- Location
- Tamaki Makaurau
I'm going to do a series of posts discussing every attempt that was made to reform New Zealand's upper house, which was established in 1854 and eventually petered out in 1950, having contributed little to the nation. Although an elected chamber was discussed at the outset, it was put in the Too Hard pile and reform was only pursued desultorily.
For the sake of my sanity, I'm leaving out all the bills which sought only to, for instance, change the term of office of Legislative Councillors, or allow Ministers to attend and speak in the Legislative Council debates in a non-voting capacity. I will only cover those that dealt with making the Council elective.
First off:
The Grey Bill: Elective Council Bill, 1879
George Grey was an Aucklander and a liberal, who lied in order to incite a race war when he was Governor in the 1860s, and supported a Land Value Tax when he was Premier in the 1870s. It is therefore impossible to say whether he was good or bad. Grey tussled with the problem of the Legislative Council when he came to power in 1877 and immediately faced a confidence vote - he sought to bolster his numbers in the upper house by nominating a new Councillor, but this was rejected by the Governor as he hadn't yet demonstrated that he had the confidence of the lower house. This set the tone for the rest of his two-year occupation of the role of Premier, which was a failure in all respects.
Just after he lost office in 1879, Grey finally got round to putting forward his LC reform bill. This sought to set up a 27-member Council, with 12 members being elected by each island, served by one constituency apiece. Two Councillors would be elected by North Island Maori under the same system, and one by the South Island Maori under First Past the Post. The equality of membership between the two islands points toward a quasi-federal idea of the role of the Council, which might have given it some sort of Point as a body. However, the choice of bloc voting would be pretty unwieldy in constituencies of that magnitude, and would have produced hilariously one-sided results once the party system developed - in much the same way as the Australian Senate did. The term was set at three years, and appears to have been intended to be simultaneous with lower house elections. Casual vacancies were to be filled by by-elections, which is possibly the worst idea I have ever heard. Nonetheless, Grey considered his proposals to be so strong that a Legislative Council reformed in this manner would obviate the need for the lower house!
The Grey Bill failed at the first reading.
For the sake of my sanity, I'm leaving out all the bills which sought only to, for instance, change the term of office of Legislative Councillors, or allow Ministers to attend and speak in the Legislative Council debates in a non-voting capacity. I will only cover those that dealt with making the Council elective.
First off:
The Grey Bill: Elective Council Bill, 1879
George Grey was an Aucklander and a liberal, who lied in order to incite a race war when he was Governor in the 1860s, and supported a Land Value Tax when he was Premier in the 1870s. It is therefore impossible to say whether he was good or bad. Grey tussled with the problem of the Legislative Council when he came to power in 1877 and immediately faced a confidence vote - he sought to bolster his numbers in the upper house by nominating a new Councillor, but this was rejected by the Governor as he hadn't yet demonstrated that he had the confidence of the lower house. This set the tone for the rest of his two-year occupation of the role of Premier, which was a failure in all respects.
Just after he lost office in 1879, Grey finally got round to putting forward his LC reform bill. This sought to set up a 27-member Council, with 12 members being elected by each island, served by one constituency apiece. Two Councillors would be elected by North Island Maori under the same system, and one by the South Island Maori under First Past the Post. The equality of membership between the two islands points toward a quasi-federal idea of the role of the Council, which might have given it some sort of Point as a body. However, the choice of bloc voting would be pretty unwieldy in constituencies of that magnitude, and would have produced hilariously one-sided results once the party system developed - in much the same way as the Australian Senate did. The term was set at three years, and appears to have been intended to be simultaneous with lower house elections. Casual vacancies were to be filled by by-elections, which is possibly the worst idea I have ever heard. Nonetheless, Grey considered his proposals to be so strong that a Legislative Council reformed in this manner would obviate the need for the lower house!
The Grey Bill failed at the first reading.