Stuff, Wellington, August 29, 2021
National Party leader Judith Collins announced a surprise reshuffle of her caucus following a Friday-night (August 27, 2021) Caucus meeting.
The reshuffle has seen little movement around the rankings of MPs but many portfolios shift around. It has also formalised the demotion of former Leader Todd Muller.
Disquiet in the Caucus
Most notably Chris Bishop has lost his Shadow Leader of the House portfolio, a key role that saw him involved in much of the Party’s Parliamentary strategy.
Ms Collins said that Mr Bishop was handing over the portfolio so he could focus on his other role as the spokesperson for the Covid-19 Response.
But the move follows some disquiet inside the Party about Mr Bishop, one of the Party’s more prominent liberals.
He is understood to have pushed for a conscience vote on the Gay Conversion Therapy Bill, which National opposed on-bloc at first reading. A private message to a member of the public where Mr Bishop made clear his distaste for this vote was subsequently leaked.
Woodhouse promoted
Michael Woodhouse picks up the Shadow Leader of the House role, an upgrade from his current position as deputy.
He has lost his Transport portfolio and handed it to David Bennett, who has, in turn, handed his Agriculture portfolio to Barbara Kuriger.
The reshuffle formalises some arrangements made after Mr Muller was forced to announce his resignation when it was revealed he had been an anonymous source for a Newsroom article. His Trade and Internal Affairs portfolios officially go to Nicola Grigg and Simon O’Connor, respectively, although they had been acting Spokespersons for these portfolios.
Returning MP Harete Hipango has become Spokesperson for Children/Oranga Tamariki, Whanau Ora, Maori Development and Maori Tourism.
Those last two did not exist as stand-alone portfolios when Ms Collins announced her first reshuffle after the 2020 election. She has taken the Children portfolio from Deputy Leader Dr Shane Reti.
Ms Collins met with her Caucus one-on-one via Zoom in the week leading up to the announcement to discuss their contributions.
“I am confident that this refreshed team will do an outstanding job of holding the government to account and demonstrating our vision for a better New Zealand,” she said.
The above story has been published by courtesy of www.stuff.co.nz
