Leader of the House (New Zealand)
In the New Zealand Parliament, the Leader of the House is the government minister appointed by the Prime Minister of New Zealand to be responsible for the management of government business in the House of Representatives. The Leader of the House is also an ex officio member of the Parliamentary Service Commission.
Leader of the House | |
---|---|
Appointer | Governor-General of New Zealand |
Term length | At Her Majesty's pleasure |
Inaugural holder | David Thomson |
Formation | 13 December 1978 |
History and functions
The first leader of the House was appointed in 1978, although a similar office had existed in Australia since 1951 and another in the United Kingdom for several centuries. The responsibilities of the leader of the House were previously functions exercised by the prime minister.[1]
The leader of the House serves three main functions:[2]
- Moving motions for the Government that relate to House and committee procedure
- Determining the order of Government business in the House
- The primary responsibility for the Government's lawmaking programme
List of Leaders of the House
The following individuals have been appointed as Leader of the New Zealand House of Representatives:
- Key
No. | Name | Portrait | Term of Office | Prime Minister | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | David Thomson | 13 December 1978 | 26 July 1984 | Muldoon | |||
2 | Geoffrey Palmer | 26 July 1984 | 24 August 1987 | Lange | |||
3 | Jonathan Hunt | 24 August 1987 | 2 November 1990 | ||||
Palmer | |||||||
Moore | |||||||
4 | Paul East | 2 November 1990 | 27 March 1993 | Bolger | |||
5 | Don McKinnon | 27 March 1993 | 16 December 1996 | ||||
6 | Wyatt Creech | 16 December 1996 | 31 August 1998 | ||||
Shipley | |||||||
7 | Roger Sowry | 31 August 1998 | 10 December 1999 | ||||
8 | Michael Cullen | 10 December 1999 | 3 October 2008 | Clark | |||
9 | Gerry Brownlee | 3 October 2008 | 2 May 2017 | Key | |||
English | |||||||
10 | Simon Bridges | 2 May 2017 | 26 October 2017 | ||||
11 | Chris Hipkins | 26 October 2017 | Incumbent | Ardern |
Notes
- G.A. Wood, ed. (1996). Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament (2nd ed.). Dunedin: University of Otago Press. p. 62.
- "People in Parliament". New Zealand House of Representatives. Retrieved 13 July 2017.