53rd New Zealand Parliament

The 53rd New Zealand Parliament was a meeting of the legislature in New Zealand. It opened on 25 November 2020 following the 17 October 2020 general election, and dissolved on 8 September 2023 to trigger the next election. It consisted of 120 members of Parliament (MPs) with five parties represented: the Labour and Green parties, in government, and the National, Māori and ACT parties, in opposition. The Sixth Labour Government held a majority in this Parliament. Jacinda Ardern continued as prime minister until her resignation on 25 January 2023; she was succeeded by Chris Hipkins.

The Parliament was elected using a mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) voting system. MPs represented 72 geographical electorates: 16 in the South Island, 49 in the North Island and 7 Māori electorates. This was an increase of one electorate seat from the previous election, as a result of population growth in the North Island. The remaining MPs were elected from party lists using the Webster/Sainte-Laguë method to realise proportionality.

Electorate changes
To achieve proportionality across electorates, there were a number of changes required to electorates based on population data determined through the 2018 census and projected population growth. As such, the number of geographical electorates increased by one compared to the 2017 election to account for the North Island's higher population growth, creating Takanini, and 30 general electorates and five Māori electorates had their boundaries adjusted so that each electorate contains roughly the same number of people.

2020 general election
The 2020 general election was held on 17 October, after being delayed from 19 September due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. The dissolution of the 52nd Parliament was originally set for 12 August, and was delayed first to 17 August and finally to 6 September 2020.

The 2020 election resulted in a majority for the Labour Party, winning 65 seats, allowing them to continue the Sixth Labour Government unrestricted. Their coalition partner from the 52nd Parliament, New Zealand First, did not receive enough votes to pass the five percent threshold or win in an electorate, kicking them out of Parliament. Confidence and supply partner the Green Party received 10 seats, up two, becoming the first minor party ever to increase their share of the vote following their being in government. In the opposition, the National Party lost 23 seats, giving them a total of 33, and ACT New Zealand went from one seat to ten. The Māori Party won the Waiariki electorate and gained an additional list seat after losing representation in the 2017 general election.

Government formation
Labour achieved a majority in the 2020 election, allowing them to form a government without any coalition agreements having to be made. However, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern entered talks with the Green Party about "potential areas of co-operation" in the formation of the new government. After two weeks of discussions, the Green Party reached an agreement with Labour on 31 October to become part of the next Government, with co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson receiving ministerial positions outside of cabinet. Shaw remained Minister for Climate Change and become Associate Minister for the Environment, while Davidson became Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Associate Minister of Housing. The new government was sworn in on 6 November 2020. Some ministerial positions changed in July 2021. Ardern was succeeded as prime minister by Chris Hipkins on 25 January 2023, following her resignation.

Parliamentary term
The writ for the 2020 election was returned on 20 November 2020 after being delayed from its original set date of 12 November due to election recounts. Under section 19 of Constitution Act 1986, Parliament must meet no later than six weeks after this date; on 6 November 2020, following the new government's first Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed that the Commission Opening and State Opening of Parliament would take place on 25 and 26 November 2020, respectively.

The 53rd Parliament is the first parliament since the 44th New Zealand Parliament (and the introduction of an MMP electoral system) to have a single party hold an outright majority of seats. The Labour Party currently holds 64 seats, 3 more than the required 61 seats needed for a majority.

Timeline

 * 1 November 2020 – The Green Party enter into a "cooperation agreement" with Labour
 * 6 November 2020 –
 * Jacinda Ardern is sworn in for a second term as prime minister. Other ministers are also sworn in.
 * Final results of the 2020 election are released. Three electorates flip to Labour, and National lose two seats on the party vote, with Labour and the Māori Party picking up one each.
 * Gerry Brownlee resigns as Deputy Leader of the National Party.
 * 10 November 2020 – Shane Reti is elected Deputy Leader of the National Party.
 * 20 November 2020 – The writ of the election is returned (having been delayed from 12 November due to a judicial recount).
 * 25 November 2020 – Commission Opening of Parliament
 * 26 November 2020 – State Opening of Parliament
 * 20 May 2021 – Budget 2021 is delivered to Parliament.
 * 25 November 2021 – Judith Collins is removed as Leader of the National Party by a caucus vote of no confidence.
 * 30 November 2021 – Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis are elected Leader and Deputy Leader of the National Party.
 * 20 May 2022 – Budget 2022 is delivered to Parliament.
 * 18 June 2022 – Tauranga by-election.
 * 10 December 2022 – Hamilton West by-election.
 * 19 January 2023 – Jacinda Ardern announces resignation.
 * 23 January 2023 – Chris Hipkins is elected Leader of the Labour Party.
 * 25 January 2023 – Chris Hipkins and Carmel Sepuloni are sworn in as prime minister and deputy prime minister.
 * 18 May 2023 - Budget 2023 is devliered to Parliament.

