New Zealand in 2006

New Zealand in 2006

Area: 270,692 sq km (104,515 sq mi)
Population (2006 est.): 4,141,000
Capital: Wellington
Chief of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Governors-General Dame Silvia Cartwright and, from August 23, Anand Satyanand
Head of government: Prime Minister Helen Clark

Trust in New Zealand politicians and political parties became a dominant issue in 2006, especially when Controller and Auditor-General Kevin Brady ruled in October that seven of the eight political parties in the 121-member House of Representatives had used public money unlawfully before the September 2005 general election. Citing “significant breaches” of parliamentary appropriations, Brady identified $NZ 1,173,598 ($NZ 1 = about U.S.$0.64) in unlawful expenditure in fiscal years 2004–05 and 2005–06, of which $NZ 825,000 pertained to Prime Minister Helen Clark’s ruling Labour Party. Brady was most concerned over the misuse of parliamentary funds for party-generated election advertising, including a Labour pledge card that was universally distributed. Offending parties subsequently committed to reimbursing misappropriated sums, and the single-chamber Parliament enacted legislation in an urgent session to validate their actions. Clark undertook to promote new rules on election spending for the 2008 elections.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen’s May 18 budget projected an operating surplus of $NZ 8.5 billion in 2005–06 and $NZ 5.6 billion in 2006–07. An extra $NZ 1.3 billion on new roads over five years included moves to ease Auckland’s traffic gridlock and accelerate highway projects in Auckland and Christchurch. Cullen also earmarked $NZ 5.2 million to facilitate settlement of Maori grievances under the Treaty of Waitangi, aimed at having all historical claims lodged by 2008 and settled by 2020. After three years as head of the National Party and leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives, Don Brash resigned on November 27 and announced that he would quit active politics at year’s end. He was succeeded in both posts by John Key, a former merchant banker.

New Zealand’s deployment of 120 military personnel for reconstruction work in Afghanistan was extended to September 2007, bringing its total financial commitment for peacekeeping and development over five years to $NZ 160 million. An additional 55 troops and police were dispatched in April to the Solomon Islands to supplement 82 personnel involved in curbing civil unrest in the capital, Honiara, and another 120 defense personnel were committed to the international effort to avert civil war in East Timor. Clark’s government approved the $NZ 771 million purchase of eight new European-made NH90 military helicopters to replace the RNZAF (Royal New Zealand Air Force) fleet of Vietnam-era Iroquois, with the first delivery due in 2010.

Stab-resistant body armour was issued in February to 6,500 police in response to an increase in slashing and stabbing assaults on officers, from 2 such attacks in 1999 to 48 in 2003. In September frontline police were controversially issued with electronic control devices for a 12-month trial. Authorities in May made two seizures of narcotics from shipping containers that had originated in southern China. The combined haul comprised crystal methamphetamine valued at $NZ 95 million and $NZ 40 million worth of pseudoephedrine.

In business news, entrepreneur Sam Morgan sold his Internet trading site Trade Me to Australian media group John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. for $NZ 700 million. Morgan’s father, a Wellington economist, donated to charity the $NZ 47 million that accrued from his personal 6.7% stake in the business, saying that he did not need it. National Business Review weekly named business tycoon Graeme Hart as New Zealand’s richest individual, with personal wealth calculated at $NZ 2.75 billion. The state-owned lottery on May 20 paid its largest Lotto prize of $NZ 17,992,975 to a couple from Auckland. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand introduced smaller, lighter 50-cent, 20-cent and 10-cent coins from July 31 and withdrew 5-cent coins from circulation on November 1.

Maori Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on August 15 at age 75. On August 23 former trial judge and Parliamentary Ombudsman Anand Satyanand, aged 62 and of Indo-Fijian parentage, became New Zealand’s first governor-general of Asian descent.

by: Neale McMillan