Shadow Cabinet of Simon Bridges

The Shadow Cabinet of Simon Bridges formed the official Opposition in the 52nd New Zealand Parliament. It comprised all members of the New Zealand National Party, which was the largest party not a member of the Government.

The Shadow Cabinet was established on 11 March 2018, two weeks after Simon Bridges' election as Leader of the Opposition.[1] The portfolio allocations were amended six times as a number of National MPs either resigned during the term of Parliament or announced their intention not to contest the 2020 general election.

Following Bridges' defeat by Todd Muller in the May 2020 National Party leadership election and the formation of Muller's Shadow Cabinet,[2] the Bridges Shadow Cabinet ceased to exist.

Formation

Commentators noticed that the initial portfolio allocations and caucus rankings rewarded Bridges' rivals for the leadership.[3] Former Justice Minister Amy Adams, who had placed second in the leadership election, was named Finance Spokesperson and was ranked third. Judith Collins, who finished third, was placed at fourth rank, and received the housing portfolio, which she had asked for.[3] Previous aspirants to the leadership, Jonathan Coleman and Mark Mitchell were also ranked highly, in sixth and seventh position respectively. Bridges' allies Todd McClay and Jami-Lee Ross were placed fifth and eighth respectively. Ross was the highest-ranked National MP who did not serve as a minister in the Fifth National Government. Along with Bridges and deputy leader Paula Bennett, the front bench was completed by economic and regional development spokesperson Paul Goldsmith and education spokesperson Nikki Kaye. Melissa Lee and Sarah Dowie were the other two non-ministers to gain promotion to the top twenty.

Bridges had promised "generational change" on his ascension to the leadership.[4] The front bench line up in particular was praised for including a high proportion of women MPs.[3][5] Bridges and Bennett were, notably, the first National leadership team both to be of Māori descent.[6] Bridges also placed several former ministers in lower positions than they had held under Bridges' predecessor, Bill English. Former senior minister Gerry Brownlee lost the foreign affairs portfolio to McClay,[3] while former Finance Minister Steven Joyce resigned from Parliament when he was not offered the finance portfolio.[7] Former Conservation Minister Maggie Barry (who had openly supported Amy Adams' leadership bid) and Customs Minister Nicky Wagner were also demoted. The twelve new MPs elected in the 2017 general election were listed last, alphabetically by surname. Whanau Ora spokesperson Jo Hayes was the lowest ranked returning MP.

Amendments

Portfolio allocations were amended six times throughout Bridges' tenure as leader to accommodate the departures or planned retirements of members. The first change was made two weeks after the formation of the Shadow Cabinet, on 26 March, with the resignation of Jonathan Coleman. Coleman had been the spokesperson for health and sport and recreation, portfolios he had held ministerial warrants for in the previous government. Michael Woodhouse, a former hospital chief executive, gained health. Education spokesperson Nikki Kaye picked up sport and recreation. Woodhouse's portfolio of workplace relations and safety was added to the responsibilities of environment spokesperson Scott Simpson.[8]

In October 2018, a series of events that involved the leaking of Bridges' travel expenses saw transport and infrastructure spokesperson Jami-Lee Ross stand down from his portfolios while undertaking personal leave (ostensibly for "deeply personal" health issues, although Ross would later claim that this was a false statement put out by Bridges and Bennett) before resigning from the National Party. Judith Collins and Paul Goldsmith picked up Ross's portfolios.[9] The third resignation, in January 2019, was of former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson.[10][11] His shadow Attorney General portfolio went to Amy Adams and a new drug reform portfolio, responding to the Government's decision to hold a referendum on legalising the sale, use, possession and production of cannabis in 2020, was assigned to Paula Bennett.

