Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand)

In New Zealand, the leader of the Official Opposition, commonly described as the leader of the Opposition, is the politician who heads the Official Opposition. Conventionally, they are the leader of the largest political party in the House of Representatives that is not in Government (nor provides confidence and supply). This is usually the parliamentary leader of the second-largest caucus in the House of Representatives.

When in the debating chamber the leader of the Opposition sits on the left-hand side of the centre table, in front of the Opposition and directly opposite the prime minister.

The role of the leader of the Opposition dates to the late 19th century, with the first organised political parties, and the office was formally recognised by law in 1933. Although currently mentioned in a number of statutes, the office is not formally established by any act of Parliament, just like the prime minister's role; it is simply a product of the conventions of the Westminster-style parliamentary system. The leader of the Opposition is paid a special salary by virtue of the office, equivalent to that of a Cabinet minister.

Since 1936, the leader of the Opposition, as well as the prime minister, has invariably come from one of the two major parties, Labour or National. Therefore, the leader of the Opposition has historically acquired that role by either losing a general election having previously been prime minister or by acquiring the leadership of the party that is already the Official Opposition. The rules on electing party leadership vary between parties.

Since the outcome of the 2023 general election, the current holder of the office is the leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and former prime minister Chris Hipkins.

Role

The term "opposition" has a specific meaning in the parliamentary sense; it is an important component of the Westminster system, with the Official Opposition having the task of directing criticism towards the Government. The leader of the Opposition chairs a Shadow Cabinet, which scrutinises the policies and actions of the Cabinet led by the prime minister, and promotes alternative policies. Directed by the leader, the Opposition may move no-confidence motions to test the Government's majority or the confidence of the House. The leader of the Opposition may be asked by the governor-general to form a new government if the incumbent government is unable to continue in office (e.g. upon a successful no-confidence motion).

Apart from parliamentary duties, there are several ways in which the leader of the Opposition participates directly in affairs of state. Often, these relate to national security matters, which are supposed to transcend party politics – the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, for example, is required to brief the leader of the Opposition as well as the prime minister on certain matters of national security.

Salary The leader of the Opposition receives a higher salary than other members of the Opposition, being paid the same amount as a Cabinet minister. the Leader of the Opposition's salary is NZ$288,900. In addition, like all other members of parliament, the leader of the Opposition receives annual allowances for travel and lodging.

History For much of the country's early history, the role was not a formal one. For most of the 19th century, there was rarely any one person who could be identified as the leader of the Opposition. Prominent members were sometimes informally dubbed as "Leader of the Opposition" – often facetiously by rival politicians. It was only when the Liberal Party was formed that any unified leadership appeared in Parliament, and the role of Opposition leader is generally traced from this point. John Ballance, leader of the Liberals (and later premier) is usually considered the first leader of the Opposition in the modern sense.

When Ballance led the Liberals into government in 1891, they faced no formal opposition in a party sense, though certain MPs were styled leader of the Opposition. Their opponents gradually coalesced around a leader, William Massey, who became leader of the Opposition in 1903, and in 1909 became the first parliamentary leader of the new Reform Party. For the first time, an Opposition party came forward as an alternative government. After this, the leader of the Opposition was typically the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the House of Representatives that had not undertaken to support the government of the day.

One exception to this was during World War I, when the opposition Liberal Party accepted the governing Reform Party's offer to form a wartime coalition. Prime Minister Massey also extended the offer to the new Labour Party who rejected it. This made Labour the largest party not in government, however their leader Alfred Hindmarsh was not officially recognised as the leader of the Opposition. Joseph Ward, who became deputy prime minister in the wartime cabinet, still retained the title, albeit in name only.

During the 1910s and 1920s, the role of Official Opposition alternated between the Liberal and Reform parties. However, the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s, together with a gradual weakening in support for the Liberals, led to a three-party situation by the mid-1920s, with the Labour and Liberal parties having a similar number of seats. After the 1925 election there was no official leader of the Opposition until Rex Mason of Labour won the seat of Eden in the by-election held on 15 April 1926. Labour superseded the Liberals as the Official Opposition, and their leader Harry Holland became the leader of the Opposition.

The 1928 general election put the United Party (a remnant of the Liberals) in government for the last time. Reform then became the Opposition, however in 1931 Reform entered into coalition with the Liberals, and Labour then became the Official Opposition, despite being the third party. The unity of the coalition, culminating in the formation of the National Party in 1936, created a stable two-party system, with National and Labour alternating between Government and Opposition for much of the remainder of the century.

Modern office The office was first officially recognised in section 14 of the Finance Act 1933 (no 2), when a special allowance was conferred on the holder.

