Country Trading Profiles New-Zealand

Political outline | Living conditions | Useful resources | Communications

Political outline

Executive Power: The head of state is the British sovereign represented by a Governor General. The head of government is the prime minister, who is responsible to the legislature and appointed by the governor-general acting upon its advice. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister, who is also, by convention, the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition. The Prime Minister holds the executive powers which include implementation of the law and running the day-to-day affairs of the country.
Legislative Power: Legislative authority is vested in a unicameral 120-member House of Representatives. 69 members elected by popular vote in single-member constituencies including seven Maori seats, and 51 proportional seats chosen from party lists. All members serve three-year terms. The people of New Zealand have considerable political rights.
Main political parties: New Zealand has a multi-party system. The main political parties are the New Zealand Labour Party (centre-left) and the National Party (centre-right, conservative), usually forming centre-left or centre-right coalitions. The other major political parties are:
- The New Zealand First Party (populist nationalist)
- ACT New Zealand (free market liberal party)
- Green Party (left-wing environmentalist party)
- Maori Party (Maori ethnic party)
- United Future (Christian Democrats)
- The Alliance (left-wing).
Current political leaders: Queen of New Zealand: ELIZABETH II (since February 1952) – hereditary
Governor-General: Lt Gen Sir Jerry MATEPARAE (since 31 August 2011) – appointed by Queen
Prime Minister: John Key (since 19 November 2008)
Deputy Prime Minister: Bill English (since 19 November 2008)
Next election dates: Parliamentary: 2011

Living conditions

Health and safety

Health precautions: No specific vaccination is required.
For further information on sanitary conditions: New Zealand Hospitals
For further information on safety conditions
Contact your Embassy: Embassy of Greece in New Zealand
5-7 Willeston Street, Wellington
New Zealand (PO Box 24066)
Phone: (00644) 4737775-6
Fax: 4737441
info@greece.org.nz

Emergency numbers

Fire and Ambulance	111
Police	111
Marine Emergency	0508 472 269 / 406 distress beacons

Time difference and climate

Time and time difference: It is %T:%M %A in Wellington, Auckland (GMT+12 in winter, GMT+13 in summer.)
Summer time period: Summer time from October to March.

Map of the time zone

Type of climate: The latitude of New Zealand corresponds closely to that of Italy in the Northern Hemisphere. However, its isolation from continental influences and exposure to cold southerly winds and ocean currents gives the climate a much milder character. The climate throughout the country is mild and temperate, mainly maritime, with temperatures rarely falling below 0 °C or rising above 30 °C in populated areas. Conditions vary sharply across regions from extremely wet on the West Coast of the South Island to semi-arid inland Canterbury and subtropical in Northland. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all receive a yearly average in excess of 2000 hours of sunshine per annum. The southern and south-western parts of South Island have a cooler and cloudier climate, with around 1400–1600 sunshine hours per annum; whilst the northern and north-eastern parts of the South Island are the sunniest areas of the country and receive approximately 2400–2500 sunshine hours per annum.

For further information: New Zealand meteorological service

Average annual temperatures and rainfall

Useful resources

To find an accommodation: New Zealand.com
Accomodation New Zealand
New Zealand Stays
To find an apartment: Real Gold Real Estate agency

New Zealand Herald
FINDA.CO.NZ
To find a job: SEEK New Zealand

NEW KIWI

Communications

Telephone codes: To make a call from New-Zealand to Greece: dial 00 (or +) 30
To make a call to in New-Zealand from Greece: dial 00 (or +) +64
Mobile telephone standards: GSM and CDMA. The mobile phone market is a duopoly between Vodafone and Telecom NZ. It is not possible to use a Vodafone or other network's mobile on the Telecom network due to differences between the two. Vodafone uses a GSM network and Telecom uses CDMA. If you want to use Telecom for your mobile services, you need to buy a Telecom mobile phone. It is common to purchase a SIM card on arrival or use the international facilities from your operator.
Internet suffix: .co.nz

COUNTRY TRADING PROFILES

General Information

Political outline

Living conditions

Health and safety

Emergency numbers

Time difference and climate

Map of the time zone

Average annual temperatures and rainfall

Useful resources

Communications