Shadow Cabinet of Simon Bridges

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Shadow Cabinet of Simon Bridges
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Shadow Cabinet of New Zealand
27 February 2018 – 22 May 2020
Simon-Bridges-Free-Crop.jpg
Date formed27 February 2018
Date dissolved22 May 2020
People and organisations
Monarch Elizabeth II
Leader of the Opposition Simon Bridges
Deputy Leader of the New Zealand National Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Paula Bennett
Member party
  •   New Zealand National Party
Status in legislature Official Opposition
History
Legislature term(s) 52nd New Zealand Parliament
Predecessor Second Shadow Cabinet of Bill English
Successor Shadow Cabinet of Todd Muller

The Shadow Cabinet of Simon Bridges formed the official Opposition in the 52nd New Zealand Parliament. It comprised all members of the New Zealand National Party, which was the largest party not a member of the Government.

Contents

The Shadow Cabinet was established on 11 March 2018, two weeks after Simon Bridges' election as Leader of the Opposition. [1] The portfolio allocations were amended six times as a number of National MPs either resigned during the term of Parliament or announced their intention not to contest the 2020 general election.

Following Bridges' defeat by Todd Muller in the May 2020 National Party leadership election and the formation of Muller's Shadow Cabinet, [2] the Bridges Shadow Cabinet ceased to exist.

Formation

Commentators noticed that the initial portfolio allocations and caucus rankings rewarded Bridges' rivals for the leadership. [3] Former Justice Minister Amy Adams, who had placed second in the leadership election, was named Finance Spokesperson and was ranked third. Judith Collins, who finished third, was placed at fourth rank, and received the housing portfolio, which she had asked for. [3] Previous aspirants to the leadership, Jonathan Coleman and Mark Mitchell were also ranked highly, in sixth and seventh position respectively. Bridges' allies Todd McClay and Jami-Lee Ross were placed fifth and eighth respectively. Ross was the highest-ranked National MP who did not serve as a minister in the Fifth National Government. Along with Bridges and deputy leader Paula Bennett, the front bench was completed by economic and regional development spokesperson Paul Goldsmith and education spokesperson Nikki Kaye. Melissa Lee and Sarah Dowie were the other two non-ministers to gain promotion to the top twenty.

Bridges had promised "generational change" on his ascension to the leadership. [4] The front bench line up in particular was praised for including a high proportion of women MPs. [3] [5] Bridges and Bennett were, notably, the first National leadership team both to be of Māori descent. [6] Bridges also placed several former ministers in lower positions than they had held under Bridges' predecessor, Bill English. Former senior minister Gerry Brownlee lost the foreign affairs portfolio to McClay, [3] while former Finance Minister Steven Joyce resigned from Parliament when he was not offered the finance portfolio. [7] Former Conservation Minister Maggie Barry (who had openly supported Amy Adams' leadership bid) and Customs Minister Nicky Wagner were also demoted. The twelve new MPs elected in the 2017 general election were listed last, alphabetically by surname. Whanau Ora spokesperson Jo Hayes was the lowest ranked returning MP.

Amendments

Portfolio allocations were amended six times throughout Bridges' tenure as leader to accommodate the departures or planned retirements of members. The first change was made two weeks after the formation of the Shadow Cabinet, on 26 March, with the resignation of Jonathan Coleman. Coleman had been the spokesperson for health and sport and recreation, portfolios he had held ministerial warrants for in the previous government. Michael Woodhouse, a former hospital chief executive, gained health. Education spokesperson Nikki Kaye picked up sport and recreation. Woodhouse's portfolio of workplace relations and safety was added to the responsibilities of environment spokesperson Scott Simpson. [8]

In October 2018, a series of events that involved the leaking of Bridges' travel expenses saw transport and infrastructure spokesperson Jami-Lee Ross stand down from his portfolios while undertaking personal leave (ostensibly for "deeply personal" health issues, although Ross would later claim that this was a false statement put out by Bridges and Bennett) before resigning from the National Party. Judith Collins and Paul Goldsmith picked up Ross's portfolios. [9] The third resignation, in January 2019, was of former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson. [10] [11] His shadow Attorney General portfolio went to Amy Adams and a new drug reform portfolio, responding to the Government's decision to hold a referendum on legalising the sale, use, possession and production of cannabis in 2020, was assigned to Paula Bennett.

