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It is tight five two.
On an extraordinary day for the Maori Labor group, in Wellington, five Maori MPs won ministerial posts within the cabinet on Monday, including Justice, Foreign Affairs and Defense.
MPs Nanaia Mahuta, Peeni Henare, Kiri Allan, Willie Jackson and Kelvin Davis will fill a series of ministerial functions within the cabinet, and Meka Whaitiri will return outside the cabinet.
But the day of the announcement began in a disturbing way.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Labor MP Kelvin Davis flanked by new Maori Labor ministers.
READ MORE:
* Kelvin Davis will not seek the post of Deputy Prime Minister, but wants to remain Labor Vice President
* Kelvin Davis, the Battle of Waiariki and unfinished business: Labor cannot rely on Maori support
* 2020 election: why Kelvin Davis will likely be the next Deputy Prime Minister
Any dream of a trio – three Maori deputy prime ministers in a row – evaporated with a few forceful words from Labor Vice President Davis.
He didn’t want the job, he told the pack of reporters waiting in the parliamentary hall. Davis was turning down the role played by NZ First’s Winston Peters and Paula Bennett before him.
The original and unfortunate ‘Tight Five’ were the five Maori MPs, including Tuku Morgan, Tau Henare and Tuariki Delamere, elected to NZ First in 1996. with National during that period.
This time it is a Labor Party of Five Cabinet Ministers.
Following the morning’s surprise, the announcement of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s new cabinet put an end to concerns about representation.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Maori Labor MPs waiting to speak to the media following the announcement of new ministries and roles, from left to right, Meka Whaitiri, Kelvin Davis, Peeni Henare, Kiri Allan, Willie Jackson, Adrian Rurawhe and Rino Tirikatene.
Five deputies would cover 16 ministerial functions and associated ministerial functions within the cabinet. Whaitiri, returning from the cold, won three other roles outside of the Cabinet.
Such was the size of the new brown block that they held their own media conference inside the Beehive theater after Ardern ended.
Davis would still be busy with a ministerial broadcast covering everything from Corrections to Relations with the Maori Crown and Children, including Oranga Tamariki.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern holds a press conference to reveal the cabinet lineup for the new government.
“We are very happy with the level of representation now … with five Maori cabinet ministers in one party, I think this is the first time,” he said.
When Davis later switched to te reo to answer a question about Oranga Tamariki, he said that his work had been wrong and that he could not continue as he had.
Oranga Tamariki has been wrong in the past. We can not go on.
When asked what they had done wrong, he immediately pointed to the transfer of the children. I wanted to work together to build a way forward.
We are witnessing the separation of children from their families. We want to work together in the Maori world and build a way forward.
The issue became a focus of controversy after a video emerged in the last quarter of a boy being lifted from the hospital.
Meanwhile, Nanaia Mahuta became the first woman to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Mahuta was immediately questioned on paper, covering China, the Pacific and Australia.
She said it was a “great privilege” to be the first Maori woman on paper, but it was the legacy women MPs had inherited from the past.
“We were the first country to grant women the right to vote, the first country to ensure that we are progressive on women’s issues. So I follow the line of a long legacy of ‘first women’ and hope that many other women of Maori descent … will see this as a roof lift. “
The new Maori formation
Kelvin Davis: Minister of Relations with the Maori Crown, Minister for Children, with responsibility for Oranga Tamariki, Minister of Corrections and Deputy Minister of Education.
Nanaia Mahuta: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Local Government, Deputy Minister of Maori Development.
Peeni Henare: Minister of Defense, Associate Minister of Health (Maori), Minister responsible for Whānau Ora, Associate Minister of Housing (Maori).
Willie Jackson: Maori Development Minister.
Kiri Allan: Minister of Conservation, Associate Minister of the Environment, Associate Minister of Art, Culture and Heritage, Minister of Emergency Management.
And outside the cabinet:
Meka Whaitiri: Minister of Customs, Minister of Veterans, Associate Minister of Agriculture (animal welfare)
