers and publishes annual reports. In its 2008 report the press council warned against “creeping regulation” through codes of conduct and guidelines in bills such as the Public Health Bill 2007. In addition, it sees a conflict between the allocation of information, especially in the “new” media and the protection of privacy. This shows that the press council is not only highly sensitive to encroachments on the media but also takes the privacy principle into account. International rankings by Freedom House and Reporters without Borders with regard to media freedom place New Zealand at top positions.

New Zealand’s media market is still characterized by a predominance of Australian companies. This is particularly true for print media, where four companies compete. As for radio stations, the public Radio New Zealand is the only nationwide provider. However, there are about 150 commercial local radio stations. Two public and three private stations compete in the TV market. With regard to pay television, Sky TV holds a monopoly position.

Access to government information is regulated by the Official Information Act 1982. It is based on the principle that all official information should be made available, but there are restrictions with regard to the protection of the public interest (for example, national security or international relations) and the preservation of personal privacy. There are clear procedures in how queries have to be dealt with by public bodies, including a time frame of 20 working days. The Office of the Ombudsmen reviews denials of access upon request. Decisions are binding, but there are no real sanctions for non-compliance. Following a number of precedent-setting decisions by the office in recent years, access to official information is now far-reaching, including politically sensitive communications between political advisers and ministers, as soon as this communication is held by the ministry. The Official Information Act has been reviewed several times. Proposals for reform have included a reduction of the time frame for dealing with requests for official information; and more resources for the Office of the Ombudsmen, but these reforms have not been implemented so far. The office has rather concentrated on organizational restructuring to achieve more efficiency and effectiveness.

Civil and human rights protection is based on the Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993, which defines the tasks of the Human Rights Commission. The commission actively promotes compliance with civil and human rights by public bodies and in society. Recent activities concern rights within the Treaty of Waitangi and a Human Rights Action Plan 2005 with regard to violence against women and children and maltreatment in prisons and mental institutions. These have led to various activities, such as the establishment of a high-level taskforce for action on sexual violence under the chair of the secretary for justice, to advise the government. In addition, Amnesty International has criticized the increasing use of taser weapons by New Zealand police and an immigration bill introduced by the government in 2008 which would allow officials to deny entry to immigrants without requiring that a reason be given. In 2009 a citizen-initiated referendum was overwhelmingly accepted that demands the repeal of a controversial 2007 act that bans the spanking of children by their parents. The government has not implemented the referendum, as it is non-binding.

The Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees unlimited political rights to think, speak, assemble, organize and petition without interference. Those who think that their rights have been infringed upon can file a suit before the High Court. In addition, the New Zealand council of civil liberties is an active, nongovernmental organization that promotes these liberties.
The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations in 2009 put a list of questions to the New Zealand government as part of their periodic reporting, among other things expressing some concerns with regard to the country’s counterterrorism measures. These were answered in the same year. Freedom House assesses the situation of political rights in New Zealand as excellent.

Anti-discrimination legislation is outlined in a number of acts, including the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, the Privacy Act 1993, and the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001. Even more important, the Human Rights Commission actively promotes anti-discrimination measures such as, in recent times, discrimination against Maori and women. Cases of discrimination are rare, but they do occur. Maori are disproportionally represented in the prison population, which may point to problems of discrimination as has been highlighted by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Although New Zealand, following the British tradition, does not have a codified constitution but a mix of conventions, statute law (Constitution Act 1986, Bill of Rights Act 1990, Electoral Act 1993 and the Treaty of Waitangi) and common law, the executive acts according to the principles of a constitutional state. A number of independent bodies, such as the Office of the Ombudsmen, strengthen accountability.

New Zealand does not have a constitutional court with concrete or abstract judicial review. Following from this, parliamentary decisions cannot be declared unconstitutional. However, courts can ask the House of Representatives to clarify clauses. There is an extended and professional hierarchical judicial system with the possibility of appeals. Since 2003 the highest court is the Supreme Court, taking the place of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London that had in the past heard appeals from New Zealand. A specific aspect is the system of Maori land courts, which hear cases relating to Maori land (about 5% of the total area of the country). Equally important is a strong culture of respect for the legal system.

Although judicial appointments are made by the executive, it is a strong constitutional convention in New Zealand that, in deciding who is to be appointed, the attorney general acts independently of political party considerations. Judges are appointed according to their qualifications, personal qualities and relevant experience. The convention is that the attorney general mentions appointments at cabinet meetings after they have been determined. The appointments are not discussed or approved by the cabinet. The appointment process followed by the attorney general is not formally regulated. There have been discussions of how to widen the search for potential candidates beyond the conventional career paths, but not with regard to a formal appointment procedure, as there is the widespread belief that the system has worked exceptionally well. In practice a number of people are consulted before appointments are made, including the opposition justice spokesperson, but also civic society groups.

