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The Cabinet of New Zealand (Template:Lang-mi) is a body of senior ministers, responsible to the New Zealand Parliament. Cabinet meetings, chaired by the Prime Minister, occur once a week; in them, vital issues are discussed and government policy is formulated. Though not established by any statute, Cabinet has significant power in the New Zealand political system and nearly all bills proposed by the cabinet in Parliament are enacted.

All ministers in Cabinet also serve as members of the Executive Council, the body tasked with advising the Governor-General in the exercise of his or her formal constitutional functions. Outside Cabinet, there is an outer ministry and also a number of non-Cabinet ministers, responsible for a specific policy area and reporting directly to a senior Cabinet minister. Ministers outside Cabinet are also part of Cabinet committees and will regularly attend Cabinet meetings which concern their portfolios. Therefore, although operating outside of Cabinet directly, these ministers do not lack power and influence as they are still very much part of the decision making process.

Legislative basis

Cabinet has no formal statutory basis and is not established by any legislative act: it exists purely by constitutional convention. This convention carries sufficient weight for many official declarations and regulations to refer to Cabinet, and a government department—the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet—is responsible for supporting it. Although Cabinet lacks any direct legislative framework for its existence, the Cabinet Manual has become the official document which governs its functions, and on which its convention rests.

The structure of Cabinet has as its basis the formal institution known as the Executive Council, the body tasked with advising the Governor General in the exercise of his or her formal constitutional functions (i.e. the Governor-in-Council). Most ministers hold membership of both bodies, but some Executive Councillors—known as "ministers outside Cabinet"—do not attend Cabinet. The convention of members of the Executive Council meeting separately from the Governor began during Edward Stafford's first tenure as Premier (1856–1861). Stafford, a long-time advocate of responsible government in New Zealand, believed the colonial government should have full control over all its affairs, without the intervention of the Governor. Because the Governor chaired the Executive Council, Stafford intentionally met with his ministers without the Governor present.

Members

All ministers have the style of "The Honourable", except for the Prime Minister, who is styled "The Right Honourable". Additionally, Winston Peters is styled as The Right Honourable, having been appointed a member of the Privy Council prior to the change in rules regarding the use of the style.

The table below lists New Zealand's Cabinet ministers and ministers outside Cabinet as of 26 October 2017.

All Ministers, both inside and outside Cabinet are Executive Council Members.

Parliamentary Private Secretaries have no Government rank, but merely assist the Ministers from a Parliamentary standpoint, and represent the Minister they assist when they are unavailable.

Powers and functions

The lack of formal legislation establishing Cabinet leaves the powers of its members only loosely defined. The Cabinet generally directs and controls policy (releasing government policy statements) and is responsible to Parliament. It also has significant influence over lawmaking. Convention regarding the Cabinet's authority has considerable force, and generally proves strong enough to bind its participants. Theoretically, each minister operates independently, having received a ministerial warrant over a certain field from the Crown (represented by the Governor-General). But the Governor-General can dismiss a minister at any time, conventionally on the advice of the Prime Minister, so ministers are largely obliged to work within a certain framework.

Collective responsibility

Cabinet itself acts as the accepted forum for establishing this framework. Ministers will jointly discuss the policy which the government as a whole will pursue, and ministers who do not exercise their respective powers in a manner compatible with Cabinet's decision risk losing those powers. This has become known as the doctrine of collective responsibility. Collective responsibility is a constitutional convention which rests on three principles. The first principle is unanimity, where members of Cabinet must publicly support decisions and defend them in public, regardless on any personal views on the matter. Secondly, the confidentiality limb means that all Cabinet discussions are to be kept confidential. This allows for open and explicit conversation, discussion and debate on the issues Cabinet choses to look at. The final principle is confidence, where Cabinet and executive government must have the confidence of the House of Representatives. If there is no government, the Governor General has the ability to intervene, exercising prerogative powers, to find a government which does have confidence.

Problems arise when the Prime Minister breaches collective responsibility. Since ministerial appointments and dismissals are in practice in the hands of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet can not directly initiate any action against a Prime Minister who openly disagrees with their government's policy. On the other hand, a Prime Minister who tries to act against concerted opposition from their Cabinet risks losing the confidence of their party colleagues. An example is former Prime Minister David Lange, who publicly spoke against a tax reform package which was sponsored by then-Finance Minister Roger Douglas and supported by Cabinet. Lange dismissed Douglas, but when the Cabinet supported Douglas against Lange, Lange himself resigned as Prime Minister.