Major legislation
On 1 March 2021, the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021 received royal assent after being introduced by Nanaia Mahuta on 9 February. This Act eliminates mechanisms for holding public referendums on the establishment of Māori wards and constituencies on local bodies, which allowed the public to veto a council's decision to introduce a Māori ward.

On 30 September 2021, the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Act 2021 passed its third reading. This Act criminalised the planning of terror attacks and expanded Police powers to conduct warrantless searches. It was supported by the Labour and National parties but was opposed by the Green, ACT and Māori parties.

On 24 November 2021, the COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Act 2021 passed its third reading. This Act allows businesses to dismiss employees who refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines.

On 15 December 2021, the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 passed its third and final reading with the support of all parties except ACT. The Act seeks to address the national housing shortage by easing the process for building houses in major cities.

On 15 February 2022, the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022 passed its third reading, becoming law with broad cross-party support. The Act banned conversion therapy in New Zealand.

On 9 March 2022, Parliament unanimously passed the Russia Sanctions Act 2022, which established a sanctions-implementation regime targeting Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On 18 March 2022, the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Act 2022 received royal assent. The Bill creates safe spaces of about 150 metres around abortion providers and also bans obstructing, filming, dissuading or protesting against individuals seeking abortion services in those zones.

On 7 June 2022, the Government's Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 passed its third reading. The Bill replaced the country's existing district health boards with a new Crown agency called Health New Zealand and established as separate Māori Health Authority. The Health Futures Act also established a new Public Health Agency within the Ministry of Health while strengthening the Ministry's stewardship role.

On 9 August 2022, the Government's Three Strikes Legislation Repeal Act 2022 passed its third reading, repealing the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010. The Three Strikes Legislation Repeal Act removed the three strikes law from New Zealand legislation. While the bill was supported by the Labour, Green, and Māori parties, it was opposed by the National and ACT parties.

On 13 December, the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022 passed its third reading and became law. The bill banned tobacco from being sold to anyone born after 1 January 2009, limited the number of retailers allowed to sell tobacco, and lowered the nicotine content in tobacco products.

On 16 August 2023, the Water Services Entities Amendment Act 2023 passed its third reading. The bill increased the number of water services entities from four to ten, and delayed the start of the entities from 2024 to 2026. That same day, the Government passed the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 and the Spatial Planning Act 2023, the first two laws in its planned revamp of the Resource Management Act 1991.

On 23 August, the Government passed two final bills entrenching the Water Services Reform Programme ("Three Waters"): the Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Act 2023 and Water Services Legislation Act 2023. The first bill sets up an economic regulation regime overseen by the Commerce Commission as a watchdog over the water services entities' quality and efficiency. The second bill outlines the duties, functions, and powers of the new water services entities that would come into effect in 2026.

Workplace culture
In 2019, following allegations of workplace misconduct by Meka Whaitiri, Jami-Lee Ross, and Maggie Barry in the 52nd Parliament the Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard commissioned a review into bullying and harassment in Parliament.

In the 53rd Parliament, Parliamentary Services started to implement the 85 recommendations from the review into workplace culture. Despite this, allegations of workplace misconduct continued. These allegations include:


 * Nick Smith bullying his staff, with allegations from 2020 leading to his resignation in 2021.
 * Gaurav Sharma being bullied by the Labour Whips office, the Prime Minister's office, and by Parliamentary Services.
 * Anna Lorck bullying her staff.

