Forgotten World (54): New Zealand
Most people know more about New Zealand from its appearance in “The Lord Of The Rings” film trilogy than they do by hearing about it in the news. Certainly the country is notable for its geographic isolation, being separated from Australia to the northwest by the Tasman Sea, some 2000 kilometres (1250 miles) across. Its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. In Māori, New Zealand is also known as Aotearoa, which is usually translated into English as the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’.
The population is only just over 4 million and the Parliament has only one chamber, the House of Representatives, which usually seats 120 Members of Parliament. Like the UK, the country has no written constitution.
New Zealand is the only nation in the world in which all the highest offices in the land have been occupied simultaneously by women, between March 2005 and August 2006 – The Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II; Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright; Prime Minister Helen Clark; Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson; and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.
Since 1984, successive governments have engaged in major macroeconomic restructuring, transforming New Zealand from a highly protectionist and regulated economy to a liberalised free-trade economy. These free market policies are often quoted in economic debates about the management of other economies around the world. As well as having a high standard of living, New Zealand usually scores highly in any international ranking of quality of life.