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A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology or the will of their donors or constituents. Whips are the party's "enforcers". They work to ensure that their fellow political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote according to their party's official policy. Members who vote against party policy may "lose the whip", being effectively expelled from the party.
The New Zealand Parliament is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Sovereign (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his 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 is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes laws, provides ministers to form Cabinet, and supervises the work of government. It is also responsible for adopting the state's budgets and approving the state's accounts.
A crossbencher is a minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and opposition benches, where crossbenchers sit in the chamber.
In New Zealand, the speaker of the House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer and highest authority of the New Zealand House of Representatives. The individual who holds the position is elected by members of the House from among their number in the first session after each general election. They hold one of the highest-ranking offices in New Zealand. The current Speaker is Gerry Brownlee, who was elected on 5 December 2023.
Te Pāti Māori, also known as the Māori Party, is a political party in New Zealand advocating Māori rights. With the exception of a handful of general electorates, Te Pāti Māori contests the reserved Māori electorates, in which its main rival is the Labour Party.
In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is covered by both a general and a Māori electorate; as of 2020, there are seven Māori electorates. Since 1967, candidates in Māori electorates have not needed to be Māori themselves, but to register as a voter in the Māori electorates people need to declare that they are of Māori descent.
The New Zealand Legislative Council was the upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand between 1853 and 1951. An earlier arrangement of legislative councils for the colony and provinces existed from 1841 when New Zealand became a colony; it was reconstituted as the upper house of a bicameral legislature when New Zealand became self-governing in 1852, which came into effect in the following year.
In parliamentary practice, pairing is an informal arrangement between the government and opposition parties whereby a member of a legislative body agrees or is designated by a party whip to be absent from the chamber or to abstain from voting when a member of the other party needs to be absent from the chamber due to other commitments, illness, travel problems, etc. Thus they maintain the balance of votes if one or the other is unable to attend. A three-line whip would usually be excepted from this agreement. For MPs who are not paired a bisque, a rota system allowing absence is used.
Tāpihana Paraire "Dobbie" Paikea, also known as Dobson, was a New Zealand politician and Rātana morehu who won the Northern Maori electorate for Labour in 1943. He was a Māori of Te Roroa, Te Parawhau and Ngāti Whātua descent. He was elected following the death of his father Paraire Karaka Paikea who had been the MP, and he held the parliamentary seat until his own death in 1963.
Te Tai Tonga is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 general election, replacing Southern Maori. It covers all of the South Island, Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands, and parts of both Wellington City and the Hutt Valley. The current MP for Te Tai Tonga is Tākuta Ferris of Te Pāti Māori.
George Laurenson was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Lyttelton in the South Island.
The 51st New Zealand Parliament was elected at the 2014 general election. This Parliament consists of 121 members and was in place from September 2014 until August 2017, followed by the 2017 New Zealand general election. Following the final vote count John Key was able to continue to lead the Fifth National Government.
Melissa Heni Mekameka Whaitiri is a New Zealand politician and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She was first elected to Parliament in the 2013 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election for the Labour Party.
Adrian Paki Rurawhe is a New Zealand Labour Party politician. He has been an MP since 2014, and the speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2022 to 2023.
The New Zealand Labour Party's Senior Whip administers the "whipping in" system that tries to ensure that party MPs attend and vote according to the party leadership's wishes. The position is elected by the Labour caucus members. The senior whip also acts as an intermediary between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Whenever Labour is in government the senior whip serves as the chief government whip and when out of government serves as chief opposition whip; thus the position is also referred to as "Chief Whip".
The New Zealand National Party's Senior Whip administers the "whipping in" system that tries to ensure that party MPs attend and vote according to the party leadership's wishes. The position is elected by the National caucus members. The Senior Whip also acts as an intermediary between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Whenever National is in government the senior whip serves as the Chief Government Whip and when out of government serves as Chief Opposition Whip.
Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and activist. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Rawiri Waititi, and is the chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi.
Rawiri Wikuki Waititi is a New Zealand politician and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Waiariki since 2020, when his election returned Te Pāti Māori to the New Zealand Parliament following their defeat at the 2017 general election.
The 54th New Zealand Parliament is the current meeting of the legislature in New Zealand. It opened on 5 December 2023 following the 14 October 2023 general election, and will expire on or before 16 November 2026 to trigger the next election.