Jenny Shipley may have been our first female PM, but Helen Clark was the first elected one. In 2008 she became our fifth longest-serving PM and Labour’s first to win three consecutive elections.
On 4 June 2002 Prime Minister Helen Clark offered 'a formal apology to the people of Samoa for the injustices arising from New Zealand's administration of Samoa in its earlier years'.
New Zealand was ill-equipped to cope with the Western Samoa mandate allocated by the League of Nations in 1920. The Mau movement's passive resistance culminated in the violence of 'Black Saturday', 28 December 1929, which left 11 Samoans and one New Zealand policeman dead.
Waitangi Day in the 21st century has been linked more closely with New Zealand identity, and events have expanded beyond Waitangi itself. Protests have continued, and representatives of the Crown have not always been present at Waitangi.
New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, plants a 'Lest We Forget' rose from the New Zealand Returned Services' Association at Suda Bay War Cemetery in Crete, 19 May 2001