In June 2019, Adams and Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott announced they would not seek re-election to Parliament at the 2020 general election. Along with the retirement of list MP and Māori development spokesperson Nuk Korako in mid-May, this triggered a broad reshuffle.[12] Paul Goldsmith received Adams' finance portfolio and became the third-ranked MP. Goldsmith's economic and regional development portfolios were split between Todd McClay and Chris Bishop, who was promoted to the second bench and also gained the transport portfolio. Jo Hayes was promoted to be spokesperson for Māori development and Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, but retained a low ranking. Tim Macindoe became Shadow Attorney-General and Gerry Brownlee returned as foreign affairs spokesperson.

Agriculture spokesperson Nathan Guy announced his intention to retire at the next election in July 2019. He was replaced by Bridges' eventual successor to the leadership, Todd Muller, whose climate change portfolio was passed to Simpson.[13] The sixth and final reshuffle, in February 2020, featured minor redistributions of portfolios following announcements that Maggie Barry (on 5 November 2019), Nicky Wagner, Sarah Dowie and David Carter (all on 11 February 2020, although Carter had previously indicated his intentions on 17 October 2018[14]) would retire at the next election.[15]

List of spokespersons

At the point of its disestablishment, the Bridges Shadow Cabinet consisted of the following spokespersons.[15]

Rank		MP	Portfolio
	1	Hon Simon Bridges	Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for National Security and Intelligence
	2	Hon Paula Bennett	Deputy Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for Social Investment and Social Services Spokesperson for Women Spokesperson for Drug Reform
	3	Hon Paul Goldsmith	Spokesperson for Finance Spokesperson for Infrastructure Spokesperson for State Owned Enterprises
	4	Hon Judith Collins	Spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development Spokesperson for Planning (RMA Reform)
	5	Hon Todd McClay	Spokesperson for Trade Spokesperson for Economic Development Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety Spokesperson for Tourism Spokesperson for Small Business
	6	Hon Mark Mitchell	Spokesperson for Justice Spokesperson for Defence Spokesperson for Disarmament Spokesperson for Pike River Mine re-entry
	7	Hon Nikki Kaye	Spokesperson for Education Spokesperson for Sport and Recreation
	8	Hon Gerry Brownlee	Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Shadow Leader of the House Spokesperson for the GCSB Spokesperson for the NZSIS Spokesperson for Greater Christchurch Regeneration
	9	Hon Michael Woodhouse	Deputy Shadow Leader of the House Spokesperson for Health Associate Spokesperson for Finance
	10	Hon Louise Upston	Spokesperson for Social Development
	11	Hon Alfred Ngaro	Spokesperson for Children Spokesperson for the Community and Voluntary Sector Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Spokesperson for Disability Issues
	12	Hon Scott Simpson	Spokesperson for the Environment Spokesperson for Climate Change
	13	Hon Jacqui Dean	Spokesperson for Local Government Spokesperson for Conservation
	14	Melissa Lee	Spokesperson for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities
	15	Chris Bishop	Spokesperson for Regional Development Spokesperson for Transport
	16	Todd Muller	Spokesperson for Agriculture Spokesperson for Biosecurity Spokesperson for Food Safety Spokesperson for Forestry
	17	Hon Anne Tolley	Deputy Speaker Spokesperson for Veterans
	18	Hon David Bennett	Spokesperson for Corrections Spokesperson for Land Information Associate Spokesperson for Infrastructure
	19	Jonathan Young	Spokesperson for Energy and Resources Spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage Spokesperson for Regional Development (North Island)
	20	Hon Dr Nick Smith	Spokesperson for State Services (including Open Government) Spokesperson for Electoral Law Reform Spokesperson for Crown-Māori relations
	21	Barbara Kuriger	Senior Whip
	22	Matt Doocey	Spokesperson for Mental Health Junior Whip
	23	Simon O'Connor	Spokesperson for Customs Associate Spokesperson for Housing (Social) Associate Spokesperson for Social Development
	24	Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi	Spokesperson for Internal Affairs Associate Spokesperson for Justice
	25	Hon Tim Macindoe	Shadow Attorney-General Spokesperson for Seniors Spokesperson for ACC
	26	Brett Hudson	Spokesperson for Police Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Spokesperson for Government Digital Services Associate Spokesperson for Transport
	27	Stuart Smith	Spokesperson for Immigration Spokesperson for the Earthquake Commission Spokesperson for Civil Defence Spokesperson for Viticulture
	28	Dr Shane Reti	Spokesperson for Data and Cybersecurity Associate Spokesperson for Health Spokesperson for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
	29	Dr Jian Yang	Spokesperson for Statistics Associate Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities
	30	Dr Parmjeet Parmar	Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation Associate Spokesperson for Economic Development
	31	Ian McKelvie	Spokesperson for Fisheries Spokesperson for Racing
	32	Andrew Bayly	Spokesperson for Building and Construction Spokesperson for Revenue Associate Spokesperson for Finance
	33	Jo Hayes	Spokesperson for Māori Development Spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Spokesperson for Whānau Ora
	34	Simeon Brown	Associate Spokesperson for Education Associate Spokesperson for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
	35	Andrew Falloon	Spokesperson for Regional Development (South Island)
	36	Harete Hipango	Spokesperson for Māori Tourism
	37	Matt King	Spokesperson for Rural Communities
	38	Denise Lee	Spokesperson for Local Government (Auckland)
	39	Chris Penk	Spokesperson for Courts
	40	Erica Stanford	Associate Spokesperson for the Environment
	41	Tim van de Molen	Third Whip
	42	Hamish Walker	Associate Spokesperson for Agriculture
	43	Lawrence Yule	Spokesperson for Horticulture
	44	Maureen Pugh	Spokesperson for West Coast Issues Associate Spokesperson for Children
	45	Nicola Willis	Spokesperson for Early Childhood Education Spokesperson for Youth
	46	Dan Bidois	Associate Spokesperson for Workplace Relations & Safety
	47	Agnes Loheni	Associate Spokesperson for Small Businesses Associate Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples
	48	Paulo Garcia	Associate Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs
	49	Hon Amy Adams
	50	Hon Nathan Guy
	51	Rt Hon David Carter
	52	Sarah Dowie
	53	Hon Nicky Wagner
	54	Hon Maggie Barry
	55	Alastair Scott

