What are New Zealand's politics like?

[Ebowed]

It's paradise, and its politics aren't bad either.

My favorite way of explaining the contrast between NZ and other similar nations is the way it treated its indigenous population.  While absolutely not perfect, there is something to be said for a country who had the foresight not to slaughter all of the native humans.  NZ rejected a bid by Australia to join it as a state because of Australia's treatment of its own aboriginals.  In response (keep in mind this was at the beginning of the 20th century), Australia codified protections for Maoris and granted them the right to vote.  New Zealand still refused to join up because they protested the treatment of Australia's own aboriginals, not just New Zealand's Maoris who happened to be living there.  This is why Maori had actual rights in Australia while aboriginals were still seen, legally, as part of Australian flora and fauna.

New Zealand is ahead of the curve on many issues.  Their environmental movement really took off in the 1940s and the continued existence of some of its most amazing, unique, highly endangered birds can be credited to the emergence of its environmental movement coming well before the hippie / counterculture era of the late 1960s.

All of that being said, it has been quite Americanized over the last couple of decades and it is certainly a highly similar culture to the US, Australia, etc.  But there are little quirky differences that make it quite lovely and politically speaking I'm hard pressed to think of any issue where the framework isn't significantly to the left of the other countries we're comparing it to.