PM's portfolio reshuffle leaves Cabinet top heavy

Analysis - The prime minister has taken a close hard look at the varying skills of his ministers, resulting in a portfolio allocation imbalance following Sunday's reshuffle.

There is now a small pool of experienced ministers loaded up with between four and seven meaty portfolios and additional associate responsibilities each, while another has only one that doesn't even require overseeing a ministerial department.

Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown, Judith Collins, and Mark Mitchell are certainly doing the heavy lifting in Cabinet and could be left wondering why Matt Doocey continues to hold his position at the top table when his only responsibility is that of minister for mental health.

Erica Stanford is also on the lighter side for a fifth-ranked Cabinet minister with just Education and Immigration on her workload, though Luxon may have been deliberate about that given her job coordinating the government's response to the Royal Commission into abuse in state care.

That role will be riddled with complexities and challenges in the months and years to come as the Coalition tries to work its way through a long-awaited redress model for survivors.

Doocey has retained his Associate Health role, but given Brown has had a number of his portfolios taken off him to allow him the time to focus solely on his new job, he will not be relying on Doocey to be dealing with any of the more challenging delegations.

New Zealand First's Casey Costello and ACT's David Seymour also hold associate health portfolios and have specific carve-outs, leaving very little for anyone else.

When asked by RNZ whether it was fair on other busy ministers to have a colleague holding just one job, Luxon initially seemed to forget he had created that dynamic, responding, "Sorry what are you referencing?".

Having gathered his thoughts he reiterated the "ruthless focus" his government was putting on health this year and said he was giving both Brown and Doocey the time they needed to focus their efforts.

Luxon said his job was to assess the different skills of each of his ministers.

In doing that he has decided Doocey is no longer up to the job of ACC, Tourism and Hospitality, Youth, or Associate Transport.

The prime minister has also made an assessment of his minister outside of Cabinet, Melissa Lee, and it is not positive.

Having been demoted in April 2024 from Cabinet and stripped of Broadcasting, she has now been relegated to the backbenches with her only focus being that of a list MP.

Luxon told RNZ Lee had committed to staying on as National MP to the 2026 election "at this point".

She has been in Parliament since 2008 and with zero chance of her being a minister again, she may see the writing on the wall long before then.

The skills of outgoing Health Minister Shane Reti have also had a microscope on them this summer.

Reti is the other big loser in the reshuffle and his departure from the portfolio has been put down to Luxon hearing the concerns of New Zealanders who "expect to see more progress in health".

While the prime minister stressed that Reti had done good work sorting out the culture and performance of Health NZ he said the portfolio needed the "delivery and execution" of a minister like Brown, who had proven himself in areas including Transport and Local Government.

To make sure his focus is keenly on health and not potholes or council observers, he's been relieved of both those jobs, along with Energy and his position as deputy leader of the house.

His two responsibilities alongside Health are continuing his work as minister for Auckland, and, he's picked up State-owned Enterprises from Paul Goldsmith.

Reti has a good relationship with Luxon, who described him as not only a colleague but a friend, which he said made the conversation about his demotion even tougher.

The Northland doctor has dropped five Cabinet rankings to number nine and will now concentrate on the new portfolio of Minister for Universities (a change to the old Tertiary Education role that Penny Simmonds previously had), Science, Innovation and Technology, Statistics, and Pacific Peoples.

Luxon described him as a "class act" who would no doubt be disappointed by losing Health.

Brown, on the other hand, was described as a "diligent minister" and Luxon expects him to first get his feet under the desk before taking a wide look at everything in the health sector and considering any needed changes.

The National Party 2023 election commitment to open a new medical school at Waikato University could well be one for the chopping block early on.

It is understood that the project has been dogged with problems and is increasingly seen as an unnecessary, costly, and bad idea.

Luxon told RNZ a detailed business case was still being worked through for the project, and once it was ready it would go to Cabinet for discussion.

Only at that point would decisions be made about its future.

For the ministers outside of Cabinet, Sunday brought both good news and bad.

Chris Penk has picked up Small Business and Manufacturing from Andrew Bayly to add to his three other portfolios and two associate responsibilities.

Penk could be a little miffed his workload and reputation for being a hard worker did not see him rise into the Cabinet ranks and take the place of Doocey.

Penny Simmonds, Nicola Grigg, and Andrew Bayly all continue to be ministers outside of Cabinet, with two portfolios each.

The big winner amongst that group is newly appointed minister James Meager - the first and only of the 2023 class to be promoted to the executive.

He takes on Hunting and Fishing from Todd McClay, Youth and Associate Transport from Doocey and is charged with the job of the first minister for the South Island.

With the mainland and the country's largest city, Auckland, now both allocated their very own minister, the question is whether the two were neglected in the first place, or the rest of the country will now be justified in saying it is.

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