Is New Zealand still a Westminster system of government?
Very much so, though an unusual one as there is only one House in Parliament – they abolished the Legislative Council in 1950, having decided it serves no useful purpose. The chamber still exists, but is only used once a year for the throne speech at the opening of a new session. All you really have to do to prove this is note all the similarities with the Parliament at Westminster. New Zealand was set up on the British model and it hasn’t really changed much. The NZ electoral system differs from the British one, but that is a minor point – the UK is currently thinking about whether the electoral system should be changed too. What would be considered to be the “Westminster system”? It would share all these characteristics with the British governmental system: – a head of state separate from the head of government – in both cases that is the Queen and the Prime Minister, though in New Zealand the Governor-General acts on behalf of the Queen – a Prime Minister who is not elected but is a
