Suicide squad (New Zealand)

The suicide squad in New Zealand was a so-nicknamed group of New Zealand Legislative Councillors appointed in 1950 by Prime Minister Sidney Holland tasked with voting the New Zealand Legislative Council out of existence.

Abolition of the Upper House

By the middle of the 20th century, the New Zealand Legislative Council was increasingly being looked on as ineffectual and making little difference to the legislative process. The Legislative Council rarely criticised bills sent to it by the House, and many believed that it was now obsolete. Some favoured its reform, while others favoured its abolition, like the leader of the National Party, Sidney Holland who introduced a private member's bill to abolish it in 1947.

However, because the Parliament of New Zealand was unable to amend the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (because it was an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, and the New Zealand Parliament was barred from amending the parts of the Act dealing with the establishment of the Legislative Council) it had to first adopt the Statute of Westminster 1931, which it did with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947. Following the adoption of the Act, the Parliament of New Zealand passed the New Zealand Constitution Amendment (Request and Consent) Act 1947, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1947, allowing the New Zealand Parliament to amend the Constitution Act and abolish the Legislative Council. However, the Labour government did not actually enact the abolition itself, losing office in the 1949 general election.

Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad, also known as Task Force X (the name of a closely related but independent supervisory organization), is a name for two fictional organizations appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version debuted in The Brave and the Bold #25 (1959), and the second version, created by John Ostrander, debuted in Legends #3 (1987).

The modern Suicide Squad is an antihero "strike team" of incarcerated, death row supervillains. Acting as deniable, covert assets of the United States government, it undertakes high-risk, black-ops missions in exchange for commuted prison sentences. The group operates out of Belle Reve Penitentiary under the directorship of Amanda Waller.

The Suicide Squad functions as an unorthodox, work-release program, which explains why many of the DC Universe's supervillains remain perpetually on the loose – regardless how many occasions they're apprehended and incarcerated for their latest crimes.

Various incarnations of the Suicide Squad have existed throughout DC Universe canon, as depicted in several self-titled comic book series, from its origins in the Silver Age, to its modern-day post-Crisis reimagining, to the current version that was introduced in the wake of DC's 2011 New 52 continuity reboot.