The 53rd Parliament also saw four MPs referred to Parliament's Privileges Committee for various infractions:
 * Education Minister and Labour MP Jan Tinetti was referred to the Committee on 8 June 2023 for misleading Parliament about truancy statistics. In late June 2023, the Committee ruled Tinetti had not intentionally misled Parliament but had shown a "high degree of negligence." Tinetti apologised to Parliament.
 * ACT MP Simon Court was referred to the Committee on 20 June 2023 for disclosing the Environment select committee's vote relating to the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023. On 26 July, the Privileges Committee found that Court had committed a "clear breach" of select committee confidentiality. Court apologised for his action.
 * Transport, Workplace Relations and Auckland Minister and Labour MP Michael Wood was referred to the Committee on 18 July for failing to declare his shares in Auckland Airport, Chorus, Spark, and National Australia Bank. The Committee found that he had neglected his duties but that his actions did not amount to contempt. Wood was ordered to apologise to Parliament for not managing his conflicts of interest.
 * National Party MP Tim van de Molen was referred to the committee on 1 August 2023 for allegedly threatening Labour MP Shanan Halbert during a select committee hearing. On 24 August, the committee ruled that Van De Molen had threatened Halbert, and was in contempt of Parliament. He accepted the committee's findings and issued a public apology.

Dissolution
Under section 17 of the Constitution Act 1986, Parliament expires a maximum of three years "from the day fixed for the return of the writs issued for the last preceding general election of members of the House of Representatives, and no longer". The writs were issued on 13 September 2020 and were returned on 20 November 2020, meaning that the 53rd Parliament must dissolve on or before 20 November 2023. The 2023 general election is scheduled to be held on 14 October and the 53rd Parliament is scheduled to be dissolved on 8 September.

Presiding officers

 * Speaker of the House:
 * Rt. Hon. Adrian Rurawhe (Labour) from 24 August 2022
 * Rt. Hon. Trevor Mallard (Labour) until 24 August 2022
 * Deputy Speaker of the House:
 * Greg O'Connor (Labour) from 25 August 2022
 * Adrian Rurawhe (Labour) until 24 August 2022
 * Assistant Speaker of the House: Hon. Jenny Salesa (Labour)
 * Assistant Speaker of the House: Hon. Jacqui Dean (National)
 * Assistant Speaker of the House: Ian McKelvie (National) from 1 March 2022

Other parliamentary officers

 * Clerk: David Wilson
 * Deputy Clerk: Suze Jones
 * Serjeant-at-Arms: Steve Streefkerk

Party leaders

 * Prime Minister of New Zealand (Labour):
 * Rt. Hon. Chris Hipkins from 25 January 2023
 * Rt. Hon. Jacinda Ardern until 25 January 2023
 * Deputy Leader of the Labour Party: Hon. Kelvin Davis
 * Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand:
 * Hon. Carmel Sepuloni from 25 January 2023
 * Hon. Grant Robertson until 25 January 2023
 * Leader of the Opposition (National):
 * Christopher Luxon from 30 November 2021
 * Hon. Judith Collins until 25 November 2021
 * Deputy Leader of the Opposition (National):
 * Nicola Willis from 30 November 2021
 * Shane Reti until 30 November 2021
 * Co-leaders of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand:
 * Female Co-leader: Hon. Marama Davidson
 * Any-gender Co-leader: Hon. James Shaw (except between 25 July and 10 September 2022)
 * Leader of ACT New Zealand: David Seymour
 * Deputy Leader of ACT New Zealand: Brooke van Velden
 * Co-leaders of the Māori Party:
 * Female Co-leader: Debbie Ngarewa-Packer
 * Male Co-leader: Rawiri Waititi

Floor leaders

 * Leader of the House:
 * Hon. Grant Robertson from 25 January 2023
 * Hon. Chris Hipkins until 25 January 2023
 * Deputy Leader of the House:
 * Hon. Kieran McAnulty from 14 June 2022
 * Hon. Michael Wood until 14 June 2022
 * Shadow Leader of the House:
 * Chris Bishop from 16 July 2020 to 27 August 2021 and from 6 December 2021 to 19 January 2023
 * Hon. Michael Woodhouse from 28 August 2021 to 6 December 2021 and from 19 January 2023
 * Deputy Shadow Leader of the House:
 * Hon. Michael Woodhouse until 28 August 2021 and from 6 December 2021 to 19 January 2023
 * Simeon Brown from 28 August 2021 to 6 December 2021 and from 19 January 2023

