New Zealand’s population in 1999 was estimated at 3.7 million people, with a growth rate of 1.1%. The economy of New Zealand was largely dependent on its agricultural sector, which accounted for around 8% of the country’s GDP. This was supplemented by the manufacturing and tourism industries. Foreign relations in 1999 were largely positive with the country enjoying strong ties with many Asian nations and the wider international community. Politically, New Zealand had been a multi-party state since 1893 when it formally adopted a democratic system. The ruling party at this time was New Zealand First, which had been in power since 1996. In 1999, Jenny Shipley was Prime Minister and had been since 1997. See ethnicityology for New Zealand in the year of 2018.
Yearbook 1999
New Zealand. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of New Zealand. Jenny Shipley’s government survived by a margin of confidence in February. The vote had been preceded by strong criticism of Tourism Minister Murray McCully, who was accused of going beyond his powers in the context of an extensive advertising campaign for the country’s tourism authorities.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of ZK which stands for New Zealand and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
A new law that allows the authorities to detain illegal immigrants and to prosecute refugee smugglers was adopted in May in anticipation of the expected arrival of 102 Chinese boat refugees.
When Bill Clinton visited the country in September, the US president lifted the US ban on joint US-New Zealand military exercises. This was introduced in 1986 in response to New Zealand’s decision not to allow nuclear weapons or aircraft to visit the country.
The election was a success for the Labor Party, which received 52 seats, compared with 37 in the 1996 elections. The Nationalist Party went from 44 to 41 seats, while the Alliance Party received eleven seats. After nine years, the Conservative government was handed over power to a center-left coalition led by Labor leader Helen Clark. The new coalition government, however, only had 59 of the Parliament’s 120 seats, and the Green Party was given a guardian role.
Clark and her party promised a small tax increase in favor of welfare policy initiatives. Defense cuts were also included in Labour’s program.
At the same time as the election, two advisory referendums were held, with a large majority voting for harsher penalties for violent crimes and for reducing the number of MPs from 120 to 99.
In the September 2017 parliamentary elections, Labor rose 14 seats to 46, while the ruling Conservative National Party lost 4 and gained 56. Only 2 months before the election, Labor had changed party leader when 37-year-old Jacinda Ardern took over the post. After a month of government negotiations, a minority government was formed with the participation of Labor and NZ First. Together, the two parties had 53 seats. They depended on the 8 seats of the Green Party for a majority in parliament. Ardern became the country’s 3rd female prime minister. The government marked the end of 9 years of conservative rule.
The government announced in October that it planned to introduce a new visa type for refugees for global climate change. In the new government, Greenland’s leader James Shaw had become Minister of Climate Change, and even before the September election, the party had promised to introduce such a visa type in favor of refugees from Pacific Islanders who were sinking into the sea. (New Zealand considers creating climate change refugee visas, Guardian 31/10 2017)
Ardern attended the ASEAN summit in Manila in November 2017 and took the opportunity to comment on the Philippine regime’s violent approach to drugs and crime: “Our position is that the large number of deaths require at least investigation and surveillance.” By then, the Duterte regime had already killed 6,000 people.
