|
Capital Wellington
41°17? S 174°47? E Largest city Auckland Official language(s) English, M?ori September 26, 1907 Area
• Total
• Water (%)
4,107,883 (120th)
3,737,277
15/km˛ (163rd)
{{{population_densitymi˛}}}/mi˛ 2004 estimate
$96.18 billion (57th)
$23,897 (24th) 0.933 (19th) – high Currency Time zone
• Summer (DST) NZST[2] (UTC+12)
NZDT (Oct-Mar) (UTC+13) Internet TLD .nz Calling code +64 |
|
New Zealand Information
Main article: Politics of New Zealand
 Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand
Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand
 Helen Clark, Prime Minister
Helen Clark, Prime Minister
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Under the New Zealand Royal Titles Act (1953), Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Zealand and is represented as head of state by the Governor-General, Her Excellency Dame Silvia Cartwright.
New Zealand is the only country in the world where all the highest offices in the land are occupied by women. The Sovereign Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand, Governor-General Her Excellency Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Hon. Margaret Wilson and the Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.
The New Zealand Parliament has only one chamber, the House of Representatives which usually seats 120 members of Parliament. Parliamentary elections are every three years under a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional (MMP). The 2005 General Election created an 'overhang' of one extra seat (occupied by the M?ori Party), due to that party winning more seats in constituencies than its proportional entitlement.
There is no single written constitution; however, the Constitution Act (1986) is the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional structure. The Governor-General has the power to appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers and to dissolve Parliament. The Governor-General also chairs the Executive Council which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Executive Council are required to be members of Parliament, and most are also in Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister who is also the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition.
The current Prime Minister is Helen Clark of the Labour Party. She has served two complete terms as Prime Minister and has begun her third. On 17 October 2005 she announced that she had come to a complex arrangement that guaranteed the support of enough parties for her Labour-led coalition to govern. The core of the coalition is a cabinet consisting of Labour Party ministers and Jim Anderton, the Progressive Party's only MP. In addition to the parties represented in cabinet the leaders of New Zealand First and United Future are to be appointed as Ministers outside Cabinet. An arrangement of this kind has never been attempted before in New Zealand.
A further arrangement has been made with the Green Party, which has given a commitment not to vote against the government on confidence and supply. This commitment assures the government of a majority of seven MPs on confidence.
The Leader of the Opposition is National Party leader Don Brash who was formerly Governor of the Reserve Bank. Also in opposition are the M?ori Party and ACT New Zealand.
The highest court in New Zealand is the London. The current Chief Justice is Dame Sian Elias. New Zealand's judiciary also has a High Court which deals with serious criminal offences and civil matters, and a Court of Appeal, as well as subordinate courts.
|
Main articles: Realm of New Zealand, Regions of New Zealand, and Territorial authorities of New Zealand
 A map of New Zealand showing the major cities and towns
A map of New Zealand showing the major cities and towns
The early European settlers divided New Zealand into provinces. These were abolished in 1876 so that government could be centralised for financial reasons. As a result, New Zealand has no separately represented subnational entities such as provinces, states or territories apart from its local government. The spirit of the provinces however still lives on, and there is fierce rivalry exhibited in sporting and cultural events. Since 1876, local government has administered the various regions of New Zealand. In 1989, the government completely reorganised local government, implementing the current two-tier structure of regional councils and territorial authorities.
Today New Zealand has 12 regional councils for the administration of environmental and transport matters and 74 territorial authorities that administer roading, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters. The territorial authorities are 16 city councils, 57 district councils, and the Chatham Islands County Council. Four of the territorial councils (one city and three districts) and the Chatham Islands County Council also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. Territorial authority districts are not subdivisions of regional council districts, and a few of them straddle regional council boundaries.
Nelson*, Tasman*, West Coast, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands*.
As a major South Pacific nation, New Zealand has a close working relationship with many of the smaller Pacific Island nations, and continues a political association with the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. New Zealand operates Scott Base in its Antarctic territory, the Ross Dependency. Other countries also use Christchurch to support their Antarctic bases and the city is sometimes known as the "Gateway to Antarctica".
|
Main articles: New Zealand animals, New Zealand plants, and Biodiversity of New Zealand
 Crowns of two kauri trees
Crowns of two kauri trees
Because of its long isolation from the rest of the world, and its island biogeography New Zealand has extraordinary flora and fauna. About 80 percent of the New Zealand flora only occurs in New Zealand, including more than 40 endemic genera.[3] The main two types of forest have been dominated by podocarps including the giant kauri and southern beech. The remaining vegetation types in New Zealand are grassland of grass and tussock, usually associated with the sub-alpine areas, and the low shrublands between grasslands and forests.
