New Zealand in 2004

New Zealand in 2004

Area: 270,534 sq km (104,454 sq mi)
Population (2004 est.): 4,060,000
Capital: Wellington
Chief of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright
Head of government: Prime Minister Helen Clark

New Zealand was sustained in 2004 by a buoyant economy and strong domestic growth, which enabled Finance Minister Michael Cullen’s May 27 budget to predict government surpluses exceeding $NZ 5 billion ($NZ 1 = about U.S.$0.65) annually to 2007–08 and to project economic growth of 2.8% to March 2005. New commitments included $NZ 221 million in targeted family assistance, plans to upgrade Auckland’s infrastructure and rail networks over the next decade, and $NZ 500 million over four years for economic development and export incentives. To contain inflation, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand incrementally increased the official cash rate from 5% on January 1 to 6.5% on October 28. Wellington and Beijing agreed to begin negotiations in early 2005 for a New Zealand–China free-trade agreement. Prime Minister Helen Clark’s administration also advanced talks for better trade access with Thailand, Mexico, Singapore, Chile, and Hong Kong and lobbied for a free-trade arrangement with the U.S.

Race relations dominated politics after opposition National Party leader Donald Brash alleged that Clark’s Labour-led government was running policies with a pro-Maori bias. Responding to opinion polls supporting Brash’s stance, Clark appointed Trevor Mallard coordinating minister on race relations to review policies with racial preferences. Having rejected Maori claims to title of the nation’s foreshore and seabed and ignored a two-week protest march by thousands of Maori demonstrators that ended on May 5, Parliament enacted government-sponsored legislation in November confirming public ownership. In protest against the Foreshore and Seabed bill, junior cabinet minister Tariana Turia resigned from the Labour Party and the House of Representatives, forcing a by-election on July 10, which she won overwhelmingly on behalf of the new Maori Party. Veteran parliamentarian Richard Prebble quit as leader of the ACT political party, which held 8 seats in the 120-seat House, and was succeeded by Rodney Hide in June.

Destiny New Zealand, a new church-based political party, organized rallies on family and moral issues in Auckland and Wellington, where police estimated 7,500 attendees. The party also protested legalized prostitution, abortion, and government-sponsored legislation to solemnize and register relationships and civil unions between same-sex couples. (See Law, Crime, and Law Enforcement: Special Report.)

Floods devastated farmland in the lower part of North Island in February and the Bay of Plenty region in July. Officials calculated that damage from the February storms exceeded $NZ 250 million. Farming leaders estimated that 500,000 newborn lambs perished in September snows in Otago and Southland. The government began negotiations with pastoral leaseholders in the South Island high country to create a network of up to 20 conservation parks and reserves over 200,000 ha (almost 500,000 ac) of tussock grasslands, designating $NZ 79 million for the purpose. A nine-year-old Merino wether nicknamed Shrek was accorded international celebrity status during the year. The renegade “hermit sheep,” which was believed to have evaded the annual muster for six years by hiding in a cave, had grown a 27.5-kg (60-lb) fleece with wool staples 380 mm (15 in) in length. Shrek’s April 28 shearing on live television was broadcast worldwide, and most of the fleece was auctioned for charity.

Internationally acclaimed author Janet Frame died on January 29 at age 79. Just two months later Frame’s biographer, eminent historian Michael King, was killed in a road accident.

Neale McMillan