The
International Association
of Business and Parliament
| Name of Association: | New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust |
| Headquarters: | Kist Building, Mahara Place, P O Box 346, Waikanae 6454, New Zealand |
| Tel: | + 64 4 293 5365 |
| Fax: | + 64 4 293 2012 |
| E-mail: | nzbpt@xtra.co.nz |
| Foundation | 1991 |
| Start-up of the Scheme | 1992 |
| Composition of the legislature: | 120 Members of Parliament |
| Number of MPs in the Scheme: | 113 |
| Purpose: | A non-profit, apolitical and training association. The Trust’s Board includes the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, and other party leaders. At present there are nine MPs and six corporate representatives on the Trust Board, the latter nominated by the corporate membership. By convention, the Speaker of the House acts as president and the chairman is elected from the ranks of its corporate membership. |
| Activities of the Scheme |
The New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust provides two basic programmes for its MPs and its corporate members: §
Business
Study Programmes. These
programmes enable members to host MPs on an agreed programme of study
based on the Trust’s study criteria.
The MPs are required to make a commitment to spend from five to ten
days spread over a 12-month period to study a business organisation
firsthand, providing them with an overview of key business functions and
encouraging their understanding of the contribution business makes to the
NZ economy. Extensions
of the Business Study Programme scheme include: Business
Briefings for MPs,
organised annually by the Trust, where all MPs from all parties in the
House are invited to attend a Business Briefing presented by a key figure
in the private or public sector. The
aim of these annual Briefings is to enhance MPs’ understanding of the
business world in general, to update them on changes and developments
taking place in it and to learn something of the impact of political
decisions on business. Business Seminars for MPs are hosted once a year by a nominated corporate member of the Trust and are designed to provide MPs with an on-sight intensive one-to one introduction to a business organisation. The aim of these one-day seminars is to provide MPs with an opportunity to widen their knowledge of business in general and a specific organisation in particular. §
Parliamentary
Study Programmes. The
objective of these programmes is to illustrate how Government is exercised
through Parliament. Corporate
members of the Trust are invited to send representatives to one of a
series of three parliamentary seminars during the year.
Each seminar can accommodate 40 people. These intensive one-day studies of the parliamentary system
allow participants to hear from MPs and those associated with the
day-to-day running of Parliament just how the system works. Associated with the Parliamentary Study Programme scheme, the Trust organises Parliamentary Attachments for any representative of the corporate membership who has attended one of the Trust’s parliamentary seminars who wishes to take part in a two-day attachment to a selected Member of Parliament. The attachments include one day with the MP in his or her constituency and the second day in Parliament, enabling corporate representatives to learn something of the day-to-day work of an MP.
Membership:
Corporate
Membership is
open to all those enterprises who agree to support the Trust’s aims of
advancing and encouraging business understanding of Parliament and
parliamentarians’ understanding of business.
The enterprise must also agree to commit time or organising study
programmes for parliamentarians and to give time to their own personnel to
benefit from reciprocal programmes. The
New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust enjoys an excellent sectoral
base among its 46 member companies. The
sectors represented by the membership include the manufacturing industry,
law, telecommunications, energy, banking, pharmaceutical, financial
services, primary industries, fishing, insurance, the motor industry,
shipping, airlines and broadcasting. The
majority of the Trust’s corporate members are New Zealand owned but
there are also some international affiliations, particularly British,
European, American and Australian. Each
year the Trust shows its appreciation of the support given by its
corporate membership by organising a series of exclusive dinners hosted by
the Trust’s President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
These dinners are usually attended by a maximum of 12 people in the
Speaker’s own apartment in Parliament House and aim to update chief
executives on the Trust’s progress and performance. Associate Membership
is open to those MPs who complete a Business Study Programme. The
New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust is funded by corporate
subscription. The Trust is an educational charity and not a lobbying organisation and it is non-partisan. |
| Contact: | Executive Director: Lindsay McCallum Administration Manager: Diana Litton
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