The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand between 5 December 1999 and 8 November 2008.

Overview

The fourth National government, in power since 1990, was widely unpopular by 1999, with much of the public antagonised by a series of free-market economic reforms, and was bedevilled by weakness and instability. In the general election of that year, the Labour Party led by Helen Clark defeated National easily, becoming the largest single party in the House of Representatives. Labour formed a minority coalition government with the left-leaning Alliance, supported by the Green Party.

During this first term, the government pursued a number of reforms. The controversial Employment Contracts Act was repealed, replaced by an Employment Relations Act more friendly to unions and collective bargaining; a state-owned bank, Kiwibank, was created at the behest of the Alliance; the struggling national airline, Air New Zealand, was nationalised; and the public health sector was reorganised with the re-establishment of partly elected District Health Boards. More controversial was "Closing the Gaps", an affirmative action strategy pitched at Māori, which was widely criticised as showing favouritism to Māori at the expense of other, equally disadvantaged, groups.

With the disintegration of the Alliance in 2002, Helen Clark called an early election, even though she still had the confidence of the House. Labour handily won the election. The Alliance failed to return to parliament, although a rump returned as Jim Anderton's Progressives. Labour formed a coalition with the Progressives, and turned to the centrist party United Future for confidence and supply. This second term was notable largely for its social and constitutional legislation, with the Government establishing a Supreme Court and ending appeals to the Privy Council, decriminalising prostitution, and providing for civil unions, the latter two changes in particular supported by the Green Party and opposed by United Future. The Government was also faced in this term with the foreshore and seabed controversy. While Labour, in cooperation with the New Zealand First party, eventually resolved the legal dispute by vesting foreshore and seabed title in the Crown, a dissident Labour minister, Tariana Turia, formed the Māori Party, while on the other side of the spectrum a resurgent National Party, now under former Reserve Bank governor Don Brash, became considerably more popular. Going into the 2005 election, the Government was returned with a slim margin on the strength of the Working for Families assistance package and financial assistance to students, benefiting also from mistakes in National's campaign.

Helen Clark was obliged to move even more to the centre, enlisting support for her Government from both New Zealand First and United Future. Almost immediately, the Government parties became involved in a protracted funding scandal, having apparently used public money for party political purposes during the election campaign. A heavy-handed attempt at campaign finance reform later in this term also harmed the Government, which by now appeared tired and at a loss for direction. In the 2008 election, the Labour Party lost convincingly to National. The Government is succeeded by National government led by John Key as Prime Minister.

Significant policies

Economic

• Created Kiwibank as part of coalition agreement with the Alliance.
• Working for Families tax credits
• KiwiSaver retirement savings scheme
• Renationalised Air New Zealand, New Zealand's national rail network (ONTRACK), and later the rail operations from Toll New Zealand (renamed KiwiRail).
• Buy Kiwi Made campaign
• Telecommunications industry reform, particularly local loop unbundling

Constitutional

• Established the Supreme Court of New Zealand, replacing appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
• Constitutional Inquiry into the Constitution of New Zealand.
• Passed the Electoral Finance Act to reform electoral spending and regulate electoral advertising.

Treaty of Waitangi

• New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy; passed the Foreshore and Seabed Act.
• Made further Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

Social policy

• Within 3 weeks of taking office, the govt. had announced an increase in the minimum wage, removed the interest on student loans for full-time and low-income students while they were still studying, announced the reversal of accident compensation deregulation, and introduced legislation to increase taxation for those on higher incomes^[1].
• Introduced income-related rents for state housing.
• Passed the Prostitution Reform Act 2003
• Passed the Property (Relationships) Act: treats de facto relationships the same as after the breakup of legal marriages, unless the individuals in the relationship contract out of the Act;
• Civil Union Act 2004
• Supported the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007, which repealed and replaced section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which allowed "reasonable force" in the discipline of children.
• National Statement on Religious Diversity

Health

• Creation of District Health Boards.
• Dissolution of the Health Funding Authority, with its responsibilities given to the Ministry of Health and the District Health Boards.
• Introduction of the Primary Health Care Strategy, moving primary care funding towards capitation ('bulk funding'), and away from fee-for-service funding.

Environment

• Royal Commission on Genetically Modified Organisms
• Sandra Lee enacted the Local Government Act 2002 (New Zealand).
• The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme was enacted in September 2008.

National identity

• Established fully New Zealand-based honours system.

Foreign affairs

• Signed free trade agreements with Brunei, Chile, China, Singapore, and Thailand.
• Scrapped the air defence wing of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
• Sent a detachment of SAS troops to the war in Afghanistan.
• Sent troops to East Timor during the 2006 East Timorese crisis.
• Did not send combat troops to the Iraq War.
• Launched Project Protector, to expand the Royal New Zealand Navy's capacity.
• Launched free trade negotiations with South Korea and Japan.

Appointments

The following positions were appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government:

Governor-General

• Dame Silvia Cartwright (2001–2006)
• Anand Satyanand (2006– )

Supreme Court

With the creation of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 2003, the government appointed the first full bench of the Court.

• Dame Sian Elias (July 1, 2004)
• Justice Thomas Gault (July 1, 2004)
• Justice Sir Kenneth Keith (July 1, 2004)
• Justice Peter Blanchard (July 1, 2004)
• Justice Andrew Tipping (July 1, 2004)
• Justice John McGrath (May 4, 2005)
• Honourable Noel Crossley Anderson (February 21, 2006)
• Honourable Justice Bill Wilson (21 December 2007)

Acting judges were also appointed from the retired judges of the Court of Appeal:

• Justice John Henry
• Justice Ted Thomas
• Former President of the Court of Appeal Sir Ivor Richardson
• Former Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum.

Court of Appeal

The government has appointed three presidents of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand:

• Hon William Young, DCNZM 23 February 2006-
• Hon Noel Anderson, DCNZM 1 January 2004 - 23 February 2006
• Rt Hon Thomas Gault, DCNZM 24 May 2002 - 31 December 2003

Formation

The Fifth Labour government was elected in at the 1999 general election, winning nearly half the popular vote and more than two-thirds of the electorate seats in parliament.

The 2002 election

The 2005 election

Defeat

Electoral results

The following table shows the total votes* for Labour, plus parties supporting the Labour-led government. For more details of electoral results, see the relevant election articles.

* 'Votes' means party votes only. 'Seats' means both list and electorate seats.

Notes

• Following the 1999 election, Labour formed a coalition with the Alliance Party, and gained support on matters of confidence and supply from the Greens.
• Following the 2002 election, Labour formed a coalition with the Progressive Party, and gained support on matters of confidence and supply from the Greens, and United Future.
• Following the 2005 election, Labour formed a coalition with the Progressive Party, and gained support on matters of confidence and supply from the New Zealand First Party and United Future. The Greens signed an agreement to abstain on votes of confidence and supply, giving the Labour-led Government a majority. The Māori Party also abstained on confidence and supply votes but has no formal agreement with the Government.

Prime Minister

Helen Clark was Prime Minister from when the government was elected in 1999 until it was defeated by the National Party in the 2008 elections.

Cabinet Ministers