The Westminster System And The Westminster Model Of Government

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New Zealanders are affected on a daily basis by the decisions the government makes. These decisions are made through a particular protocol that occurs within our parliamentary system (New Zealand Parliament 2014). This parliamentary system is embodied in constitutional law, and as a formal legal structure, it displays information in regards to the relationship between the three main branches of government. These three main branches are the judiciary (applies, sometimes makes law), the executive (initiates and administers law) and the legislature (creates the law) (Mulgan 53-54). All these branches are present both in the Westminster system and New Zealand’s current system (New Zealand Parliament 2014). As a Commonwealth country, similar …show more content…
Although the Westminster model of government has majorly influenced New Zealand’s current parliamentary system and hence is very similar, there are now some differences. To put it simply, similarly to New Zealand’s current system, the main aspects of the Westminster system include the sovereign/head of state, a head of government (head of the executive/Prime Minister), executive branch, judiciary, civil service, parliamentary opposition and the legislature (Mulgan 55). However, the amount of power the head of state has is different in New Zealand. Today, the governor-general is elected by the Queen as per recommendation from the Prime Minister. This position of a governor-general does not entitle much authority over New Zealand in regards to the exercise of power (Constitution Act 1986). Although the governor-general does hold the title as the sovereign’s representative, the amount of power they hold is rather limited in comparison to that of the Prime Minister’s (Constitution Act 1986). In common with the Westminster system, the Queen, or rather the sovereign still remains to be recognised as the head of state (Constitution Act 1986). Regardless, the most effective change is the transfer from First Past the Post to Mixed-Member Proportional system (Creepaz et. al …show more content…
New Zealand did not lose the main essence of the Westminster model of government. The essence in this case is the structure of the Westminster model of government, which has barely changed. Hence, the changes made to the Westminster model of government in New Zealand may prove to be minimal on a larger scale. However, they are still changes that are highly relevant, individual and authentic to New Zealand’s very diverse society. Hence, it is fair to conclude that although there has been a slight shift from the Westminster model of government, this shift has proven to be both beneficial and vital for New Zealand’s society. Regardless, even with the shift, precedent from the United Kingdom is still used today. In addition, New Zealand’s parliamentary system has successfully been ranked as one of the longest surviving parliaments (Miller 2). This could be due to the changes that resulted throughout the years of adjusting the Westminster model of government in order to be tailored to New Zealand’s society and political landscape. Hence, it is fair to conclude that these changes have proven to be positive rather than negative and very significant to New Zealand

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