The 41st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the

Parliament of New Zealand The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...

. Its composition was determined by the 1984 elections, and it sat until the 1987 elections. The 41st Parliament was the first term of the fourth Labour Party government. It marked the end of three terms of National Party administration under Robert Muldoon.

David Lange David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...

become

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and

Roger Douglas Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He became arguably best known for his prominent role in New Zealand's radical economic restructuring in the 19 ...

became

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

— the economic reforms undertaken by Douglas, nicknamed ''

Rogernomics In February 1985, journalists at the '' New Zealand Listener'' coined the term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of "Roger" and "economics" (by analogy with "Reaganomics"), to describe the neoliberal economic policies followed by Roger Douglas. Dougl ...

'', would prove to be a defining feature of the fourth Labour government, and were deeply unpopular with Labour's traditional support base. The National Party, now in opposition, experienced a number of leadership disputes, replacing Muldoon first with

Jim McLay Sir James Kenneth McLay (born 21 February 1945) is a New Zealand diplomat and former politician. He served as the ninth deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 15 March to 26 July 1984. McLay was also Leader of the National Party and Leader ...

and then with

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

. The 41st Parliament consisted of ninety-five representatives, the highest number since the 10th Parliament (elected in

1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl ...

). All of these representatives were chosen by single-member geographical electorates, including four

Māori electorates In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is ...

Electoral boundaries for the 41st Parliament

Overview of seats

The table below shows the number of MPs in each party following the 1984 election and at dissolution: Notes *The Working Government majority is calculated as all Government MPs less all other parties.

Initial composition of the 41st Parliament

By-elections during 41st Parliament

There were a number of changes during the term of the 41st Parliament.

Summary of changes during term

Basil Arthur Sir Basil Malcolm Arthur, 5th Baronet (18 September 1928 – 1 May 1985) served as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1984 to 1985. He was a member of the Labour Party. Biography Early life and career Arthur was born in Ti ...

, the long-serving Labour MP for

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

, died in 1985. The by-election in Timaru was won by

Maurice McTigue Maurice Patrick McTigue (born 1940, in Methven) is a former New Zealand politician of the National Party. He was a Cabinet Minister in the Fourth National Government from 1990 to 1993, holding the Employment portfolio, among others. He repres ...

of the National Party.

Notes

References

* *{{cite book , last = Norton , first = Clifford , title = New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946-1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science , year = 1988 , publisher = Victoria University of Wellington , location = Wellington , isbn = 0-475-11200-8 New Zealand parliaments