New Zealand is one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Prevention of corruption is strongly safeguarded by such independent institutions as the auditor general and the Office of the Ombudsmen. In addition, New Zealand has ratified all relevant international anti-bribery conventions of the OECD and the United Nations. All available indices confirm that New Zealand scores particularly high regarding corruption prevention, including in the private sector.

New Zealand is widely known for its very significant structural policy reforms introduced in the 1980s and 1990s. These reforms have had a positive impact and these policy settings, despite their unpopularity at the time, have remained largely intact. Yet New Zealand is also often cited as a country for which free-market reforms have not yielded the improvements in productivity, economic growth and living standards that were anticipated and promised by reformers. The OECD sees part of the explanation in that in some areas of the country, earlier progress has eroded in recent years. Particular concerns surround new regulation, not always well-designed and sometimes driven by a mix of objectives, which supports a view that the earlier focus on productivity growth has been lost. Other views are more forgiving and explain the poorer-than-expected growth relating more to New Zealand’s small size and remoteness, and to labor market and structural issues.

Labor market policy in New Zealand has been relatively successful during recent years, given a comparatively high level of employment. Following the world financial crisis unemployment has risen less than in most OECD countries. This has been achieved by government borrowing, as well as a labor market policy that includes reduced working hours programs, extended transfer payments, and active labor market policies alongside longer-term measures to reduce non-wage labor costs. Nevertheless, areas of concern remain, such as the differentials between urban and non-urban areas, and the unemplyoment rate among the Maori population, which was more than 15% by the end of 2009. Differences in unemployment rates across groups reflect the growing shortage of skilled and professional labor. Government policy responses to these skills shortages have been limited, apart from the use of targeted immigration criteria.

According to the World Bank’s Doing Business Reports 2009 and 2010, New Zealand achieves a top position not only based on its highly un-bureaucratic procedures for establishing a business but also due to a recent reduction of the corporate tax rate. However, enterprise policy alone cannot solve a number of structural problems that remain, including disadvantages which relate to the smallness of the economy and its geographical isolation. The economy is still characterized by a large, though very competitive, agricultural sector. Major problems for innovations remain in three areas: there are few companies in high-tech sectors; there are few large companies; human capital development is impeded by the fact that top personnel in high-tech sectors are often trained overseas.

Taxation policy has successfully continued to promote competitiveness and generation of sufficient public revenues. Regarding equity, governments have followed a policy of equal treatment of tax types, including income earned outside New Zealand but at relatively low rates. Although in 2009 rates for the lowest and the highest income groups fell again, the new National-led government has considerably reduced rates across the board (coming into effect in October 2010) so that tax rates will be lower than in Australia and the United Kingdom, thus reducing the pressure of economic emigration.

New Zealand’s budgetary policy is fiscally highly sustainable. However, the world financial crisis ended 14 years of budget surplus. The new government has stated that the return to high-debt levels would be imprudent, and made decisions in the 2009 budget that bring net debt back so that it peaks below 40% of GDP and reaches 30% of GDP no later than the early 2020s.

Health care in New Zealand is generally of a high quality, cost-effective and relatively efficiently managed. At the same time, it faces growing expectations and rising cost pressures. Gains have been made in terms of reducing the health status between Maori and non-Maori. The establishment of district health boards has not achieved devolution and limited the potential for economies of scale, in both service operation and governance. Gaps in life expectancy have been reduced but more remains to be done, including changes in behavior and lifestyle. Concerns about health disparities have been an ongoing concern, as noted by OECD reports. Concerns about rising costs and the lack of productivity gains in the sector led to the establishment of a ministerial review group and a national health board in 2009 with the task of improving coordination between the ministry and district health boards and to advise on the allocation of budgets. Various efforts at restructuring over the last decade have taken their toll on the workforce and despite a relatively high level of support among the population for the public health system concerns about rising costs and productivity remain.

New Zealand has a long tradition of making an egalitarian society a social goal. It belongs to a group of countries that can claim the highest levels of gender equality, based on the ratio of female-to-male earned income. New Zealand also supports a comprehensive system of social security benefits, including income support. Increased efforts have been put into reducing general disparities, most evident between New Zealand Europeans and the Maori and Pacific Islander populations. These differences however are more of a reflection of economic, structural and geographic influences rather than race-based discrimination.

Female participation in the labor market is comparatively high. At the same time the fertility rate is one of the highest in the OECD area. The government’s generous family policy has contributed to this, with a number of measures over recent years. However, this should not mask the fact that the participation of women in arenas beyond the workplace, including in politics, is still well below that of men.

New Zealand’s pension system is tax-based. It is highly efficient, as it effectively prevents poverty in old age with a relatively low level of public spending measured as a percentage of GDP. The most recent innovation in this policy area is KiwiSaver, a publicly subsidized and private pension plan offered on a voluntary basis and introduced in 2007. KiwiSaver enjoys broad political support and the new National-led government has made commitments to continue the plan with some minor modifications. KiwiSaver is a popular option, and at the beginning of 2010, about 1.3 million people have joined the scheme. Longer-term, however, demographic changes mean that more effort must be made to encourage private savings as part of a strategic plan to address public sector affordability issues and intergenerational equity challenges. The economic downturn and rising unemployment makes it a difficult time to encourage further private saving, and yet intergenerational equity and affordability suggest the urgent need to further alter these policies.