Until the arrival of the first humans, 80% of the land was forested and, barring two species of bat, there were no non-marine mammals at all. Instead, New Zealand's forests were inhabited by a diverse range of birds including the flightless Moa which is now extinct, the Kiwi, Kakapo, and Takah? which are all endangered due to human actions. Unique birds capable of flight include the Haast's eagle which was the world's largest bird of prey before it became extinct and the large parrots the K?k? and Kea. Reptiles present in New Zealand include skinks and geckos and the Tuatara. There are no snakes but there are many species of insects— including the weta which may grow as large as a House Mouse.
|
Main article: Demographics of New Zealand
New Zealand has a population of about 4.1 million. About 70% of the population are of European descent. New Zealand born Europeans are collectively known as P?keha - this term is used variously and some M?ori use it to refer to all non-M?ori New Zealanders. Most European New Zealanders are of British, Irish and Dutch ancestry. M?ori people are the second largest ethnic group (the percentage of the population of full or part-M?ori ancestry is 14.7%; those who checked only M?ori are 7.9%). Between the 1996 and 2001 censuses, the number of people of Asian origin (6.6%) overtook the number of people of Pacific Island origin (6.5%) (note that the census allowed multiple ethnic affiliations). New Zealand is positive about immigration and is committed to increasing its population by about 1% per annum. At present migrants from the UK constitute the largest single group (30%) but new migrants are drawn from many nations, increasingly from East Asia.
Christianity is the predominant religion in New Zealand, although nearly 40% of the population has no religious affiliation. The main Christian denominations are Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Roman Catholicism and Methodism. There are also significant numbers who identify themselves with Pentecostal and Baptist churches and with the LDS (Mormon) church. The New Zealand-based Ratana church has many adherents among M?ori. According to census figures, other significant minority religions include Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam (see Desi).
|
Main article: Sport in New Zealand
New Zealand's most popular sports are rugby union, cricket, netball, lawn bowling, soccer (perhaps surprisingly, the most popular football code in terms of participation in NZ) and rugby league. Also popular are golf, tennis, cycling and a variety of water sports, particularly sailing, whitewater kayaking, surf lifesaving skills and rowing. In the latter, New Zealand enjoyed an extraordinary Magic 45 minutes when winning four successive gold medals at the 2005 world championships. Snow sports such as skiing and snowboarding are also popular. Equestrian sportsmen and sportswomen make their mark in the world, with Mark Todd being chosen international "Horseman of the Century", and all the way down to the juniors at pony club level.
Olympic Games
The country is internationally recognised for performing extremely well on a medals-to-population ratio at Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games. See, for example, New Zealand Olympic medallists and New Zealand at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Rugby union
Rugby union is closely linked to New Zealand's national identity. The national rugby team is called the All Blacks and has the best winning record of any national team in the world, including being the inaugural winner of the Rugby Union World Cup">World Cup in 1987. The style of name has been followed in naming the national team in several other sports. For instance, the nation's basketball team is known as the Tall Blacks. New Zealand is to host the Rugby Union World Cup">2011 Rugby Union World Cup. New Zealand's national sporting colours are not the colours of its flag, but are black and white (silver). The silver fern is a national emblem worn by New Zealanders representing their country in sport. The haka—a traditional M?ori challenge—is often performed at sporting events. The All Blacks traditionally perform a haka before the start of international matches.
Yachting, America's Cup
New Zealand is one of the leading nations in world yachting, especially open water long distance or around the world races. Round-the-world yachtsman, Switzerland, whose Alinghi syndicate was skippered by Russell Coutts, the former skipper of Team New Zealand.
Team New Zealand will compete for the America's Cup at the next regatta in Grant Dalton.
|
UN Human Development Index (HDI), 2005: 19th out of 177 behind Norway; United Nations Development Programme (pdf) [4]
Quality of Life Index, 2005: 15th out of 111 behind Canada; The Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) [5]
Environmental Sustainability Index, 2005: 14th (out of 146) behind Finland; Yale University Center for Environmental Law and Policy & Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (pdf) [6]
Index of Economic Freedom, 2005: 5th= (out of 155) behind Hong Kong; Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal [7]
GDP Ranking, 2005: 25th out of 111 behind Luxembourg; The Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) [8]
Iceland on its list of least corrupt countries in the world. [9]
Broadband Ranking June 2005: 22nd (out of 30) [10]
|
1. ^ McGlone, S.M. and Wilmshurst, J.M. 1999. Dating initial M?ori environmental impact in New Zealand. Quaternary International 59:5 - 16
2. ^ Ministry for the Environment. 2005. Offshore Options: Managing Environmental Effects in New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone. Introduction
3. ^ Allan, H.H. 1982. Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons, Flora of New Zealand Volume I. Botany Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
|
|
