Members of Parliament
Debating chamber. View as panorama.
Today there are 120 MPs in New Zealand's Parliament - a far cry from the 37 who met for the first time in Auckland in 1854. For a start, that first Parliament was all male. Women could not stand for Parliament until 1919, and the first woman was not elected until 1933. Now, women make up about 30 per cent of MPs. Maori MPs, now around 13 per cent, were not part of that first Parliament either; the first Maori MPs took their seats in the House in 1868.
MPs now travel into Wellington by plane and car, but some of those who met in Auckland in 1854 spent two months at sea getting there. Through Parliament's history, just getting MPs to work has been a big issue.
Being an MP is a full-time job and is paid as such, but this wasn't always the case. For many years, poorly-paid MPs combined their part-time political life with other jobs, with the most common being running a farm. The large run-holders gave way to small farmers at the end of the nineteenth century, but farming remained the biggest single occupation of MPs right through to the 1970s when career-politicians appeared.
But an MP's life is not all work. They have always enjoyed an active social life, ranging from organised balls and competitions to the conviviality of Bellamy's, Parliament's bar and dining area.
Listen to Francis Fisher discussing members and staff (471k, mp3). See transcript and more information for this recording.
Listen to the poem 'The Game of Politics' (160k, mp3). Read transcript of this poem.
External link
More information on MPs on the Parliamentary Service website.
Next: MPs: Women in the House >