Whips

 * Senior Government (Labour) Whip:
 * Tangi Utikere from 31 January 2023
 * Duncan Webb from 14 June 2022 until 31 January 2023
 * Kieran McAnulty until 14 June 2022
 * Junior Government (Labour) Whips:
 * Camilla Belich from 31 January 2023
 * Shanan Halbert from 31 January 2023
 * Tracey McLellan from 31 January 2023
 * Barbara Edmonds until 31 January 2023
 * Willow-Jean Prime until 31 January 2023
 * Tangi Utikere from 14 June 2022 until 31 January 2023
 * Duncan Webb until 14 June 2022
 * Senior Opposition (National) Whip:
 * Chris Penk from 7 December 2021
 * Matt Doocey until 7 December 2021
 * Junior Opposition Whip: Maureen Pugh
 * Green Party Whip (Musterer): Jan Logie
 * Green Party Deputy Musterer: Elizabeth Kerekere
 * ACT New Zealand Whip: Brooke van Velden
 * Māori Party Whip (Matarau): Debbie Ngarewa-Packer

Shadow cabinets

 * Opposition Cabinet of Christopher Luxon during the 53rd Parliament from 30 November 2021
 * Opposition Cabinet of Judith Collins during the 53rd Parliament from 11 November 2020 to 25 November 2021

Members
The table below shows the members of the 53rd Parliament based on the results of the 2020 general election. Ministerial roles were officially announced on 2 November 2020. Based on preliminary results, there were 40 new MPs. When final results were announced on 6 November, this rose to 42 new members. Labour lost a member on 23 August 2022 due to the expulsion of Gaurav Sharma from the parliamentary party. After Sharma's resignation from parliament, the December 2022 by-election for his Hamilton West electorate was won by National.

Overview
This table shows the number of MPs in each party: Notes
 * The Green Party entered into a cooperation agreement with the Labour Party on 1 November 2020 in which they agreed not to oppose confidence and supply. This differs from a confidence and supply agreement that has been a feature of New Zealand governments, in which minor political parties agree to explicitly support confidence and supply.
 * The Working Government majority is calculated as all Government MPs less all opposition parties. It excludes the Green Party which can either support or abstain from confidence and supply. The Working Government with Cooperation majority includes the Green Party.

Demographics of elected MPs
The 2020 general election saw the election of New Zealand's first African MP (Ibrahim Omer), first Sri Lankan-born MP (Vanushi Walters) and first Latin American MP (Ricardo Menéndez March). Six new LGBT+ MPs were elected (Menéndez March, Glen Bennett, Ayesha Verrall, Shanan Halbert, Elizabeth Kerekere, Tangi Utikere), making the New Zealand House of Representatives the national parliament with the highest percentage of LGBT+ members in the world.

During the 53rd parliament, 60 MPs (50.0%) were women—the highest number since women were first allowed to stand for Parliament in. The period between the swearing in of Soraya Peke-Mason and Tama Potaka was the first time there had been more women than men as MPs.

Changes
The following changes in Members of Parliament occurred during the term of the 53rd Parliament:

The resignation of Jacinda Ardern took place less than six months before the next general election and therefore a by-election to fill the vacancy was not required.

Following the resignation of Meka Whaitiri from the Labour Party, she waka-jumped to Te Pāti Māori, but is regarded as an independent MP in Parliament.

Start of term
The chamber is in a horseshoe-shape.

End of term
The chamber is in a horseshoe-shape.

Committees
The 53rd Parliament has 12 select committees and 8 specialist committees. They are listed below, with their chairpersons and deputy chairpersons:

Electorates
This section shows the New Zealand electorates as they are currently represented in the 53rd Parliament. Electorates were redrawn after the 2018 census and will remain the same for the 2023 election.