Helen Clark governing coalition, and Clark was sworn in as Prime Minister on 5 December 1999. Clark led the Fifth Labour Government, which implemented several major economic initiatives including Kiwibank, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and KiwiSaver. Her government also introduced the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, which caused major controversy. In foreign affairs, Clark sent troops to the Afghanistan War, but did not contribute combat troops to the Iraq War. She advocated a number of free-trade agreements with major trading partners, including becoming the first developed nation to sign such an agreement with China, and
Helen Clark ahead of Clark in preferred prime minister polls by eight points in the Fairfax Media Nielsen poll and four points in the One News Colmar Brunton poll. In the 2008 election campaign, Clark attacked the National Party as "insincere" in its promise to maintain many of her government's flagship projects, such as KiwiSaver and Kiwibank. National overtook Labour as the largest party following the 2008 election; Clark conceded defeat to Key and announced that she was standing down as party leader. On 11 November 2008 Clark was succeeded by Phil Goff as Leader of the Labour Party. In the first