[ad_1]
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has hired her trusted right-hand man, Grant Robertson, as Deputy Leader as the new cabinet lineup focuses on containing Covid-19 and economic recovery.
Ardern said Kelvin Davis had been re-elected as a MP by Labor Party MPs but decided not to continue in office. Davis is considered a hard worker, but was seen as lacking a strong public presence.
Robertson, one of Ardern’s most capable ministers, managed government spending in response to Covid-19, distributing NZ $ 48 million in six months. His promotion was not a great surprise.
The government created a NZ $ 50 billion Covid response and recovery fund for new initiatives aimed at addressing both the immediate response to the pandemic and the long-term economic damage it left in its wake.
Robertson picks up the infrastructure portfolio to go with the finances, a combination that Ardern said will allow him to focus on the overall recovery agenda and ensure the deployment of infrastructure projects “because it is a huge investment.”
Ardern announced a new ministerial position for the Covid-19 response, with Chris Hipkins assuming the role. Hipkins took over as health minister in July when David Clark resigned after mistakes that included riding a mountain bike during the confinement.
Hipkins’ responsibilities will include overseeing Covid-19 testing, managed isolation, and border controls. Keep the education folder.
Andrew Little, one of the Labor Party’s most effective ministers and the politician who pleaded with Ardern to take his place as party leader before coming to power in the 2017 elections, takes over the health portfolio.
A new deputy, Ayesha Verrall, a doctor in infectious diseases, has been brought directly into cabinet. Verrall was one of the Ardern government’s key scientific advisers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ardern said it would be foolish at this point not to use Verrall’s expertise and said he wanted his voice in the cabinet rather than in a consulting role.
Clark returns to cabinet, overseeing commerce, the digital economy, statistics, and state-owned enterprises.
New Zealand’s response – act tough and early on closed closings – has been generally praised around the world, more so as new closures are announced in Britain and Europe.
Four new cases of Covid-19 were announced today, all in managed isolation. The last case in the community was 10 days ago, on October 23.
New Zealand has 77 active cases. Its total number of cases is 1603, including 25 deaths.
Nanaia Mahuta, a deputy since 1996, becomes foreign minister replacing the first New Zealand leader Winston Peters, a populist rebel whose party did not return to parliament in the October 17 elections.
A prominent former cabinet minister, Phil Twyford, paid the price for the poor delivery of Kiwibuild, the program aimed at addressing homelessness and the affordability of housing, and transportation projects. He has been awarded minor portfolios outside the cabinet.
The leaders of the Green Party, James Shaw and Marama Davidson, are also ministers outside the cabinet (portfolios of climate change and family violence respectively) who have reached a “cooperation” agreement with the government.
Under New Zealand’s MMP system, agreements between the parties are common, particularly when neither party can form a government alone. In this case an agreement was reached with the Greens even though Labor did not need them to govern.