Collective responsibility after MMP

The doctrine of collective responsibility has changed since the introduction of MMP in 1993 (see Electoral Reform and Cabinet Structure below). The change allowed for minority parties part of a coalition the ability to 'agree to disagree' with the majority on certain issues. Following the 2011 general election the National-led government released the following statement in regards to the role of minor parties in the context of collective responsibility. "Collective responsibility applies differently in the case of support party Ministers. Support party Ministers are only bound by collective responsibility in relation to their own respective portfolios (including any specific delegated responsibilities). When support party Ministers speak about the issues in their portfolios, they speak for the government and as part of the government. When the government takes decisions within their portfolios, they must support those decisions, regardless of their personal views and whether or not they were at the meeting concerned. When support party Ministers speak about matters outside their portfolios, they may speak as political party leaders or members of Parliament rather than as Ministers, and do not necessarily support the government position."

Electoral reform and cabinet structure

The 1993 referendum in New Zealand (see Electoral reform in New Zealand) resulted in a number of structural changes to Cabinet. The change to the MMP system ultimately led to a larger number of political parties in Parliament, as under the new voting system, any political party could be in Parliament if they received five percent of the party vote or won one electoral seat. The increased representation resulted in the need to form coalitions between parties as it is unlikely one party will receive a majority of votes under MMP.

In order to govern in a coalition under MMP, it is likely that a major party will have to relinquish and offer Cabinet positions to members of a minority party. The 1996 General Election highlighted the changes which were predicted to result from MMP. New Zealand First received 13.4% of the party vote, giving them 17 total seats in the House of Representatives (compared to 8.5% in the 1993 General Election, conducted under the FPP voting system).This ultimately resulted in the National-New Zealand First coalition as the National Party, who received 33.8% of the party vote, translating to 44 seats in the House, could not govern alone.

Negotiations forming the new government took nearly two months however the ultimate result being that New Zealand First were to have five ministers inside Cabinet and four outside. This translated to having 36.4% of representation in the new government. The Prime Minister following the 1996 election, Jim Bolger, was forced to tell his caucus during negotiations with New Zealand First, that he would not be able to satisfy all ambitions of the caucus, due to the forced inclusion of the minority party into the governmental framework, thus highlighting one of the challenged that came with MMP.

Meetings

The Cabinet typically meets weekly in the Beehive (the executive wing of the Parliament Buildings), where it discusses important political issues. The Prime Minister usually chairs the meeting and sets the agenda.

Committees

Parts of this article (those related to Current committee members) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2017)

A Cabinet Committee comprises a subset of the larger Cabinet, consisting of a number of ministers who have responsibility in related areas of policy. Cabinet Committees go into considerably more detail than can be achieved at regular Cabinet meetings, discussing issues which do not need the input of ministers holding unrelated portfolios. There are currently 10 Cabinet Committees.

Cabinet Committees will often discuss matters referred to them by Cabinet itself, and then report back the results of their deliberation. This can sometimes become a powerful tool for advancing certain policies, as was demonstrated in the Lange government. Roger Douglas, Minister of Finance, and his allies succeeded in dominating the finance committee, enabling them to determine what it recommended to Cabinet. The official recommendation of the finance committee was much harder for his opponents to fight than his individual claims in Cabinet would be. Douglas was able to pass measures that, had Cabinet deliberated on them itself rather than pass them to Committee, would have been defeated.

Cabinet committee membership

References

1. "Clearing up some coalition confusion". Newsroom. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
2. ^ Duncan, Grant (October 2015). "New Zealand's Cabinet Manual: How Does It Shape Constitutional Conventions?". Parliamentary Affairs. 68 (4): 737–756. doi:10.1093/pa/gsu023.
3. "Cabinet Manual". cabinetmanual.cabinetoffice.govt.nz. Cabinet Office of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
4. ^ "Cabinet government". Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
5. ""The Honourable" and "The Right Honourable"". New Zealand Government. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
6. "Ministerial list for Announcement" (PDF). Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
7. "Parliamentary Private Secretaries appointed". The Beehive. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
8. "Cabinet Manual: Cabinet". Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2008. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
9. Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "4. – Cabinet government – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
10. Palmer, Matthew. "What is New Zealand's constitution and who interprets it? Constitutional realism and the importance of public office-holders" (PDF). Retrieved 21 May 2018.
11. "CO (12) 3: National-led Administration – Consultation and Operating Arrangements". CO (12) 3: National-led Administration – Consultation and Operating Arrangements. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
12. "What is the MMP voting system?". Retrieved 23 May 2018.
13. "General elections 1996–2005". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
14. "General elections 1996–2005". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
15. ^ Spanhake, Craig (2005). "Cabinet Selection 1960–1997: An Overview of Political Process in New Zealand". Retrieved 20 May 2018.
16. "Cabinet Committees | DPMC". www.dpmc.govt.nz. Retrieved 15 February 2018.

• Politics of New Zealand
• Constitution of New Zealand
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• Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand