New Zealand

Overview

New Zealand is 1,930km (1,200 miles) southeast of Australia and consists of two major islands, North Island (116,031 sq km/44,800 sq miles) and South Island (153,540 sq km/59,283 sq miles), which are separated by Cook Strait. Stewart Island (1,750 sq km/676 sq miles) is located immediately south of South Island, and the Chatham Islands lie 800km (500 miles) to the east of Christchurch.

Its capital is Wellington, located on the southernmost tip of the North Island. Further to the north lies New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, with a population of one million. The largest city in the South Island is Christchurch.

Government

New Zealand is a member of the Commonwealth of States and is politically run as parliamentary democracy under a Mixed Member Proportional Representation government. Although it has no codified constitution, the Constitution Act 1986 is the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional structure. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state and is titled Queen of New Zealand under the Royal Titles Act 1974.

The New Zealand Parliament has only one chamber, the House of Representatives, which usually seats 120 Members of Parliament.

Parliamentary general elections are held every three years. Under its Mixed Member Proportional system there is usually a 120-seat parliament; an extra seat can sometimes be added to ensure truly proportional representation. Of the total number of seats, 65 electorate (directly elected constituency) seats are contested on the old first-past-the-post basis, including seven seats reserved for the indigenous Maori people.

Demography

New Zealand has a population of about 4.3 million, of which approximately 78% identify with European ethnic groups. New Zealanders of European descent are collectively known as Pākehā; this term generally refers to New Zealanders of European descent but some Māori use it to refer to all non-Māori New Zealanders. Most European New Zealanders are of British and Irish ancestry, although there has been significant Dutch, Dalmatian, Italian, and German immigration together with indirect European immigration through Australia, North America, South America and South Africa.

New Zealand has an adult literacy rate of 99%, and 14.2% of the adult population has a bachelor's degree or higher. For 30.4% of the population, some form of secondary qualification is their highest, while 22.4% of New Zealanders have no formal qualification.

Economy

New Zealand has a modern, prosperous, developed economy with an estimated GDP (PPP) of $115.624 billion (2008). The country has a relatively high standard of living with an estimated GDP per capita of $27,017 in 2008, comparable to Southern Europe. Since 2000 New Zealand has made substantial gains in median household income. New Zealand, along with Australia, largely escaped the early 2000s recession that affected most other Western countries. However GDP fell in all four quarters of 2008.

The service sector is the largest sector in the economy (68.8% of GDP), followed by manufacturing and construction (26.9% of GDP) and the farming/raw materials extraction (4.3% of GDP).

New Zealand is a country heavily dependent on free trade, particularly in agricultural products. Exports account for around 24% of its output, which is a relatively high figure (it is around 50% for many smaller European countries). This makes New Zealand particularly vulnerable to international commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. Its principal export industries are agriculture, horticulture, fishing and forestry. These make up about half of the country's exports. Its major export partners are Australia 20.5%, US 13.1%, Japan 10.3%, China 5.4%, UK 4.9% (2006).

Legal System

Court structure and the legal system

New Zealand has a tiered court structure. The main courts of general jurisdiction are, in decending order, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the district courts.

The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the district courts are defined by statute. The High Court has both statutory jurisdiction and inherent common law jurisdiction.

Most court business takes place in district courts. Most criminal cases are heard in the district courts, as well as a large number of civil cases.

A decision by a higher court is binding on lower courts and decisions of the Supreme Court, as the final court of appeal, are binding on all other courts.

New Zealand also has a number of specialist courts and tribunals. These include the Employment Court, the Environment Court, the Mäori Land Court, the Waitangi Tribunal, Coroners Courts, the Courts-Martial Appeal Authority and others.The courts of general jurisdiction may hear appeals from these courts and tribunals, and the High Court has supervisory jurisdiction of them through the judicial review process.

Judiciary

New Zealand law has three principal sources: English common law; certain statutes of the United Kingdom Parliament enacted before 1947 (notably the Bill of Rights 1689); and statutes of the New Zealand Parliament. In interpreting common law, the courts have endeavoured to preserve uniformity with common law as interpreted in the United Kingdom and related jurisdictions.

The maintenance of the Privy Council in London as the final court of appeal and judges' practice of following British decisions, even though, technically, they are not bound by them, both bolstered this uniformity. However, in October 2003, the House of Representatives passed legislation to end this right of appeal from 2004, and to establish the Supreme Court of New Zealand in Wellington, which began hearings in July 2004 under the Supreme Court Act 2003.