Cabinet of New Zealand

The Cabinet of New Zealand () is the New Zealand Government's body of senior ministers, accountable to the New Zealand Parliament. Cabinet meetings, chaired by the prime minister, occur once a week; in them, vital issues are discussed and government policy is formulated. Cabinet is also composed of a number of committees focused on specific areas of governance and policy. Though not established by any statute, Cabinet wields significant power within the New Zealand political system, with nearly all government bills it introduces in Parliament being enacted.

The New Zealand Cabinet follows the traditions of the British cabinet system. Members of Cabinet are collectively responsible to Parliament for its actions and policies. Cabinet discussions are confidential and are not disclosed to the public apart from the announcement of decisions.

All ministers in Cabinet also serve as members of the Executive Council, the body tasked with advising the governor-general in the exercise of his or her formal constitutional functions. Outside Cabinet, there are a number of non-Cabinet ministers, responsible for a specific policy area and reporting directly to a senior Cabinet minister. Ministers outside Cabinet are also part of Cabinet committees and will regularly attend Cabinet meetings which concern their s. Therefore, although operating outside of Cabinet directly, these ministers do not lack power and influence as they are still very much part of the decision making process.

Constitutional basis

thumb|upright=1.21|Swearing-in of ministers by Governor-General [[Cindy Kiro|Dame Cindy Kiro, 27 November 2023. Cabinet members are first appointed as executive councillors before receiving warrants for their ministerial portfolios.]]

Cabinet is not established by any statute or constitutional document but exists purely by long-established constitutional convention. This convention carries sufficient weight for many official declarations and regulations to refer to Cabinet; a government department—the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet—is responsible for supporting it. Although Cabinet lacks any direct legislative framework for its existence, the Cabinet Manual has become the official document which governs its functions, as well as on which its convention rests.

The structure of Cabinet has as its basis the formal institution known as the Executive Council, the body tasked with advising the governor-general in the exercise of their formal constitutional functions (the "Governor-General in Council"). Most ministers hold membership of both bodies, but some executive councillors, known as "ministers outside Cabinet", are not ranked as Cabinet members and do not normally attend. The convention of a cabinet meeting separately from the Executive Council began during Edward Stafford's first tenure as premier (1856–1861). Stafford, a long-time advocate of responsible government in New Zealand, believed the colonial government should have full control over all its affairs, without the intervention of the governor. Because the governor chaired the Executive Council, Stafford intentionally met with his ministers without the governor present, thus reducing the Council to its formal role.]]

The lack of formal legislation establishing Cabinet leaves the powers of its members only loosely defined. Cabinet generally directs and controls policy (releasing government policy statements), and is responsible to the House of Representatives, the elected component of Parliament. It also has significant influence over law-making, and all draft government bills must be submitted to the Cabinet Legislation Committee before they can be introduced to the House. Convention regarding Cabinet's authority has considerable force, and generally proves strong enough to bind its participants. Theoretically, each minister operates independently, having received a ministerial warrant over a certain field from the Crown. But the governor-general can dismiss a minister at any time, conventionally on the advice of the prime minister, so ministers are largely obliged to work within a certain framework. Collective responsibility is grounded in three key principles. The first principle is unanimity, where members of Cabinet must publicly support decisions and defend them in public, regardless of any personal views on the matter. Secondly, the confidentiality limb means that all Cabinet discussions are to be kept confidential.

Formally all ministers are equals and may not command or be commanded by a fellow minister. Constitutional practice does, however, dictate that the prime minister is primus inter pares, meaning 'first among equals'.

Problems arise when the prime minister breaches collective responsibility. Since ministerial appointments and dismissals are in practice in the hands of the prime minister, Cabinet can not directly initiate any action against a prime minister who openly disagrees with their government's policy. On the other hand, a prime minister who tries to act against concerted opposition from their Cabinet risks losing the confidence of their party colleagues. An example is former Prime Minister David Lange, who publicly spoke against a tax reform package which was sponsored by then-Finance Minister Roger Douglas and supported by Cabinet. Douglas was forced to resign, but when the Cabinet supported Douglas against Lange, the Prime Minister interpreted this as a vote of no-confidence in his leadership and stepped down.

Collective responsibility after MMP

Some political commentators, such as Professor Philip Joseph, have argued that it is a misnomer to deem the unanimity principle of collective responsibility a constitutional convention as such. Joseph views unanimity as merely a "rule of pragmatic politics", lacking a sufficient constitutional nature to be deemed a constitutional convention. He states that, unlike a convention, governments may waive, suspend or abandon political rules, Following the 2011 general election the National-led government released the following statement in regards to the role of minor parties in the context of collective responsibility:

<blockquote>Collective responsibility applies differently in the case of support party Ministers. Support party Ministers are only bound by collective responsibility in relation to their own respective portfolios (including any specific delegated responsibilities). When support party Ministers speak about the issues in their portfolios, they speak for the government and as part of the government. When the government takes decisions within their portfolios, they must support those decisions, regardless of their personal views and whether or not they were at the meeting concerned. When support party Ministers speak about matters outside their portfolios, they may speak as political party leaders or members of Parliament rather than as Ministers, and do not necessarily support the government position.</blockquote>

Ministers outside Cabinet retain individual ministerial responsibility for the actions of their department (in common with Cabinet ministers). The increased representation resulted in the need to form coalitions between parties, as no single party received a majority of votes and seats under MMP until 2020. In order to govern in a coalition under MMP, it is likely that a major party will have to relinquish and offer Cabinet positions to members of a minority party.