With the introduction of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, first used in the 1996 general election, the nature of parliamentary opposition has changed. Now, though the leader of the largest non-Government party still becomes the leader of the Opposition, there will usually be several parties who are "in opposition". An example of this arose after the 2002 general election, when the National Party gained only 27 seats – less than half the 58 seats held by opposition parties. This prompted calls from a number of parties, notably New Zealand First and the Greens, for the abolition or reform of the post. It was argued by these parties that the position had become an "anachronism" in the modern multi-party environment, and that the days of a united opposition bloc were gone. However, with the revival of the National Party in the 2005 general election, a more traditional relationship between Government and Opposition has been restored. According to Parliamentary Services, the leader of the Opposition formally represents and speaks for all parties that are outside Government.

List of leaders of the Opposition A table of leaders is below. Those who also served as prime minister, either before or after being leader of the Opposition, are indicated.

Key

No. LeaderPortraitTerm of office PartyPrime Minister 1 John Ballance 2 July 1889 23 January 1891 Liberal Atkinson1887–91 2 John Bryce 23 January 1891 31 August 1891 Conservative rowspan=2 Ballance1891–93 rowspan=2 3William Rolleston31 August 18918 November 1893ConservativeSeddon1893–1906 4 William Russell 26 June 1894 3 July 1901 Conservative rowspan=3 5William Massey11 September 1903February 1909Conservative Hall-Jones1906 rowspan=2 Ward1906–12 rowspan=2 February 190910 July 1912Reform Mackenzie1912 6 Joseph Ward 11 September 1913 27 November 1919 LiberalMassey1912–25 7 William MacDonald 21 January 1920 31 August 1920 Liberal rowspan=3 8Thomas Wilford8 September 192013 August 1925Liberal Bell1925Coates1925–28 9 George Forbes 13 August 1925 4 November 1925 Liberal Position vacant4 November 192516 June 1926— 10 Harry Holland 16 June 1926 18 October 1928 Labour Joseph Ward 4 December 1928 10 December 1928 United rowspan=2 11Gordon Coates10 December 192822 September 1931Reform Ward1928–30Forbes1930–35 Harry Holland 22 September 1931 8 October 1933 Labour 12 Michael Joseph Savage 12 October 1933 6 December 1935 Labour George Forbes 6 December 1935 14 May 1936 United rowspan=3 Savage1935–40 14 May 1936 2 November 1936 National13Adam Hamilton2 November 193626 November 1940National rowspan=2 Fraser1940–49 14 Sidney Holland 26 November 1940 13 December 1949 National 15 Peter Fraser 13 December 1949 12 December 1950 LabourHolland1949–57 rowspan=2 16Walter Nash17 January 195112 December 1957Labour Holyoake1957 17 Keith Holyoake 12 December 1957 12 December 1960 National Nash1957–60 Walter Nash 12 December 1960 31 March 1963 LabourHolyoake1960–72 18 Arnold Nordmeyer 1 April 1963 16 December 1965 Labour rowspan=2 19Norman Kirk16 December 19658 December 1972Labour Marshall1972 20 Jack Marshall 8 December 1972 9 July 1974 NationalKirk1972–74 rowspan=2 21Robert Muldoon9 July 197412 December 1975National Rowling1974–75 22 Bill Rowling 12 December 1975 3 February 1983 Labour rowspan=2 Muldoon1975–84 23 David Lange 3 February 1983 26 July 1984 Labour Robert Muldoon 26 July 1984 29 November 1984 NationalLange1984–89 24 Jim McLay 29 November 1984 26 March 1986 National rowspan=3 25Jim Bolger26 March 19862 November 1990National Palmer1989–90 Moore1990 26 Mike Moore 2 November 1990 1 December 1993 LabourBolger1990–97 rowspan=2 27Helen Clark1 December 199310 December 1999Labour Shipley1997–99 28 Jenny Shipley 10 December 1999 8 October 2001 National rowspan=4 Clark1999–2008 29 Bill English 8 October 2001 28 October 2003 National 30 Don Brash 28 October 2003 27 November 2006 National 31 John Key 27 November 2006 19 November 2008 National 32 Phil Goff 19 November 2008 13 December 2011 Labour rowspan="5" Key2008–16 33 David Shearer 13 December 2011 15 September 2013 Labour 34 David Cunliffe 15 September 2013 27 September 2014 Labour —David Parker 30 September 2014 18 November 2014 Labour35Andrew Little18 November 20141 August 2017LabourEnglish2016–17 36 Jacinda Ardern 1 August 2017 26 October 2017 Labour (29) Bill English 26 October 2017 27 February 2018 NationalArdern2017–23 37 Simon Bridges 27 February 2018 22 May 2020 National 38 Todd Muller 22 May 2020 14 July 2020 National — Nikki Kaye 14 July 2020 National 39 Judith Collins 14 July 2020 25 November 2021 National — Shane Reti 25 November 2021 30 November 2021 National40Christopher Luxon30 November 202127 November 2023National Hipkins2023 41 Chris Hipkins 27 November 2023 Incumbent Labour Luxon2023–present Notes

See also

List of prime ministers of New Zealand

References

External links

People of Parliament – New Zealand Parliament