Government

parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm

System	parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm
Capital	Wellington
Head of state	King CHARLES III (since 8 September 2022); represented by Governor-General Dame Cindy KIRO (since 21 October 2021)
Head of government	Prime Minister Christopher LUXON (since 27 November 2023)
Legislature	legislature name: House of Representatives; legislative structure: unicameral; number of seats: 120 (all directly elected); electoral system: mixed system; scope of elections: full renewal; term in office: 3 years; most recent election date: 10/14/2023; parties elected and seats per party: National Party (49); Labour Party (34); Green Party (14); ACT New Zealand (11); New Zealand First (8); Te Pāti Māori (4); Others (2); percentage of women in chamber: 45.1%; expected date of next election: September 2026
Judiciary	highest court(s): Supreme Court (consists of 5 justices, including the chief justice); judge selection and term of office: justices appointed by the governor-general upon the recommendation of the attorney- general; justices appointed until compulsory retirement at age 70; subordinate courts: Court of Appeal; High Court; tribunals and authorities; district courts; specialized courts for issues related to employment, environment, family, Maori lands, youth, military; tribunals
Constitution	history: New Zealand has no single constitution document; the Constitution Act 1986, effective 1 January 1987, includes only part of the uncodified constitution; others include a collection of statutes or “acts of Parliament,” the Treaty of Waitangi, Orders in Council, letters patent, court decisions, and unwritten conventions; amendment process: proposed as bill by Parliament or by referendum called either by the government or by citizens; passage of a bill as an act normally requires two separate readings with committee reviews in between to make changes and corrections, a third reading approved by the House of Representatives membership or by the majority of votes in a referendum, and assent of the governor-general; passage of amendments to reserved constitutional provisions affecting the term of Parliament, electoral districts, and voting restrictions requires approval by 75% of the House membership or the majority of votes in a referendum
Independence	26 September 1907 (from the UK)
Administrative divisions	16 regions and 1 territory*; Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Chatham Islands*, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui, Marlborough, Nelson, Northland, Otago, Southland, Taranaki, Tasman, Waikato, Wellington, West Coast

Departments

TODO. Ministries and authoritative sites, to be filled out.

Hierarchy

How power is wired. The diagram below carries the generic template; refine the boxes and edges to match the current regime.

        flowchart TD
  HoS["Head of State"]
  HoG["Head of Government"]
  Leg["Legislature"]
  Jud["Judiciary"]
  Cab["Cabinet"]
  Foreign["Foreign Affairs"]
  Interior["Interior"]
  Defense["Defense"]
  Finance["Finance"]
  Justice["Justice"]

  HoS --> HoG
  HoG --> Cab
  Cab --> Foreign
  Cab --> Interior
  Cab --> Defense
  Cab --> Finance
  Cab --> Justice
  HoS -.- Leg
  HoS -.- Jud
    

Resources

Public-facing portals the people use day to day. Operators monitor these for policy changes, official notices, and civil-registry data.

Resource	Site	Purpose
National portal	to be filled	One-stop government services for citizens.
Tax / revenue	to be filled	Income tax, VAT, customs.
Civil registry	to be filled	Births, deaths, marriages, national ID.
Immigration	to be filled	Visas, residency, naturalisation.
Health	to be filled	Public health, advisories, vaccination records.
Education	to be filled	Curricula, school directories, transcripts.
Statistics	to be filled	Census, economic indicators, opendata.
Police / emergency	to be filled	Reporting, missing persons, emergency contacts.