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Until 1950, New Zealand had an appointed Upper House, the Legislative Council, in addition to the elected House of Representatives. In 1950, the new National Government appointed 25 new members, all pledged to vote for the Council's abolition. On 18 August 1950, the Council voted itself out of existence by 26:16, and this took effect on 1 January 1951. New Zealand has retained a unicameral (single house) parliamentary system since that time.

On 9 February, in a climate of rapidly deteriorating industrial relations on the waterfront, the Waterside Workers Union refused to work overtime at all ports. The employers had previously taken action to reduce the workers' conditions, which induced the Union's action. Claiming that this amounted to a strike, the employers responded by suspending the workers, who then counterclaimed they were being locked out. The government took draconian measures, including declaring a state of emergency and using armed forces personnel. The dispute was not ended until 15 July, after a total of 1157390 man-working days had been lost, and it became New Zealand's largest industrial dispute.

A measure designed to force unproductive Māori land into use was introduced by the Government in the Māori Affairs Act. Anyone who could now show the Māori Land Court (renamed from the Native Land Court in 1947) that a piece of good land was not being used could then apply to have it vested in trustees. This Act, allowing some flexibility in land management such as trusts, remained the governing legislation for Māori land for 40 years. For the first time, a reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, visited Waitangi.

This national body was set up as the pinnacle of a hierarchy of village and district councils, dating from 1900, though revived under the 1945 Māori Social and Economic Advancement Act. Largely because of the huge movement of Māori from country to town, the rural organisations declined in significance while the NZ Māori Council gained increasing authority.

To deal with the increasing number of citizens' complaints about government bureaucracy, the office of Ombudsman was established on 7 September 1962. Sir Guy Powles established an effective system that has been used often as a model for other democratic nations and states.

Māori were becoming increasingly concerned at the continued alienation of their remaining land by paternalistic legislation and by a lack of understanding of how the confusion of laws since 1862 had mostly hindered rather than assisted the development of Māori land by its owners. The Amendment Act in 1967 introduced compulsory conversion of 'Māori freehold' land with four or fewer owners into 'general land', and increased the powers of the Māori Trustee to compulsorily acquire and sell 'uneconomic interests' in Māori land. The Amendment Act led to growing Māori concerns that the law would result in further alienation of what land remained and also led to strong protests by organisations such as the New Zealand Māori Council and the Māori Graduates Association, street demonstrations and angry meetings throughout the country. The law was modified in 1974, and work subsequently began on the drafting of a completely new act.

The Race Relations Act prohibited discrimination based on race, colour or ethnic origin in a wide range of public and private situations. The Act also created the office of Race Relations Conciliator.

Waitangi Day had been a holiday since 1963 for Auckland and Northland only (replacing the provincial anniversary holiday). The Māori protest movements took up the long-standing Ratana demand for ratification of the Treaty, that is, having it formally recognised in legislation. In 1974, three years after Nga Tamatoa staged the first big protest at Waitangi, 6 February became a national holiday and the Queen attended her first Waitangi Day ceremony. It was, for two years, briefly renamed New Zealand Day.

From 14 September, Whina Cooper's Māori land hikoi marched from the tail of the 'fish', Te Ika-a-Maui (North Island) at Cape Reinga, to the head (Wellington) to publicise concerns over unceasing disposal of Māori land in Crown hands. Gathering support at about 25 stops along the way, the hikoi reached the capital on 13 October. Five thousand people walked onto Parliament grounds and presented a petition bearing 60,000 signatures. By the time a tent embassy was dismantled two months later, the hikoi had raised public awareness of Māori concerns. Responding to the pressure of the hikoi and other lobbying, the government passed the first legislative recognition of the Treaty (although there had been recognition of aspects of it in the legislation of the 1860s).

The Treaty of Waitangi Act established a tribunal, the Waitangi Tribunal, as a formal, ongoing commission of inquiry to hear grievances against the Crown. But it limited such grievances to those occurring after the passing of the Act in 1975 and allowed the Tribunal the power to make findings of fact and recommendations only, not binding determinations. The Waitangi Tribunal first began hearings two years later, but, particularly because of that limitation, few claims were investigated.