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Prime Minister John Key has ended the year riding high in the polls having steered his government through its first year, negotiating plenty of bumps created by colleagues and coalition partners along the way.
Questionable spending on overseas trips got Hone Harawira and Rodney Hide into hot water while Bill English had enough trouble at home, trying to justify his housing allowances.
For Harawira, Maori Party MP for Te Tai Tokerau, the trouble started with an unauthorised sightseeing trip to Paris while on a parliamentary visit to Europe, and was aggravated by a racially offensive email he sent in defence of the jaunt.
His party was outraged and it was suggested he turn independent. He didn't want to do that and after weeks of talks he was allowed to stay in the party but was sent on leave from parliament until after the summer recess.
Then ONE News footage emerged of Harawira riding an anti-violence protester's motorbike without a helmet on parliament's forecourt. It prompted three complaints to police from the public. Key stepped in to suggest police shouldn't charge the MP - though the PM said he wasn't advocating people ride motorbikes without helmets. The police said after careful consideration they wouldn't be taking the matter any further.
Hide's hijinks
Act leader Rodney Hide blotted his copybook by taking his girlfriend on a ministerial trip to Europe and the US paid by the taxpayer. The Local Government Minister, who saw through legislation to make greater Auckland a super city under one council, defended the time he had spent in meetings on the subject while overseas.
Key had to explain the trip and was then forced to defend Hide again when it was revealed he had quietly paid back $10,000 for a trip to Hawaii with his girlfriend . Key said a lot of other people took that perk too and he was confident Hide still had a mandate to criticise spending in the public sector.
English's woes
Finance Minister Bill English found himself entangled in the MPs' expenses controversy when it was revealed his family stayed on in their Karori house in Wellington after the election, but leased it to the government as an official residence and claimed high allowances. English paid back the extra allowance, and then everything he had received since becoming a Minister, vowing not to claim anything in future .
The Finance Minister was also caught up in a row over a promotion for a TVNZ7 series on the economy. English featured prominently in the promo. The opposition reckoned it looked and sounded more like a party political broadcast. TVNZ said the promo was a marketing department initiative which had not been vetted by news chiefs and it has since changed processes to make sure such ad campaigns are handled appropriately.
Labour's speed bumps
Labour MP Chris Carter also got tarred by the expenses row . He spent up large on international travel and was unrepentant, instead accusing the media of gay bashing because part of the bill was to pay for his partner to go along for the ride.
For the Labour Party, the year's big assignment was to rebuild and try to make itself relevant after its 2008 election defeat. Its leader, Phil Goff, plunged into the tricky arena of race relations near year's end, accusing the government of making shabby deals with the Maori Party over the Foreshore and Seabed Act. He argued repeal of the act would divide Pakeha and Maori, re-opening wounds that were healing. His speech apparently caused concern within the Labour Party. But Labour's MPs and the party president came out backing their leader's right to speak out.
Labour's Trevor Mallard caused an unwanted diversion for his party when he had a run-in with a motorist while riding with a group of cyclists in central Wellington. His story was that he was cut off, they hurled abuse at each other, then the car's passenger swung a bag at him as he rode past. The car's occupants went to the police over it.
Smacking banned
Green MP Sue Bradford ushered in her controversial anti-smacking law amid protests from parents who feared being unfairly prosecuted.
Bradford's child discipline bill went through despite an overwhelming "No" vote in a referendum which asked, "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" Of those who voted, 87% said "No".
The law bans smacking for the purposes of correction but police have the discretion not to prosecute for inconsequential smacks. Key said the government didn't want to see good parents criminalised for a light smack. A recent independent review found no evidence authorities have been responding out of proportion to concerns about child safety.
Comings and goings
Bradford bowed out of parliament after losing the Green Party's co-leadership battle to Metiria Turei.
National also lost a Minister in June. Richard Worth resigned as a Minister, after Key said he'd sack him if he didn't. Worth then quit parliament. A Korean businesswoman made sexual allegations against Worth, though police eventually found no basis for charges .
Labour's former leader Helen Clark and her deputy Michael Cullen didn't see out the year either, having lost the election. Clark settled into her new job as head of the United Nations Development Programme as, back home, the tussle for her seat of Mt Albert revved up.
The Mt Albert by-election may not have been a career high for National backbencher Melissa Lee, whose campaign performance was punctuated by gaffes . She suggested a new Waterview motorway would divert South Auckland criminals away from the Mt Albert electorate. She also pointed out she earned only $2 an hour, when she was actually on a $131,000 salary plus extras. David Shearer won the seat for Labour.
Back to school
Funding cuts to adult and community education night classes brought dismayed students out in protest. The government slashed the allocation from $16 million to $3 million, saying it would no longer pay for what it called hobby courses. Education Minister Anne Tolley said the recession was a time to focus on basic skills like literacy and numeracy.
Tolley also came under fire from teachers, parents and academics over national education standards which will come into play at primary schools in the New Year. Teachers will assess students against benchmarks in reading, writing and maths and report to parents. The critics say the standards regime is too rushed and worry how they will affect children who are falling behind.
But Tolley argued one in five children are leaving school without basic skills and the standards will help pick them up before it's too late, and also improve teaching.
Down on the farm
The prospect of "factory dairy farming" had the Green Party predicting New Zealand's clean, green image will be tarnished. Three companies want to set up 16 new farms in the Mackenzie basin.
But housing up to 18,000 cows in indoor cubicle stables for eight months of the year would mean big investors "creaming it", said co-leader Russel Norman. Agriculture Minister David Carter said adverse environmental effects would need to be mitigated, though Federated Farmers insisted the stalls are environmentally friendly because they reduce the chance of effluent flowing into waterways.
Arguments over the issue will continue in the New Year as Environment Canterbury considers submissions on the plan.
Ending on a high note
Finance Minister English had an upbeat forecast to end his year. A Treasury forecast showed 64,000 fewer jobs are expected to be lost than originally feared, as businesses have cut hours and pay rather than jobs, and the economic nightmare turned out to be a dream. The economy is tipped to shrink by just 0.5% in 2010.
And more money could be in Kiwi pay packets next year through tax cuts. But they'll be hit in the pocket in other ways to pay for it - with strong hints from English of a tax on property investment. English has changes to the tax system on the agenda for his 2010 Budget, having heard back from the Tax Working Group which criticised "piecemeal" changes made to the system in recent years.
As another year dawns with our chosen politicians, there might be a glimmer of hope for the disaffected. A referendum on the whole voting system will be held with the 2011 general election. Voters will be asked if they want to change from MMP. But if they do, they'll have to go through another referendum three years later to choose another system, then wait until 2017 to vote under it.
