Talk:Fifth National Government of New Zealand

Numbered governments
Why are New Zealand governments being numbered? It is not customary in this country to number successive governments.JohnC (talk) 20:37, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I recall hearing phrases such as Third Labour Government since about the time that Government was in office. Google shows that the construct is common. It may be that the phrase is less often used since MMP came into effect, since all governments since then have been coalitions in some form. It is also probably more common to talk about this government as "the current National Government", but we take a longer view!


 * How else would you suggest naming these articles?- gadfium 23:42, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


 * See Talk:Governments of New Zealand. Basically there was no way to properly categorise the various ministries of New Zealand, since Colonial politics was so factional and governments changed yearly. Since the First Labour Government that changed however. --Lholden (talk) 05:23, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Food in schools controversy
Following gadfium's suggestion that I post this article regarding the controversy from the "[|"Education (Food in Schools) Amendment Bill"] to the Fifth National Government of New Zealand. The fact that it is “routine for any Westminster-style government to vote down such bills” is not particularly relevant to any point of law or the function of parliament to hear bills. This matter is not so regular as to be considered a practice or part of parliamentary custom. gadfium made an excellent point with regard to the political controversies this bill raises. The bill had wide cross-party support in parliament. Part of the controversy is that the National-led Government decision to vote down the bill at its first reading emphasised the ideological differences between itself and the Māori party. No attempt was made to reach an accord by modifying the bill in subsequent readings. Instead the Government choose to vote down the bill at the outset. The observation that government voted down the bills fails to appreciate the substantial issues annexed to the [|"Education (Food in Schools) Amendment Bill"]. The bill is significant because it challenges the guardian role of government to care for children. Jeremy Bentham posited that the government has a duty as a guardian to ensure the welfare of children. Jeremy Bentham “A General View of a Complete Code of Laws” in John Bowring (ed) The Works of Jeremy Bentham: Part IX (Edinburgh, William Tait), 166). The government’s decisions challenges accepted political philosophy and the issues that surround this point. The law recognises the New Zealand government has a role as parens patriae (parent of the country) that imposes a duty on it to care for all children. The government’s rejection of this bill challenges the long-standing legal obligation of the Government to act as parens patriae. There has also been a onslaught and unusual volume of negative response by New Zealand media and public opinion. This bill is controversial because its rejection at the first reading dismisses increased public concern of the Child Poverty issue. It adds to the increased public perception by their own doing that the Government refuses to acknowledge the place of child poverty in New Zealand or take the necessary steps to address the issue. I would also note; This may rightfully as of this moment require a "recentism tag", I find that highly unlikely however considering the long standing and unbiased nature of the historical addition. I also see little reason for individual sitting MP's whom participated and their action's regarding this government action, should not also be an addition for historical accuracy. --NZ4Life (talk) 1:03, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not a place to list an MP's entire voting history. As of yet this bill has not generated significant coverage that warrants each MP to have its own sub-heading about this vote. It doesn't even appear to be on the front page of the NZ Herald or Stuff websites at this time. Mattlore (talk) 01:52, 19 March 2015 (UTC)


 * At present, the "Significant policies" section of this article is mostly a list of the current Government's achievements, but I see no reason why it should not also contain items that the Government decided not to pursue such as the food in schools bill. It hasn't received front page coverage at the major news sites, but it has been covered by the New Zealand Herald, Newstalk ZB, One News and TV3 News (websites). If it isn't considered suitable for this article can anyone suggest a more appropriate article to add something to? It might be possible to have a stand-alone article with a slightly wider scope covering the school milk program of 1937-1967 and any other similar initiatives. Related articles exist for the US, United Kingdom (also Education Act 1944) and Australia.- gadfium 03:02, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Sorry gadfium, my comments were directed at having it mentioned on individual MP's pages - as User:NZ4Life has been directing us here to discuss it. I'm not opposed to it being mentioned here, as long as its not over-represented. Mattlore (talk) 04:59, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
 * This proposal has been here almost two full days without any opposition, so I've added a sentence to the "Education" section of the article.- gadfium 00:27, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

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