Political agreements

Part of the McGuinness Institute’s CivicsNZ project

In 1996, New Zealand held its first mixed-member proportional (MMP) election. When there is uncertainty over who has ‘confidence in the House’, the MMP process requires the Governor-General to draw on political statements, verbal or written, in order to form a view as to whether confidence in the House is attained and the tests of quantity and clarity have been achieved. As part of this process, the Governor-General is able to rely on verbal public assurances, although signed written documents are preferred. Although there is no requirement on a political party to make a signed agreement public, there is a political and ethical obligation to do so.

There are a number of ways a change of government can come about. The diagram below breaks down the process into four phases; depending on the circumstances some of these phases can take place over different time periods. Political agreements (verbal and/or written) can play a role in phase 2, the formation of government. The process is set out in the 2017 Cabinet Manual.

Importantly, agreements mentioned in the ‘speech from the throne’ (listed on pp. 283–285) do not necessarily form part of the appointment of government (by then the appointment process has been completed). Instead they are owned by the political parties concerned and are therefore not parliamentary papers or government agency records, which means there is no official record kept.

Under MMP, four types of government are likely to eventuate (although other permutations involving confidence and supply and/or co-operation agreements are possible):

  1. Majority single-party (single party with over 50% or more of the seats in the House held by one political party)
  2. Minority single-party (single party with 50% or less of the seats in the House held by one political party)
  3. Majority coalition (multiple parties with over 50% or more of the seats in the House govern together)
  4. Minority coalition (multiple parties with 50% or less of the seats in the House govern together)

How a change in government eventuates

Significant political agreements since 1996 to 2020

Table 1: Coalition Agreements forming Government [5]

Date Major Political Party Minor Political Party Title of Agreement
10 December 1996NationalNew Zealand FirstThe 1996 coalition agreement between National and New Zealand First
6 December 1999LabourAllianceThe coalition agreement [?]
8 August 2002LabourProgressiveCoalition Agreement between the Labour and Progressive Coalition Parties in Parliament
17 October 2005LabourProgressiveCoalition Agreement: Labour and Progressive Parties in Parliament
24 October 2017LabourNew Zealand FirstCoalition Agreement: New Zealand Labour Party & New Zealand First

Table 2: Confidence and Supply Agreements forming Government [13]

Notes:
# The Green Party supported the Coalition Government on confidence and supply issues but no written agreement was prepared. It is therefore included in the list below but not on the graph above. (Source: Parliamentary Library, Personal Communication).

Date Major Political Party Minor Political Party Title of Agreement
1999#LabourGreenAlthough there was some form of verbal agreement, it was never written up.
8 August 2002Labour/ProgressiveUnited FutureAgreement for Confidence and Supply between the Labour/Progressive Government and the United Future Parliamentary Caucus
17 October 2005LabourNew Zealand FirstConfidence and Supply Agreement with New Zealand First
17 October 2005LabourUnited FutureConfidence and Supply Agreement with United Future
14 November 2008NationalUnited FutureConfidence and Supply Agreement with United Future
16 November 2008NationalACTNational-ACT confidence and supply agreement
Updated 17 August 2010, see link on the right:
16 November 2008NationalMāori PartyRelationship and Confidence and Supply Agreement between the National Party and the Māori Party
5 December 2011NationalACTConfidence and Supply Agreement with ACT New Zealand
5 December 2011NationalUnited FutureConfidence and Supply Agreement with United Future New Zealand
11 December 2011NationalMāori PartyRelationship Accord and Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Māori Party (including Schedule A)
29 September 2014NationalACT2014 Confidence and Supply Agreement with ACT New Zealand
29 September 2014NationalUnited Future2014 Confidence and Supply Agreement with United Future New Zealand
5 October 2014NationalMāori Party2014 Relationship Accord and Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Māori Party
24 October 2017LabourGreenConfidence and Supply Agreement: New Zealand Labour Party and the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Table 3: Agreements inside formation/inside Government [3]

Date Major Political Party Minor Political Party Title of Agreement
26 August 2002Labour/ProgressiveGreenCo-operation between the Labour/Progressive Government and the Green Parliamentary Caucus
17 October 2005LabourGreenLabour led Government Co-operation Agreement with the Green Party
November 2020LabourGreenNew Zealand Labour Party & Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand: Cooperation Agreement

Table 4: Agreements outside formation/inside Government [1]

Date Major Political Party Minor Political Party Title of Agreement
8 April 2009NationalGreen Memorandum of Understanding Between The New Zealand National Party and The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Table 5: Agreements outside formation/outside Government [2]

Date Major Political Party Minor Political Party Title of Agreement
25 May 2014 MANA InternetMemorandum of Understanding Between the MANA Movement and the Internet Party
2016LabourGreen Memorandum of Understanding Between the New Zealand Labour Party and Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand