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Waka jumping

Term for party switching in New Zealand

Summary

Term for party switching in New Zealand

Waka jumping is when a New Zealand member of Parliament (MP) either switches political party between elections (taking their parliamentary seat with them and potentially upsetting electoral proportionality in the New Zealand Parliament) or when a list MP's party membership ceases. The action is also called party hopping.

"Waka jumping" is a colloquial term that comes from traditional Māori waka (canoes). Hence, "waka jumping" is analogous to the seafaring term "jump ship", i.e., to leave a ship's crew abruptly and against the terms of a contract (or naval enlistment).

In 2001, legislation was enacted that required MPs to leave Parliament if they left their party; this law expired after the 2005 election. In 2018 a similar law was passed, which requires a defecting MP to give up their seat at the request of the leader of their former party. Electorate MPs may re-contest their seat in a by-election, whereas list MPs are replaced by the next available person on the party list.

A 2013 Fairfax-Ipsos poll found that 76% of those surveyed oppose MPs staying in Parliament if they leave their party.

Legislation

Main article: Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Acts

The implementation of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system after a referendum in 1993 led to a series of defections and re-alignments as the former two-party system adjusted to the change. This led to the rise and fall of a number of political parties in New Zealand, including the creation of New Zealand First and ACT. The new political climate tended to favour the establishment of new political parties, since in former times dissidents had often simply become independent MPs. In the two parliaments before the 2001 act was passed, 22 MPs defected.

Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2001

The frequency of waka jumping led to the passing of the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2001, which had been introduced by Labour Party associate justice minister Margaret Wilson in 1999, but had been promoted by Labour's coalition partner Alliance ahead of that year's general election. The act expired at the 2005 election, when a sunset clause came into effect. It required MPs who had entered Parliament via a party list to resign from Parliament if they left that party's parliamentary caucus.

However, parties were able to find ways around this law. When the Alliance party split in 2002 over how to respond to the invasion of Afghanistan, Jim Anderton nominally remained the leader of the Alliance inside Parliament while he campaigned outside Parliament as leader of the newly founded Progressive Party. The resulting uncertainty around the Alliance’s position contributed to Prime Minister Helen Clark's decision to call an early general election in 2002. While the law was in force, it was used once to expel a list MP from Parliament (an electorate MP who changed parties could still fight a by-election, as Tariana Turia did).

In December 2003, the ACT Party caucus voted to expel Donna Awatere Huata, an ACT list MP who became an independent after she had been charged with fraud. The expulsion became the subject of litigation, and Awatere Huata was not expelled from Parliament until a Supreme Court decision handed down in November 2004. A proposed bill to replace the act in 2005 failed.

Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 and repeal attempt

The Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 received royal assent on 3 October 2018 and entered into force the next day. The provisions on waka jumping now appear as section 55A of the Electoral Act 1993. Under those provisions, members of Parliament who choose to leave their party or are expelled from their party are also expelled from Parliament if the leader of the party under which they were elected issues appropriate notice to the Speaker that the MP should be expelled, with the seat becoming vacant. Unlike the 2001 act, the 2018 act does not have a sunset clause and so remains in force until it is repealed. The act was passed as part of the coalition agreement between New Zealand First and the Labour Party and supported through Parliament "begrudgingly" by the Green Party under the terms of its own confidence-and-supply agreement with Labour.

A member's bill in the name of National Party MP David Carter with the intent of repealing the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 was introduced into Parliament in July 2020. The Green Party defied other government parties to support the repeal bill, with the first reading in Parliament passing by 64 to 55 votes. Carter's Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill was then referred to the justice select committee. After the 2020 New Zealand general election, the bill's second reading was held on 12 May and 14 June 2021, and the Labour Party used its majority of 65 seats to block its passage.

List of MPs who left their party

Below is a list of members who left their party while in parliament. With the introduction of MMP came list MPs, and the potential for a member to be brought into parliament without being voted upon directly.

Since MMP

Name	Original party	Switched	New party
Jim Anderton	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1989
NewLabour	NewLabour Party (New Zealand)}}		1991	Alliance
Alliance	Alliance (New Zealand political party)}}		2002	Progressives
Gilbert Myles	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1992
Liberal Party	New Zealand Liberal Party (1991)}}		1993	Alliance
Alliance	Alliance (New Zealand political party)}}		1993	New Zealand First
Hamish MacIntyre	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1992
Liberal Party	New Zealand Liberal Party (1991)}}		1993	Alliance
Winston Peters	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1993
Independent	Independent politician}}		1993	New Zealand First
Ross Meurant	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1994
Peter Dunne	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1994
Future New Zealand	Future New Zealand (Dunne)}}		1995	United
Graeme Lee	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1995
Trevor Rogers	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1995
Clive Matthewson	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1995
Bruce Cliffe	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1995
Margaret Austin	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1995
Pauline Gardner	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1995
Peter Hilt	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1995
John Robertson	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1995
Peter McCardle	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1996
New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998	Independent
Jack Elder	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1996
New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998	Mauri Pacific
Michael Laws	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1996
Alamein Kopu	Alliance	Alliance (New Zealand political party)}}		1997
Independent	Independent politician}}		1997	Mana Wahine
Tau Henare	New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998
Rana Waitai	New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998
Ann Batten	New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998
Tuku Morgan	New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998
Deborah Morris	New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998
Tuariki Delamere	New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		1998
Independent	Independent politician}}		1999	Te Tawharau
Frank Grover	Alliance	Alliance (New Zealand political party)}}		1999
Jeanette Fitzsimons	Alliance	Alliance (New Zealand political party)}}		1999
Rod Donald	Alliance	Alliance (New Zealand political party)}}		1999
Matt Robson	Alliance	Alliance (New Zealand political party)}}		2002
Tariana Turia	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		2004
Taito Phillip Field	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		2007
Gordon Copeland	United Future	United Future New Zealand}}		2007
Hone Harawira	Māori Party	Māori Party}}		2011
Mana Party	Mana Party}}		2014	Internet-Mana
Brendan Horan	New Zealand First	New Zealand First}}		2012
Jami-Lee Ross	National	New Zealand National Party}}		2018
Independent	Independent politician}}		2020	Advance New Zealand
Meka Whaitiri	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		2023
Elizabeth Kerekere	Green	Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand}}		2023
Darleen Tana	Green	Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand}}		2024

:1.After becoming an independent politician, Peters successfully contested a by-election in his Tauranga electorate. :2.After switching to the Maori Party, Turia had to contest a by-election, in line with the ban on waka jumping then in force. She won the resulting contest in Te Tai Hauauru. :3.After crossing to the Mana Movement, Harawira successfully contested a by-election in his constituency of Te Tai Tokerau.

Before MMP

MPs elected to parliament before the introduction of mixed-member proportional representation in 1996:

Name	Original party	Switched	New party
Frank Lawry	Conservative	Conservative (New Zealand)}}		1891
Robert Thompson	Conservative	Conservative (New Zealand)}}		1893
Liberal	New Zealand Liberal Party}}		1896	Independent
Independent	Independent politician}}		1899	Independent Liberal
Francis Fisher	Liberal	New Zealand Liberal Party}}		1905
New Liberal	New Liberal Party (New Zealand)}}		1908	Independent
Independent	Independent politician}}		1910	Reform
William Hughes Field	Liberal	New Zealand Liberal Party}}		1908
Independent	Independent politician}}		1909	Reform
David McLaren	Ind. Labour League	Independent Political Labour League}}		1910
Vigor Brown	Liberal	New Zealand Liberal Party}}		1920
Alfred Hindmarsh	Labour (1910)	New Zealand Labour Party (1910)}}		1912
United Labour	United Labour Party (New Zealand)}}		1916	Labour
Bill Veitch	Independent Labour	Independent Labour}}		1912
United Labour	United Labour Party (New Zealand)}}		1916	Independent
Independent	Independent politician}}		1922	Liberal
Liberal	New Zealand Liberal Party}}		1928	United
John Payne	Labour (1910)	New Zealand Labour Party (1910)}}		1912
Independent Labour	Independent Labour}}		1916	Independent
Gordon Coates	Independent	Independent politician}}		1914
Reform	New Zealand Reform Party}}		1936	National
National	New Zealand National Party}}		1942	Independent
James McCombs	Social Democrat	Social Democratic Party (New Zealand)}}		1916
Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1917	Independent Labour
Independent Labour	Independent Labour}}		1918	Labour
Paddy Webb	Social Democrat	Social Democratic Party (New Zealand)}}		1916
Andrew Walker	United Labour	United Labour Party (New Zealand)}}		1916
George Sykes	Reform	New Zealand Reform Party}}		1919
Independent	Independent politician}}		1922	Reform
Bert Kyle	Reform	New Zealand Reform Party}}		1936
National	New Zealand National Party}}		1942	Independent
John A. Lee	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1940
Bill Barnard	Labour	New Zealand Labour Party}}		1940
William Sheat	National	New Zealand National Party}}		1954
Independent	Independent politician}}		1954	National

Notes

References

Crewdson, Patrick. (23 October 2005). "Maori Party vote vital to save 'waka-jumping act'". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
For example in this press conference [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/489387/watch-green-party-co-leaders-respond-to-resignation-of-mp-elizabeth-kerekere "Watch: Green Party co-leaders respond to resignation of MP Elizabeth Kerekere"] [[RNZ]] 6 May 2023, retrieved 29 March 2025
"waka". Te Aka Māori Dictionary.
Rutherford, Hamish. (31 May 2013). "Majority oppose 'waka jumping'". Stuff NZ.
(6 December 2005). "Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill — First Reading". [[New Zealand Parliament]].
(21 December 2001). "Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2001".
Geddis, Andrew. (2002). "Party-hopping". New Zealand Law Journal.
Martin, John. (2004). "The House: New Zealand's House of Representatives, 1854–2004". Dunmore Press.
Geddis, Andrew. (11 January 2018). "Who controls the past now, controls the future".
(16 December 2003). "ACT Caucus Votes to Expel Donna Awatere Huata". [[ACT New Zealand]].
Taylor, Kevin. (19 November 2004). "Awatere facing expulsion from Parliament after court decision". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
"Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill 3-1 (2005), Government Bill". [[Parliamentary Counsel Office (New Zealand).
"New Zealand Acts: Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018".
"New Zealand Legislation: Electoral Act 1993". [[Parliamentary Counsel Office (New Zealand).
Craig McCulloch. (27 September 2018). "Waka-jumping bill passes into law after heated debate". [[Radio New Zealand]].
Small, Zane. (2 July 2020). "National Party 'prepared to work with the Greens' to repeal 'waka-jumping' legislation". [[Newshub]].
(27 September 2018). "Waka jumping bill finally passes, with begrudging support of Green Party". [[Stuff (website).
(2 July 2020). "Members' bills: Defying sad odds". [[Radio New Zealand]].
(29 July 2020). "Dead rat spat back up: Green Party vote to repeal waka jumping law with National, infuriating Winston Peters". [[Stuff (website).
(29 July 2020). "Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill — First Reading". [[New Zealand Parliament]].
(9 June 2021). "Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill — Second Reading". [[New Zealand Parliament]].
Boston, Jonathan. (1996). "New Zealand Under MMP: A New Politics?". Auckland University Press.
"Meka Whaitiri: Te Pāti Māori to make announcement". [[Newshub]].
Johns, Geraldine. (16 August 1991). "Few go alone and survive". [[The New Zealand Herald]].

Wikipedia Source

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