February 01, 2023
Māori ministers up, down and sideways in cabinet reshuffle
Willie Jackson and Kiritapu Allan have moved to the front bench as new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reshuffles his cabinet line up for election year.
Ninth-ranked Mr Jackson keeps his Maori Development and Broadcasting portfolios, while Ms Allen at 10 retains Justice and also picks up Reginal Development and an associate transport role.
Kelvin Davis stays at number three with no change in portfolios, followed by Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who also becomes Leader of the House.
At number five is Megan Woods.
Jan Tinetti picks up Mr Hipkins’ Education portfolio, and Michael Wood keeps Transport and Immigration as well as taking on the newly-created role of Minister for Auckland.
At eight is Ayesha Verral taking over Health from Andrew Little, who retains his Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations portfolio and also takes over Defence from Peeni Henare.
Mr Henare drops from 12 to 15, retaining Whanau Ora and picking up Accident Compensation and Tourism.
Mr Hipkins says the Defence portfolio is changing, which is why it has been given to Andrew Little.
“I made the decision that Defence is quite well aligned with some of the national security focus that Andrew Little has in some of his other roles, and putting those two things together, particularly in light of international developments, was a good thing to do,” he says.
Nanaia Mahuta drops down to seven to 16, keeping Foreign Affairs but passing responsibility for Local Government and the implementation of the three waters reforms to her understudy Kieran McNulty.
Mr Hipkins says he needed to reduce her portfolio load so she can travel.
“When she took over the portfolio she wasn’t able to travel, so had additional portfolio responsibilities whilst the border was closed. The border is now fully reopened so I am absolutely confident she’ll be out and about representing New Zealand internationally,” he says.
Ms Mahuta also picked up Disarmament from Phil Twyford.
Mr Hipkins says they’re not demotions for the Maori ministers.
They continue to be integral members of our cabinet. team They continue to be incredibly important. You’ll see Maori move up onto the front bench. There are now more Maori on the front bench than when I started this process. But people move around,” he says.
Meka Whaitiri remains Minister of Customs outside cabinet, and she’s joined there by Rino Tirikatene, who steps up from undersecretary status to become Minister for Courts and of Trade and Export Growth, and Willow-Jean Prime who becomes the Conservation and Youth Minister.