References

1. "New National leader Simon Bridges sets out first priorities". The New Zealand Herald. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
2. New Zealand National Party (25 May 2020). "Todd Muller announces shape of next Government". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
3. Cooke, Henry (11 March 2018). "National Party reshuffle sees former ministers demoted, Judith Collins up". Stuff. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
4. "National leader vote: Bridges touts 'generational change'". RNZ. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
5. Trevett, Claire (8 March 2018). "Women expected to be front and centre of National party". ZB. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
6. Roy, Eleanor Ainge (27 February 2018). "New Zealand: National party elects Maori leader and deputy to take on Jacindamania". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
7. Smellie, Patrick (6 March 2018). "Joyce quits; deadline passes for NBR apology". Newsroom. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
8. Bennett, Lucy (26 March 2018). "Woodhouse named National's health spokesman following Coleman's departure". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
9. Watkins, Tracy (2 October 2018). "National MP Jami-Lee Ross taking leave for 'personal health issues'". Retrieved 5 January 2019.
10. "Bennett named drug reform spokesperson in shadow cabinet reshuffle". Radio New Zealand. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
11. Coughlan, Thomas (22 January 2019). "Bridges begins year with a reshuffle". Newsroom. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
12. New Zealand National Party (25 June 2019). "National Party Caucus reshuffle announced". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
13. "National party reshuffle after Nathan Guy announces retirement from politics". Newshub. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
14. "Chris Finlayson and David Carter to leave Parliament by next election". Stuff.co.nz. 17 October 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
15. New Zealand National Party (11 February 2020). "Bridges Thanks Outgoing MPs, Announces Reshuffle". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 27 May 2020.