New Zealand Liberal Party

This article is about the original New Zealand Liberal Party. At least three subsequent organisations, unconnected to the original, have used the same name: the Liberal Party of 1962, Liberal Party of 1991, and the Liberal Party of 2008.

Liberal Party of New Zealand
FounderJohn Ballance
Founded1891
Dissolved1928; 96 years ago (1928)
Succeeded byUnited Party
IdeologySocial liberalism
Progressivism
Agrarianism
Political positionCentre to centre-left
Colours  Yellow
Slogan"We legislate no class, but for all classes."

The New Zealand Liberal Party (Māori: Pāti Rīpera)[1] was the first organised political party in New Zealand. It governed from 1891 until 1912. The Liberal strategy was to create a large class of small land-owning farmers who supported Liberal ideals, by buying large tracts of Māori land and selling it to small farmers on credit. The Liberal Government also established the basis of the later welfare state, with old age pensions, developed a system for settling industrial disputes, which was accepted by both employers and trade unions. In 1893 it extended voting rights to women, making New Zealand the first country in the world to enact universal adult suffrage. The Liberal Party became extremely successful, winning seven consecutive elections and the popular vote in each.

New Zealand gained international attention for the Liberal reforms, especially how the state regulated labour relations.[2] It was innovating in the areas of maximum hour regulations and compulsory arbitration procedures. Under the Liberal administration the country also became the first to implement a minimum wage and to give women the right to vote.[3] The goal was to encourage unions but discourage strikes and class conflict.[4] The impact was especially strong on the reform movement in the United States.[5]

It is widely argued that the New Zealand Liberal Party in 1891 lacked a clearcut ideology to guide them. Instead they approached the nation's problems pragmatically, keeping in mind the constraints imposed by democratic public opinion. To deal with the issue of land distribution, they worked out innovative solutions to access, tenure, and a graduated tax on unimproved values.[6]

Out of office after 1912, the Liberals gradually found themselves pressed between the conservative Reform Party and the growing Labour Party. The Liberals fragmented in the 1920s, and the remnant of the Liberal Party—later known as the United Party—eventually merged with Reform in 1936 to establish the modern National Party.

  1. ^ "Rīpera - te Aka Māori Dictionary".
  2. ^ Gordon Anderson and Michael Quinlan, "The Changing Role of the State: Regulating Work in Australia and New Zealand 1788–2007," Labour History (2008), Issue 95, pp 111–132.
  3. ^ "A brief history of the minimum wage in New Zealand". Newshub. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  4. ^ Peter J. Coleman, Progressivism and the World of Reform: New Zealand and the Origins of the American Welfare State (1987)
  5. ^ Peter J. Coleman, "New Zealand Liberalism and the Origins of the American Welfare State," Journal of American History (1982) 69#2 pp. 372–391 in JSTOR
  6. ^ Peter J. Coleman, "The New Zealand Welfare State: Origins and Reflections," Continuity (1981), Issue 2, pp 43–61