In June 2019, Adams and Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott announced they would not seek re-election to Parliament at the 2020 general election. Along with the retirement of list MP and Māori development spokesperson Nuk Korako in mid-May, this triggered a broad reshuffle. [12] Paul Goldsmith received Adams' finance portfolio and became the third-ranked MP. Goldsmith's economic and regional development portfolios were split between Todd McClay and Chris Bishop, who was promoted to the second bench and also gained the transport portfolio. Jo Hayes was promoted to be spokesperson for Māori development and Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, but retained a low ranking. Tim Macindoe became Shadow Attorney-General and Gerry Brownlee returned as foreign affairs spokesperson.

Agriculture spokesperson Nathan Guy announced his intention to retire at the next election in July 2019. He was replaced by Bridges' eventual successor to the leadership, Todd Muller, whose climate change portfolio was passed to Simpson. [13] The sixth and final reshuffle, in February 2020, featured minor redistributions of portfolios following announcements that Maggie Barry (on 5 November 2019), Nicky Wagner, Sarah Dowie and David Carter (all on 11 February 2020, although Carter had previously indicated his intentions on 17 October 2018 [14] ) would retire at the next election. [15]

List of spokespersons

At the point of its disestablishment, the Bridges Shadow Cabinet consisted of the following spokespersons. [15]

RankMPPortfolio
1Hon Simon Bridges
2Hon Paula Bennett
  • Deputy Leader of the Opposition
  • Spokesperson for Social Investment and Social Services
  • Spokesperson for Women
  • Spokesperson for Drug Reform
3Hon Paul Goldsmith
  • Spokesperson for Finance
  • Spokesperson for Infrastructure
  • Spokesperson for State Owned Enterprises
4Hon Judith Collins
  • Spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development
  • Spokesperson for Planning (RMA Reform)
5Hon Todd McClay
  • Spokesperson for Trade
  • Spokesperson for Economic Development
  • Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety
  • Spokesperson for Tourism
  • Spokesperson for Small Business
6Hon Mark Mitchell
  • Spokesperson for Justice
  • Spokesperson for Defence
  • Spokesperson for Disarmament
  • Spokesperson for Pike River Mine re-entry
7Hon Nikki Kaye
  • Spokesperson for Education
  • Spokesperson for Sport and Recreation
8Hon Gerry Brownlee
  • Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs
  • Shadow Leader of the House
  • Spokesperson for the GCSB
  • Spokesperson for the NZSIS
  • Spokesperson for Greater Christchurch Regeneration
9Hon Michael Woodhouse
  • Deputy Shadow Leader of the House
  • Spokesperson for Health
  • Associate Spokesperson for Finance
10Hon Louise Upston
  • Spokesperson for Social Development
11Hon Alfred Ngaro
  • Spokesperson for Children
  • Spokesperson for the Community and Voluntary Sector
  • Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples
  • Spokesperson for Disability Issues
12Hon Scott Simpson
  • Spokesperson for the Environment
  • Spokesperson for Climate Change
13Hon Jacqui Dean
  • Spokesperson for Local Government
  • Spokesperson for Conservation
14 Melissa Lee
  • Spokesperson for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media
  • Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities
15 Chris Bishop
  • Spokesperson for Regional Development
  • Spokesperson for Transport
16 Todd Muller
  • Spokesperson for Agriculture
  • Spokesperson for Biosecurity
  • Spokesperson for Food Safety
  • Spokesperson for Forestry
17Hon Anne Tolley
  • Deputy Speaker
  • Spokesperson for Veterans
18Hon David Bennett
  • Spokesperson for Corrections
  • Spokesperson for Land Information
  • Associate Spokesperson for Infrastructure
19 Jonathan Young
  • Spokesperson for Energy and Resources
  • Spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage
  • Spokesperson for Regional Development (North Island)
20Hon Dr Nick Smith
  • Spokesperson for State Services (including Open Government)
  • Spokesperson for Electoral Law Reform
  • Spokesperson for Crown-Māori relations
21 Barbara Kuriger
22 Matt Doocey
  • Spokesperson for Mental Health
  • Junior Whip
23 Simon O'Connor
  • Spokesperson for Customs
  • Associate Spokesperson for Housing (Social)
  • Associate Spokesperson for Social Development
24 Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
  • Spokesperson for Internal Affairs
  • Associate Spokesperson for Justice
25Hon Tim Macindoe
  • Shadow Attorney-General
  • Spokesperson for Seniors
  • Spokesperson for ACC
26 Brett Hudson
  • Spokesperson for Police
  • Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs
  • Spokesperson for Government Digital Services
  • Associate Spokesperson for Transport
27 Stuart Smith
  • Spokesperson for Immigration
  • Spokesperson for the Earthquake Commission
  • Spokesperson for Civil Defence
  • Spokesperson for Viticulture
28Dr Shane Reti
  • Spokesperson for Data and Cybersecurity
  • Associate Spokesperson for Health
  • Spokesperson for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
29Dr Jian Yang
  • Spokesperson for Statistics
  • Associate Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities
30Dr Parmjeet Parmar
  • Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation
  • Associate Spokesperson for Economic Development
31 Ian McKelvie
  • Spokesperson for Fisheries
  • Spokesperson for Racing
32 Andrew Bayly
  • Spokesperson for Building and Construction
  • Spokesperson for Revenue
  • Associate Spokesperson for Finance
33 Jo Hayes
  • Spokesperson for Māori Development
  • Spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations
  • Spokesperson for Whānau Ora
34 Simeon Brown
  • Associate Spokesperson for Education
  • Associate Spokesperson for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
35 Andrew Falloon
  • Spokesperson for Regional Development (South Island)
36 Harete Hipango
  • Spokesperson for Māori Tourism
37 Matt King
  • Spokesperson for Rural Communities
38 Denise Lee
  • Spokesperson for Local Government (Auckland)
39 Chris Penk
  • Spokesperson for Courts
40 Erica Stanford
  • Associate Spokesperson for the Environment
41 Tim van de Molen
  • Third Whip
42 Hamish Walker
  • Associate Spokesperson for Agriculture
43 Lawrence Yule
  • Spokesperson for Horticulture
44 Maureen Pugh
  • Spokesperson for West Coast Issues
  • Associate Spokesperson for Children
45 Nicola Willis
  • Spokesperson for Early Childhood Education
  • Spokesperson for Youth
46 Dan Bidois
  • Associate Spokesperson for Workplace Relations & Safety
47 Agnes Loheni
  • Associate Spokesperson for Small Businesses
  • Associate Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples
48 Paulo Garcia
  • Associate Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs
49Hon Amy Adams
50Hon Nathan Guy
51Rt Hon David Carter
52 Sarah Dowie
53Hon Nicky Wagner
54Hon Maggie Barry
55 Alastair Scott

