It sure was the surprise of the day !!
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I don’t see it as undermining, that wording puts a negative slant on the decision. It shows the PM can be flexible and adapt when the situation changes. Rules are not fixed in concrete. Great of Kelvin Davis to acknowledge that the job of Deputy PM could be done better by someone else, rather than being on an ego trip and staying in the position. It’s a bit like when Andrew Little stepped aside as PM for Jacinda and that has worked out well. It would be good if Sir Tim Shadbolt also saw the light and realised someone else could do his job better, and moved on -“Let’s keep moving.”
Very arrogant of you to assume that I am deluded just because I have a different opinion from yours. Who says your opinion is right? The majority of people voted for Labour so they have confidence in the government, or at least more confidence in Labour than in National in running the country.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/02...covid-cabinet/
Jacinda Ardern has unveiled a cabinet line-up with plenty of surprises, and a fair bit of history-making.
Following what she deemed the Covid election, Jacinda Ardern has appointed her Covid cabinet. The group contains a number of firsts, including what could be the world’s first cabinet minister dedicated to beating Covid-19.
The new cabinet, built around a health team to battle the coronavirus and an economic team to rebuild from it, will represent a substantial change in the character of the country’s government after Labour’s resounding victory last month.
Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis had been offered the role of deputy prime minister, twice, but turned it down. He’s now the top ranked Māori voice in cabinet, responsible for corrections, children, oranga tamariki and Māori crown relations. “I think Jacinda and Grant are the dream team,” he told reporters today.
Nanaia Mahuta is the unexpected pick to take over as New Zealand’s first female foreign affairs minister. The country’s face around the world will now be a wahine Māori wearing a moko kauae.
Following three years of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as foreign minister, she’ll have big shoes to fill. Peters had an impressive contact list and involved the country in big conversations well above what its small size would suggest. Mahuta will also hold the very non-foreign job of local government minister.
Little lost the justice portfolio to Kris Faafoi. Nearly all the judicial ministries are now in the hands of Māori MPs.
David Parker is one of the few of Ardern’s inner circle not to pick up a new job. He’s still attorney general and environment minister. However, he’s been given the momentous new task of scrapping the resource management act and designing new rules to govern how nearly everything is planned and built in New Zealand.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/02...-never-before/
A momentous day for Māori – with five Māori in cabinet and another three Māori MPs in the wider executive - at the cabinet table as never before.
Labour’s new cabinet gives more power to more Māori ministers across a whole range of areas than we have ever seen before. No longer are Māori only given Māori-specific roles. Māori are at the table, in numbers, in every major policy area including education, health, and housing.
We have the first wahine minister of foreign affairs, recognising Nanaia Mahuta’s achievements as a consensus-builder. That is an immense honour and a display of belief in her from Jacinda Ardern.
We saw some good progress for Māori in Labour’s first term – like fees free apprenticeships and training, higher wages and benefits, Best Start and Winter Energy Payments, Healthy Homes Guarantee and more state housing, as well as the creation of the minister for Māori-Crown relations. But there’s lots more to do.