New Zealand Parliament

Also known as General Assembly of New Zealand, Parliament of New Zealand, Pāremata Aotearoa, NZ Parliament

unicameral legislature of New Zealand

Key facts

Type: Unicameral (since 1951); bicameral (1854–1950)
Houses: House of Representatives (extant) Legislative Council (abolished)
Sovereign: Monarch of New Zealand
Founded: 24 May 1854 ( 1854-05-24 ) (first sitting)
Preceded by: General Legislative Council
Monarch: Charles III , since 8 September 2022
Governor general: Dame Cindy Kiro , since 21 October 2021
Speaker: Gerry Brownlee , since 5 December 2023
Prime minister: Christopher Luxon , since 27 November 2023
Leader of the opposition: Chris Hipkins , since 27 November 2023

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

~21 min read

Article

The New Zealand Parliament (Māori: Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the monarch (represented by the governor-general) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning legislatures in the world. It was bicameral until the abolition of the New Zealand Legislative Council at the end of 1950. Parliament's seat, the capital of New Zealand, has been Wellington since 1865. It has met in its current building, Parliament House, since 1922.

The House of Representatives normally consists of 120 members of Parliament (MPs), though sometimes more due to overhang seats. There are 72 MPs elected directly in electorates while the remainder of seats are assigned to 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, every three years Parliament is dissolved and goes up for reelection.