Political System of New Zealand

1. Words and expression to remember

   treaty	договор	exercise	осуществлять
   orders-in-	указы, законы,	formal body	официальный
   council	принятые советом	collectively	орган
   	письма-патенты	gam	коллективно
   letters patent	верховный,		получать,
   supreme	высший	vote	приобретать
   codify	составлять кодекс,	certain	голосовать
   	приводить в	statute	определённый
   entrench	систему	enact	закон, статут
   thus	шифровать		предписывать,
   source	укреплять,	notably	постановлять
   to be	закреплять так,		особенно,
   responsible	таким образом		весьма,
   to	источник,		исключительно
   	первоисточник
   	быть ответственным за

2. Read and translate the text.

The constitution of New Zealand consists of a collection of Acts of Parliament, Treaties, Orders — in — Council, Letters patent, decisions of the Courts and unwritten constitutional conventions. There is no one supreme document, the New Zealand constitution is not codified or entrenched. New Zealand’s constitution is thus similar to that one of the United Kingdom and Israel.

New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. This sy stem is often known as the Westminster system. The head of state and national source of executive, judicial and legislative power in New Zealand is the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen is represented in the Realm of New Zealand by a Governor-General.

The Head of Government of New Zealand is the Prime Minister. The Cabinet, which is responsible to Parliament, exercises executive authority. (The Cabinet forms the practical expression of a formal body known as the Executive Council.) The Prime Minister, as the leader of the political party or coalition of parties holding the majority of seats in the House of Representatives, leads the Cabinet. All Cabinet Ministers must be Members of Parliament (MPs) and are collectively responsible to it.

New Zealand has a unicameral Parliament, the normally 120-seat House of Representatives. Parliaments have a maximum term of three years, although an election can be called earlier. In New Zealand, everyone (male and female) aged 18 years and over can vote, women having gained the vote in 1893.

New Zealand’s judiciary is a hierarchy consisting of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, the High Court of New Zealand, and the District Courts. These courts are all of general jurisdiction,

New Zealand law has three principal sources: English common law; certain statutes of the United Kingdom Parliament enacted before 1947 (notably the Bill of Rights 1689); and statutes of the New Zealand Parliament.

3. Answer the questions.

1. What does the constitution of New Zealand consist of?

2. What is New Zealand’s constitution similar to?

3. Who is the head of the government?

4. Who is the head of the state?

5. What does the Prime Minister lead?

6. What is the structure of New Zealand’s Parliament?

7. Who can vote in New Zealand?

8. When did women get the right to vote in New Zealand?

9. What does New Zealand’s judiciary consist of?

10. What principal sources does New Zealand law have?

4. Choose the right variant.

1. New Zealand’s parliamentary system of government is known as ...

a) Buckingham system b) Westminster system c) Albion system

2. The Cabinet exercises ... authority.

a) executive b) legislative c) judicial

3. New Zealand law has ... principal sources.

a) five b) two c) three

4. ... is the head of executive, legislative and judicial power.

a) the governor general b) the prime minister c) the monarch

5. There is ... House of Representative.

a) 130-seat b) 100-seat c) 120-seat

6. New Zealand has ... Parliament.

a) a unicameral b) a bicameral c) a multicameral

7. The maximum term of Parliament is ...

a) six years b) four years. c) three years

8. New Zealand’s judiciary is ... consisting of many courts.

a) anarchy b) monarchy c) hierarchy