The New Zealand Business & Parliament Trust
"To advance and encourage business understanding of Parliament and
parliamentarians' understanding of the business community of New Zealand."
Directory
Patron
Sir Patrick Goodman GNZM CBE
President
Dr The Rt Hon Lockwood Smith MP
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Chairman
Sir John Goulter KNZM JP
Trustee Council
Hon John Banks CNZM QSO MP
David Clendon MP
Hon David Cunliffe MP*
Hon Peter Dunne MP*
Sir John Goulter KNZM JP*
Chris Hunter
Murray Jack*
Karen Jones*
Rt Hon John Key MP
Jennifer Moxon
Rt Hon Winston Peters MP
Sir Noel Robinson KNZM*
Hon Dr Pita Sharples CBE MP JP
David Shearer MP
Lindsay Tisch MP JP*
*Member of the Trust Board
Executive Director
John O'Sullivan CNZM LVO JP
Programme Coordinator
Diana Litton
The Trust
The New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust was formed in 1991 to bridge a perceived gap of understanding between MPs and business people. It adopted the following as its main objectives:
- Business Study Programmes - to enable MPs to widen their experience in and increase their knowledge of business;
- Parliamentary Study Programmes - to improve the understanding of our corporate members of how government is exercised through Parliament.
The Trust is an educational charity and not a lobbying organisation and it is non-partisan.
Members of the Trustee Council include the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the leaders of the other parliamentary parties. At present there are nine parliamentary and six corporate members of the Council, the latter elected by the corporate membership.
A smaller Trust Board of four corporate member representatives and three parliamentary representatives, drawn from the Trustee Council, exercises the legal functions and obligations of the Trust.
By convention, the Speaker of the House acts as President of the Trust and its Chairperson is a corporate representative.
The Trust is financed by subscriptions paid by member companies which enable the Trust to fund study courses for MPs and business people. Corporate membership of the Trust is open to organisations that have the necessary structure to provide MPs with a meaningful study programme.
Associate Membership is open to those MPs who complete a Business Study Programme.
20th Anniversary: The Trust is proud to have completed 20 years of operations and at a dinner held on 4 April this year to mark the occasion, a book on its history was 'lauched', written by John R Martin.
An Introduction to the New Zealand Business & Parliament Trust by its President:
Dr The Rt Hon Lockwood Smith MP
Speaker of the House of Representatives
“The purpose of the New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust is to improve understanding between the political and business arenas for the benefit of better government and greater prosperity of the economy.
It is supported from the most senior levels of Parliament and business. Its aim is to inform, not indoctrinate and it is non-partisan, therefore neutral. If it were not so, I would not have accepted the role of President.
The Trust offers MPs a unique opportunity to study business first-hand and to provide them with an intensive one-to-one introduction to a business organisation. The Trust’s Study Programmes encourage MPs’ understanding of the contribution business makes to the economy, so that when they next scrutinise or debate legislation affecting business as a whole, they can do so better informed.
The Trust also hosts groups of business people on one-day seminars in Parliament to improve their understanding of how government is exercised through Parliament.
The New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust is making a commendable effort towards better understanding between the world of business and the world of politics.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives
President of the New Zealand Business & Parliament Trust