From http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/216105/000110465910014605/a10-5247_1ex99dd1.htm 

Form of Government

New Zealand is a sovereign state with a democratic parliamentary government based on the Westminster system.  Its constitutional history dates back to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, when the indigenous Maori people ceded sovereignty over New Zealand to the British Queen.  The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 provided for the establishment of a Parliament with an elected House of Representatives.  Universal suffrage was introduced in 1893.  Like Canada and Australia, New Zealand has the British monarch as titular Head of State.  The Queen is represented in New Zealand by the Governor-General, appointed by her on the advice of the New Zealand Government.

As in the United Kingdom, constitutional practice in New Zealand is an accumulation of convention, precedent and tradition, and there is no single document that can be termed the New Zealand constitution.  The Constitution Act 1986 has, however, updated, clarified and brought together in one piece of legislation the most important constitutional provisions that had been enacted in various statutes.  It provides for a legislative body, an executive and administrative structure and specific protection for the judiciary.

Legislative power is vested in Parliament, a unicameral body designated the House of Representatives.  It currently has 122 members, who are elected for three-year terms through general elections at which all citizens and permanent residents over 18 years of age are entitled to vote.  Authority for raising revenue by taxation and for expenditure of public money must be granted by Parliament.  Parliament also controls the government by its power to pass a resolution of no confidence or to reject a government proposal made a matter of confidence, in which event the government would be expected to resign.

The executive government of New Zealand is carried out by the Executive Council.  This is a formal body made up of the Cabinet and the Governor-General, who acts on the Cabinet's advice.  The Cabinet itself consists of the Prime Minister and his/her Ministers, who must be chosen from among elected Members of Parliament.  Each Minister supervises and is responsible for particular areas of government administration.  Collectively, the Cabinet is responsible for all decisions of the government.