The New Zealand National Party is a conservative political party in New Zealand, founded on 14 May 1936 as a merger of the Reform Party and the United Party. The party was formed as an amalgamation of conservative and liberal parties, and its party platform shifted from economic liberalism to increased emphasis on state interventionism under the third National Government of 1975-1984. Following the free market reforms of the rival New Zealand Labor Party in the late 1980s, the National Party came to advocate free enterprise, reduction of taxes, and individual rights. From 2008 to 2017, it was the largest party in a minority government, supported by the classical liberal ACT New Zealand, the centrist United Future, and the indigenous Maori Party. In 2017, it became the largest caucus in the House of Representatives, but Labor formed a coalition government with New Zealand First.
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