The New Zealand National Party (Māori: Rōpū Nāhinara, "National" or "the Nats") is a centre-right New Zealand political party, and one of the two major parties in New Zealand politics. The party was founded in 1936 on the merger of the United and Reform parties, making it the nation's second-oldest political party.
As of April 2012, National has the largest share of seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives, with 59 out of a total of 121. Since November 2008, it has been the incumbent governing party, forming a minority government with support from three minor parties.
Read more about New Zealand National Party: Policies, Support, Organisation, Parliamentary Leaders, Party Presidents
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“Teasing is universal. Anthropologists have found the same fundamental patterns of teasing among New Zealand aborigine children and inner-city kids on the playgrounds of Philadelphia.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Let us waive that agitated national topic, as to whether such multitudes of foreign poor should be landed on our American shores; let us waive it, with the one only thought, that if they can get here, they have God’s right to come.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“No political party can ever make prohibition effective. A political party implies an adverse, an opposing, political party. To enforce criminal statutes implies substantial unanimity in the community. This is the result of the jury system. Hence the futility of party prohibition.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)