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New Zealand’s new foreign minister wears a tattoo on his face
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Prime Minister Ardern’s “Incredibly Diverse” Cabinet
After her clear electoral victory, the New Zealand Prime Minister is counting on diversity. Ardern’s 20-person cabinet includes eight women, five Maori and three LGBT people. They reflected the New Zealand she chose.
With an absolute majority of the electorate behind, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern presented an “incredibly diverse” cabinet. She appointed one of her closest confidants as vice president.
northAfter her clear victory in the general election two weeks ago, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern introduced her new “incredibly diverse” cabinet. The head of government made Maori Nanaia Mahuta, who wears a traditional Maori female tattoo on her chin, to be her country’s Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs. Grant Robertson became the first openly gay man in government to be named deputy prime minister.
“It is a cabinet of great merit and a cabinet of great talent that is also incredibly diverse,” Ardern said of his administration. He noted that “these are people who have been promoted to cabinet on merit and also reflect New Zealand that elected them.”
This February photo shows Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (right) and then Maori Minister of Local Government and Development Nanaia Mahuta
The: AFP / BIANCA DE MARCHI
Robertson, 49, was already Secretary of the Treasury in the first Ardern administration and also chief strategist for his election campaign. The ministers also include other indigenous MPs and, in Kelvin Davis, a man as minister for children.
The new Foreign Minister Mahuta was elected to parliament in 1996 and was already Minister of Local Administration and Maori Development in the first Ardern government. His distinctive chin tattoo, called Moko Kauae, is striking. It features design elements that are specific to your Maori tribe. The tattoo is a way to honor your ancestors and fight the stigma of an aspect of Maori culture that many New Zealanders associate with crime and gangs, Maori said in 2016.
Maori and Pacific Islanders make up just under a quarter of New Zealand’s population, but are significantly overrepresented in crime, poverty and prison statistics.
The greens are still there
After her landslide election victory on October 17, left-wing head of government Ardern changed her 20-member cabinet into some positions. She named responding to the crown pandemic and promoting economic recovery as priorities for the second term.
The Labor Party on Sunday signed a cooperation agreement with the Greens, despite its absolute majority in the Paramento, stating that the two sides would work together on the issues of climate, environment and child welfare. Two members of the Green Party have been granted ministerial functions outside the cabinet.