The aftermath of the first MMP election in 1996 highlighted the changes resulting from the new proportional parliament. New Zealand First received 13.4% of the party vote, giving them 17 total seats in the House of Representatives (in contrast to 8.5% in the 1993 general election, conducted under the plurality voting system). This ultimately resulted in the as the National Party, who received 33.8% of the party vote, translating to 44 seats in the House, could not govern alone.

Negotiations forming the new government took nearly two months however the ultimate result being that New Zealand First were to have five ministers inside Cabinet and four outside. This translated to having 36.4% of representation in the new government. The Prime Minister following the 1996 election, Jim Bolger, was forced to tell his caucus during negotiations with New Zealand First, that he would not be able to satisfy all ambitions of the caucus, due to the forced inclusion of the minority party into the governmental framework, thus highlighting one of the challenges that came with MMP.

Meetings

thumb|upright=1.21|Photograph taken before the first meeting of the Cabinet of the [[Sixth National Government of New Zealand, Beehive, 28 November 2023]]

Members of Cabinet meet on a regular basis, usually weekly on a Monday, to discuss the most important issues of government policy. Matters that must be submitted to Cabinet include new legislation, involving draft government bills; financial proposals and budget decisions; constitutional arrangements; public service changes; government responses to select committee recommendations; portfolio interests of ministers; appointments to government bodies; and international treaties.

The Cabinet secretary and their deputy are the only non-ministers who attend Cabinet meetings. They are not political appointments and their role at Cabinet meetings is to formulate and record the Cabinet's decisions and advise on procedure, not to offer policy advice. The secretary has a dual role as the clerk of the Executive Council where they provide a channel of communication and liaison between the Cabinet and the governor-general.

The Cabinet room, where the weekly meetings are normally held, and related offices are located at the top of the Beehive (the Executive Wing of Parliament Buildings).

Members

The prime minister assigns roles to ministers and ranks them in order to determine seniority. A minister's rank depends on factors such as "their length of service, the importance of their portfolio and their personal standing with the prime minister". Under MMP, there are typically three categories of minister: ministers within the 'core' Cabinet, ministers outside Cabinet, and ministers from support parties (i.e. minor parties which have agreed to support a government party during confidence and supply votes). The size of Cabinet has grown over time. In the 1890s, for example, there were seven Cabinet ministers. The number of ministers within Cabinet increased in the period up until the 1970s, but has plateaued at 20 since ; this despite increases in the number of members of parliament. By contrast, the numbers of ministers outside Cabinet has grown, especially since the introduction of MMP. except for the prime minister who is accorded the style "The Right Honourable" ("The Rt. Hon."). Previously, several senior ministers used "The Right Honourable" by virtue of membership of the Privy Council before appointments were discontinued in 2000.

Current ministers

thumb|Current composition (Cabinet members only)

The current ministry has a Cabinet of 20 ministers: 14 from the National Party, three from ACT, and three from New Zealand First. There are eight ministers outside Cabinet: five from National, two from ACT, and one from New Zealand First. Additionally, two parliamentary under-secretaries assist ministers from a parliamentary standpoint.

The table below lists all ministers, .

{| class=wikitable

|+Parties

| bgcolor="" |

| National

| bgcolor="" |

| NZ First

| bgcolor="" |

| ACT

{| class="wikitable" | Party key

! Portfolios

! Image

! colspan="2"|Incumbent

! style=width:20em|Additional responsibilities

! Electorate

! colspan="7" |

| style="text-align: center;" colspan="7" | National Party Ministers

|

| style="text-align:center"|100px

| bgcolor= |

| Christopher Luxon

| Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services

|

| style="text-align:center"|100px

| bgcolor= |

| Nicola Willis

| List

|

| style="text-align:center"|100px

| bgcolor= |

| Chris Bishop

| Associate Minister of Finance

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px

| bgcolor="" |

| Simeon Brown

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px

| bgcolor="" |

| Erica Stanford

| Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px

| bgcolor="" |

| Paul Goldsmith

| List

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px

| bgcolor="" |

| Louise Upston

| Minister for Child Poverty Reduction Leader of the House

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px|Mark Mitchell

| bgcolor="" |

| Mark Mitchell

| Associate Minister for National Security and Intelligence

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px|Todd McClay

| bgcolor="" |

| Todd McClay

| Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px|Tama Potaka

| bgcolor="" |

| Tama Potaka

| Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing)

| style="text-align:center" |100px

| bgcolor="" |

| Matt Doocey

| Associate Minister of Health

| Minister of Climate Change Minister of Revenue

| style="text-align:center"|100px

| bgcolor= |

| Simon Watts

| Minister for Auckland

|

| style="text-align:center"|100px

| bgcolor= |

| Chris Penk

|Associate Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery

|

| style="text-align:center"|100px

| bgcolor= |

| Penny Simmonds

| Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment

| style="text-align: center;" colspan="7" | ACT Ministers

|

| style="text-align:center"|100px

| bgcolor= |

| David Seymour

| Associate Minister of Education (Partnership Schools) Associate Minister of Finance Associate Minister of Health (Pharmac) Associate Minister of Justice (Treaty Principles Bill)

|

| style="text-align:center" |100px

| bgcolor="" |

| Brooke van Velden

| style="text-align:center" |100px

| bgcolor="" |

| Nicole McKee

| Associate Minister of Justice (Firearms)

| List

| style="text-align: center;" colspan="7" | New Zealand First Ministers