New Zealand is a prime destination for immigrants and the growing numbers of immigrants who take up New Zealand citizenship reflect the country’s willingness to encourage integration. Based on labor market and education system indicators, integration policy has been quite successful. This is reflected in the views of many immigrants who, despite socioeconomic difficulties, are relatively satisfied with their situation. To some degree the overall good performance has to do with the fact that New Zealand employs a points-based selection system which helps to attract immigrants that are relatively self-sufficient financially and can be easily be integrated in the labor market. Indeed, the new Immigration Act 2009 for the first time clearly states that in New Zealand, skilled immigration is preferred. The appeals procedure has been streamlined and the decision to grant entry can now be based on “classified information” with regard to security matters or criminal conduct. More problematical are lesser-skilled immigrants who experience difficulties in settling when they are unable to bring other family members to New Zealand.

The New Zealand’s geopolitical situation makes it highly unlikely to become a target for terrorist threats, and therefore, the cost-benefit calculus of external security policy is very positive. Military expenditures remain low. The changed security environment in recent years has led to the launch of a “Defence Review 2009” which will eventually result in a white paper that replaces the current document, which was introduced in 1997.
The government invests in professionalizing defense forces, based on a long-term development plan. In addition, New Zealand is an active partner in international strategic defense arrangements with Australia and NATO. New Zealand has been involved in nation-building and peacekeeping missions in the South Pacific (Fiji, Tonga, East Timor, Papua New Guinea) and in Afghanistan.

New Zealand internal security is the responsibility of the police. The NZSIS (Security Intelligence Service) and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) provide advisory services. Expenditures for public order and safety are relatively high and growing, as New Zealanders feel crime to be a salient issue. In the New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey 2006, rather high numbers of citizens with personal experience with victimization were reported (a report for 2009 is to be released). These numbers sharply differ from offenses actually reported to the police, although such reports have been recently increasing. The National-led coalition government has implemented a number of measures as part of their 100-day action plan, relating to addressing criminal gangs and the drug trade, youth violence and repeat offenders as well as considering victim compensation. This has been resulting in increased expenditure for police, criminal justice and prison services.
Internal security threats are also addressed through a Combined Threat Assessment Group (CTAG) which involves staff seconded from NZSIS, the New Zealand Police, the New Zealand Defence Force, GCSB, New Zealand Customs Service and Maritime New Zealand. CTAG provides assessments on terrorist or criminal threats aimed to create physical harm to New Zealand citizens or affect New Zealand interests at home or overseas, based on all information sources from the New Zealand government.

The performance of New Zealand’s environmental policy is mixed at best. In the latest Environmental Performance Index of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (Yale University) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) (Columbia University) for 2010 the country ranked fifteenth, while it had been higher placed in earlier reports (although part of the differences result from methodological changes). Particular problems stem from water management. One response has been the reform of the Resource Management Act 2009, which assigns a stronger steering role to the national government and introduces an Environmental Protection Authority. An emission trading scheme that had been established by the former government in fall 2008 has been reformed by the new National-led government to expand the implementation period and to lessen the consequences for industry and consumers.

New Zealand policy is clearly deficient regarding research and development, high-technology employment and patent indicators. This has also been criticized by the OECD. In addition, the OECD strongly recommends a coherent policy that makes more use of incentives for enterprises to invest in research and development and that steers and funds public infrastructure with regard to basic and applied research institutions. The problem does not seem to result from bureaucratic procedures but has mainly to do with the size and geographical isolation of the country and the lack of large companies operating at an international level. The outgoing government during the period under review reacted to this with its “Economic Transformation Agenda” (ETA) that aimed at increasing research and development in biotechnology, information and communication technology, design and film production. However it remains unclear what policies were actually implemented. The following government introduced new initiatives, inter alia a research and development tax credit, but canceled the move with the onset of the world financial crisis. In addition a Business R&D Investment Forum was established. Finally, international cooperation (the science and technology cooperation agreement with the European Union, and cooperation with China) is seen as way to increase research and development investments in the longer term.

Education policy was in the past characterized by a paradox. On one hand participation indicators in secondary and tertiary education were average to low. On the other hand, the country’s PISA results have been impressive. The outgoing Labour-led government responded to this with a number of reforms which have led to a remarkable increase in student numbers in tertiary education. This is true as well for the ethnic minority population. The new National-led government in the period under review announced its plan to continue these efforts in its Tertiary Education Strategy 2010-2015. At the same time, financial pressures have led to policy changes, such as new systems for funding universities which limit student enrollment. With regard to job-based continuing education, the New Zealand economy has followed the tradition of Anglo-American liberal market economies (LMEs) that invest more extensively in transferable skills, independent from current jobs rather than in job-based training as some continental European coordinated economies (CMEs) do.