greatreporter.com, December 31st, 2006
Area: 270,692 sq km (104,515 sq mi)
Population (2006 est.): 4,141,000
Capital:
Wellington
Chief of state: Queen Elizabeth II
, represented by
Governors-General
Dame Silvia
Cartwright
and, from August 23,
Anand
Satyanand
Head of government:
Prime Minister
Helen
Clark
Trust in
New Zealand
politicians and political parties became a dominant issue in 2006, especially when
Controller and Auditor-General
Kevin
Brady
ruled in October that seven of the eight political parties in the 121-member House of Representatives had used public money unlawfully before the September 2005 general election. Citing "significant breaches" of parliamentary appropriations,
Brady
identified
Prime Minister
Helen
Clark
's ruling Labour Party.
Brady
was most concerned over the misuse of parliamentary funds for party-generated election advertising, including a Labour pledge card that was universally distributed. Offending parties subsequently committed to reimbursing misappropriated sums, and the single-chamber Parliament enacted legislation in an urgent session to validate their actions.
Clark
undertook to promote new rules on election spending for the 2008 elections.$NZ 1,173,598 ($NZ 1 = about U.S.$0.64) in unlawful expenditure in fiscal years 2004–05 and 2005–06, of which $NZ 825,000 pertained to
Finance Minister
Michael
Cullen
's May 18 budget projected an operating surplus of
Auckland
's traffic gridlock and accelerate highway projects in
Auckland
and
Christchurch
.
Cullen
also earmarked
Don
Brash
resigned on November 27 and announced that he would quit active politics at year's end. He was succeeded in both posts by
John
Key, a former merchant banker
.$NZ 8.5 billion in 2005–06 and $NZ 5.6 billion in 2006–07. An extra $NZ 1.3 billion on new roads over five years included moves to ease $NZ 5.2 million to facilitate settlement of Maori grievances under the Treaty of Waitangi, aimed at having all historical claims lodged by 2008 and settled by 2020. After three years as head of the National Party and leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives,
New Zealand
's deployment of 120 military personnel for reconstruction work in
Afghanistan
was extended to September 2007, bringing its total financial commitment for peacekeeping and development over five years to
Solomon Islands
to supplement 82 personnel involved in curbing civil unrest in the capital,
Honiara
, and another 120 defense personnel were committed to the international effort to avert civil war in
East Timor
.
Clark
's government approved the
Vietnam
-era Iroquois, with the first delivery due in 2010.$NZ 160 million. An additional 55 troops and police were dispatched in April to the $NZ 771 million purchase of eight new European-made NH90 military helicopters to replace the RNZAF (Royal New Zealand Air Force) fleet of
Stab-resistant body armour was issued in February to 6,500 police in response to an increase in slashing and stabbing assaults on officers, from 2 such attacks in 1999 to 48 in 2003. In September frontline police were controversially issued with Taser stun guns for a 12-month trial. Authorities in May made two seizures of narcotics from shipping containers that had originated in southern China
. The combined haul comprised crystal methamphetamine valued at $NZ 95 million and $NZ 40 million worth of pseudoephedrine.
In business news,
entrepreneur
Sam
Morgan
sold his Internet trading site Trade Me to Australian media group John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. for
Morgan
's father, a
Wellington
economist, donated to charity the
Graeme
Hart
as
New Zealand
's richest individual, with personal wealth calculated at
Auckland
. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand introduced smaller, lighter 50-cent, 20-cent and 10-cent coins from July 31 and withdrew 5-cent coins from circulation on November 1.$NZ 700 million. $NZ 47 million that accrued from his personal 6.7% stake in the business, saying that he did not need it.
National Business Review
weekly named business tycoon $NZ 2.75 billion. The state-owned lottery on May 20 paid its largest Lotto prize of $NZ 17,992,975 to a couple from
Maori Queen Dame Te
Atairangikaahu
died on August 15 at age 75. (
Anand
Satyanand
, aged 62 and of Indo-Fijian parentage, became
New Zealand
's first governor-general of Asian descent.See
Obituaries.) On August 23 former trial judge and Parliamentary Ombudsman
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