In New Zealand, waka-jumping is a colloquial term for when a member of Parliament (MP) either switches political party between elections (taking their parliamentary seat with them and potentially upsetting electoral proportionality in the New Zealand Parliament) or when a list MP's party membership ceases. [1] In 2001 legislation was enacted that required list MPs to leave Parliament if they waka-jumped; this law expired after the 2005 election. In 2018 a similar law was passed which requires a defecting MP to give up their seat on the request of their former party leader. Electorate MPs may re-contest their seat in a by-election, whereas list MPs are replaced by the next available person on the party list.
Waka is a Māori language word that originally meant a large Māori canoe (although it can also mean any other vehicle). [2] Hence, the term waka-jumping is a variant of the seafaring term "jump ship" – to leave a ship's crew abruptly and against the terms of a fixed-term contract (or naval enlistment). To a lesser degree, it is connected to waka hurdling: a traditional Maori sport, in which competitors jump canoes over suspended logs.
The implementation of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system after a referendum in 1993 led to a series of defections and re-alignments as the former two-party system adjusted to the change. This led to the rise and fall of a number of political parties in New Zealand, including the creation of New Zealand First and ACT. The new political climate tended to favour the establishment of new political parties since in former times, dissidents had often simply become independent MPs.[ citation needed ] In the two previous parliaments before the 2001 Act had been passed, 22 MPs defected. [3]
The frequency of waka-jumping made New Zealand enact the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2001, which had been introduced by Labour Party associate justice minister Margaret Wilson in 1999 but had been promoted by Labour's coalition partner Alliance ahead of that year's general election. The Act expired at the 2005 election, when the sunset clause came into effect. It required MPs who had entered Parliament via a party list to resign from Parliament if they left that party's parliamentary caucus. [4]
However, parties were still able to find ways around this law. When the Alliance split in 2002 over how to respond to the invasion of Afghanistan, Jim Anderton nominally remained the leader of the Alliance inside Parliament while he campaigned outside Parliament as the leader of the newly-founded Progressive Party. [5] The resulting uncertainty around the Alliance’s position contributed to Prime Minister Helen Clark's decision to call an early general election in 2002. [6] While the law was in force, it was used once to expel a list MP from Parliament (an electorate MP who changed parties could still fight a by-election, as Tariana Turia did [7] ).
In December 2003, the ACT Party caucus voted to expel Donna Awatere Huata, an ACT list MP who became an independent after she had been charged with fraud. [8] The expulsion became the subject of litigation, and Awatere Huata was not expelled from Parliament until a Supreme Court decision handed down in November 2004. [9] A proposed Bill to replace the Act in 2005 failed. [10]
The Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 received Royal Assent on 3 October 2018 and entered into force in New Zealand the next day. [11] The provisions on waka-jumping now appear as section 55A of the Electoral Act 1993. [12] Under those provisions, members of Parliament who choose to leave their party or are expelled from their party are also expelled from Parliament if the leader of the party under which they were elected issues appropriate notice to the Speaker that the MP should be expelled, with the seat becoming vacant. [13] [14] Unlike the 2001 Act, the 2018 Act did not have a sunset clause and so remains in force until it is deliberately repealed. The Act was passed as part of the coalition agreement between New Zealand First and the Labour Party and supported through Parliament "begrudgingly" by the Green Party under the terms of its own confidence-and-supply agreement with Labour. [13] [15]
A member's bill in the name of National Party MP David Carter with the intent of repealing the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 was introduced into Parliament in July 2020. [16] The Green Party defied other government parties to support the repeal bill, with the first reading in Parliament passing by 64 to 55 votes. [17] Carter's Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill was then referred to the justice select committee. [18] After the 2020 New Zealand general election, the bill's second reading was held on 12 May and 14 June 2021, and the Labour Party used its majority of 65 seats to block its passage. [19]
Below is a list of notable waka-jumpers: [20]
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ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT, is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natural environment and for smaller, smarter government in its goals of a prosperous economy, a strong society, and a quality of life that is the envy of the world". Young ACT is an associated student wing.
The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes laws, provides ministers to form Cabinet, and supervises the work of government. It is also responsible for adopting the state's budgets and approving the state's accounts.
Donna Lynn Awatere Huata is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament for the ACT New Zealand Party and activist for Māori causes.
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A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs only in countries which have an electoral system based wholly or partly on party-list proportional representation.
Kenneth Xiaoxuan Wang is a former Deputy Leader of the ACT New Zealand party. He previously served as a member of Parliament to replace Donna Awatere Huata, who was expelled from Parliament in November 2004.
Māori politics is the politics of the Māori people, who were the original inhabitants of New Zealand and who are now the country's largest minority. Before the arrival of Pākehā (Europeans) in New Zealand, Māori society was based largely around tribal units, and chiefs provided political leadership. With the British settlers of the 19th century came a new British-style government. From the outset, Māori sought representation within this government, seeing it as a vital way to promote their people's rights and improve living standards. Modern Māori politics can be seen as a subset of New Zealand politics in general, but has a number of distinguishing features, including advocacy for indigenous rights and Māori sovereignty. Many Māori politicians are members of major, historically European-dominated political parties, but several Māori parties have been formed.
Party switching is any change in political party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one currently holding elected office.
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The Electoral Finance Act 2007 was a controversial act in New Zealand. The Fifth Labour Government introduced the Electoral Finance Bill partly in response to the 2005 New Zealand election funding controversy, in particular to "third-party" campaigns.
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Melissa Heni Mekameka Whaitiri is a New Zealand Te Pāti Māori politician and member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She was first elected to Parliament in the 2013 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election for the Labour Party. Whaitiri served as Minister of Customs and Minister for Veterans from 2020 and Minister for Food Safety from 2022, until waka-jumping (defecting) from Labour on 3 May 2023. She currently sits as an independent member in the House.
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The Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 is an Act of Parliament by the New Zealand Parliament that amends the Electoral Act 1993. The act forces the expulsion of members of the New Zealand Parliament who have left or been expelled from their party. If the member of Parliament was elected as an electorate MP, expulsion triggers a by-election. The bill was passed on 27 September 2018 as part of the coalition agreement between the Labour and New Zealand First parties and the Green Party's confidence-and-supply agreement with Labour. The Bill has been described by the media and public as the "Waka jumping bill."
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