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References

  1. ↑ "New National leader Simon Bridges sets out first priorities". The New Zealand Herald . 27 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  2. ↑ New Zealand National Party (25 May 2020). "Todd Muller announces shape of next Government". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cooke, Henry (11 March 2018). "National Party reshuffle sees former ministers demoted, Judith Collins up". Stuff. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  4. ↑ "National leader vote: Bridges touts 'generational change'". RNZ. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  5. ↑ Trevett, Claire (8 March 2018). "Women expected to be front and centre of National party". ZB. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  6. ↑ Roy, Eleanor Ainge (27 February 2018). "New Zealand: National party elects Maori leader and deputy to take on Jacindamania". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Smellie, Patrick (6 March 2018). "Joyce quits; deadline passes for NBR apology". Newsroom. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  8. ↑ Bennett, Lucy (26 March 2018). "Woodhouse named National's health spokesman following Coleman's departure". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  9. ↑ Watkins, Tracy (2 October 2018). "National MP Jami-Lee Ross taking leave for 'personal health issues'" . Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  10. ↑ "Bennett named drug reform spokesperson in shadow cabinet reshuffle". Radio New Zealand. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  11. ↑ Coughlan, Thomas (22 January 2019). "Bridges begins year with a reshuffle". Newsroom . Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  12. ↑ New Zealand National Party (25 June 2019). "National Party Caucus reshuffle announced". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "National party reshuffle after Nathan Guy announces retirement from politics". Newshub. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  14. ↑ "Chris Finlayson and David Carter to leave Parliament by next election". Stuff.co.nz. 17 October 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  15. 1 2 New Zealand National Party (11 February 2020). "Bridges Thanks Outgoing MPs, Announces Reshuffle". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
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