Second Shadow Cabinet of Bill English

The second Shadow Cabinet of Bill English formed the official Opposition in the 52nd New Zealand Parliament from 2 November 2017 until 11 March 2018, during Bill English's second term as Leader of the Opposition.

The Shadow Cabinet was formed after the 2017 New Zealand general election, when a new Government was formed by the New Zealand Labour Party, New Zealand First party and Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. As the largest party not in government, the New Zealand National Party became the official opposition. National Party leader Bill English assigned spokesperson roles to his MPs in order to scrutinise the policies and actions of the government, as well to offer an alternative program. As many National MPs were Ministers in the previous National-led Government, many of them were named Spokespersons for areas in which they had previously had ministerial responsibility. Most other MPs picked up minor portfolios, although new MPs were not assigned any particular responsibilities.[1]

In early 2018, English resigned from the leadership and was replaced as National Party leader by Simon Bridges on 27 February 2018. Other than Bridges' succession to the leadership, no changes to portfolio responsibilities were named until 11 March 2018, when Bridges announced his own Shadow Cabinet.

List of spokespersons

edit

The Opposition portfolio spokespersons were as follows:[2]

Rank Spokesperson Portfolio
1 Rt Hon Bill English
2 Hon Paula Bennett
  • Deputy Leader of the Opposition
  • Spokesperson for Children
  • Spokesperson for Women
  • Spokesperson for Social Investment
3 Hon Steven Joyce
  • Spokesperson for Finance
  • Spokesperson for Infrastructure
4 Hon Gerry Brownlee
  • Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs
  • Spokesperson for Fisheries
  • Spokesperson for Land Information
5 Hon Simon Bridges
6 Hon Amy Adams
  • Spokesperson for Justice
  • Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety (including Pike River)
7 Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman
  • Spokesperson for Health
  • Spokesperson for Sport and Recreation
8 Hon Chris Finlayson
  • Shadow Attorney General
  • Spokesperson for Commerce
  • Spokesperson for Government Communications Security Bureau
  • Spokesperson for New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service
9 Hon Judith Collins
  • Spokesperson for Transport
  • Spokesperson for Revenue
10 Hon Michael Woodhouse
  • Spokesperson for Housing
  • Spokesperson for Social Housing
11 Hon Nathan Guy
  • Spokesperson for Primary Industries
12 Hon Nikki Kaye
  • Spokesperson for Education
13 Hon Todd McClay
  • Spokesperson for Trade
  • Spokesperson for State Services
14 Hon Paul Goldsmith
  • Spokesperson for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
  • Spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage
15 Hon Louise Upston
  • Spokesperson for Social Development
16 Hon Anne Tolley
17 Rt Hon David Carter
  • Spokesperson for State Owned Enterprises
18 Hon Dr Nick Smith
  • Spokesperson for Forestry
  • Spokesperson for Aquaculture
19 Hon Maggie Barry
  • Spokesperson for Conservation
20 Hon Alfred Ngaro
  • Spokesperson for Courts
  • Spokesperson for the Community and Voluntary Sector
  • Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples
21 Hon Mark Mitchell
  • Spokesperson for Defence
22 Hon Nicky Wagner
  • Spokesperson for Disability Issues
23 Hon Jacqui Dean
  • Spokesperson for Tourism
  • Spokesperson for Small Business
24 Hon David Bennett
  • Spokesperson for Food Safety
  • Spokesperson for Racing
  • Associate Spokesperson for Immigration
25 Hon Tim Macindoe
  • Spokesperson for ACC
26 Hon Scott Simpson
  • Spokesperson for the Environment
  • Spokesperson for Planning
27 Jami-Lee Ross
  • Senior Whip
  • Spokesperson for Local Government
  • Associate spokesperson for Transport
28 Barbara Kuriger
  • Junior Whip
  • Spokesperson for Biosecurity
  • Spokesperson for Rural Communities
29 Matt Doocey
  • Third Whip
  • Spokesperson for Greater Christchurch Regeneration
  • Spokesperson for Mental Health
30 Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
  • Spokesperson for Internal Affairs
  • Associate spokesperson for Police
31 Melissa Lee
  • Spokesperson for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media
  • Spokesperson for Ethnic Affairs
32 Jonathan Young
  • Spokesperson for Energy and Resources
33 Jo Hayes
  • Spokesperson for Whānau Ora
  • Associate spokesperson for Children
34 Ian McKelvie
  • Spokesperson for Seniors
  • Spokesperson for Veterans
35 Simon O'Connor
  • Spokesperson for Corrections
36 Dr Jian Yang
  • Spokesperson for Statistics
  • Associate Spokesperson for Ethnic Affairs
37 Andrew Bayly
  • Spokesperson for Building Regulation
  • Associate Spokesperson for Commerce
38 Chris Bishop
  • Spokesperson for Police
  • Spokesperson for Youth
39 Sarah Dowie
  • Spokesperson for Early Childhood Education
40 Brett Hudson
  • Spokesperson for ICT
  • Spokesperson for Government Digital Services
41 Nuk Korako
  • Spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations
  • Spokesperson for Māori Development
42 Todd Muller
  • Spokesperson for Climate Change
  • Spokesperson for Crown/Māori Relations
43 Dr Parmjeet Parmar
  • Spokesperson for Science and Innovation
44 Dr Shane Reti
  • Spokesperson for Data
  • Associate spokesperson for Health
45 Alastair Scott
  • Spokesperson for Customs
  • Associate Spokesperson for Regional Development
46 Stuart Smith
  • Spokesperson for Civil Defence
  • Spokesperson for the Earthquake Commission

The ten MPs who entered Parliament at the 2017 general election (Simeon Brown, Andrew Falloon, Harete Hipango, Matt King, Denise Lee, Chris Penk, Erica Stanford, Tim van de Molen, Hamish Walker, and Lawrence Yule) were not ranked or given portfolio allocations.

References

edit
  1. ^ Sachdeva, Sam (3 November 2017). "National's underwhelming reshuffle". Newsroom. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  2. ^ "National unveils strong Opposition team". Scoop.co.nz. 2 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.