Meet your new Government

Herald on Sunday

3 Feb, 2018 04:00 PM7 mins to read

Beehive building, Parliament in Wellington city.

To kick off the political year we asked all 20 members of Cabinet one thing they would commit to doing in power — and one thing they vow not to do.

Jacinda Ardern, 37

Prime Minister, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Minister for National Security and Intelligence.

• Partner Clarke Gayford.
• Mt Albert MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Reducing child poverty and improving access (and New Zealanders' love) of our arts, culture and heritage.
One thing you won't: Be a conventional Government.

Winston Peters, 72

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Racing and State Owned Enterprises.

• Partner Jan Trotman.
• List MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Straight talk.
One thing you won't: I won't ever give up fishing.

Kelvin Davis, 50

Minister for Crown/Māori Relations, Minister of Corrections, Minister of Tourism, Associate Minister of Education

• Married with three children.
• Te Tai Tokerau MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Reducing prison population by 30 per cent over the next 15 years.
One thing you won't: Forget where I come from because Te Tai Tokerau keeps me grounded.

Grant Robertson, 46

Minister of Finance, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage

• Civil Union partner Alf, two step- children and three grandchildren.
• Wellington Central MP
One thing you commit to doing: Always remembering the economy is not an end in itself, but a means to an end — a better life for all.
One thing you won't: Forget the people who work hard every day and pay their taxes to drive our economy.

Phil Twyford, 54

Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Minister of Transport

• Married to Jo, one son Harry.
• Te Atatu MP.
One thing you commit to doing: All I can to get more New Zealanders into warm, dry homes and get Auckland moving.
One thing you won't: Pretend there isn't a housing crisis while kids are living in cars.

Megan Woods, 44

Minister for Energy, Minister for Research Science and Innovation, Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Minister for the Earthquake Commission

• Single, with a step-daughter from a previous relationship.
• Wigram MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Speeding up the Canterbury recovery.
One thing you won't: Back down.

Chris Hipkins, 39

Minister of Education, Minister of State Services and Leader of the House

• Partner and one child.
• Rimutaka MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Listening to teachers and educators and respecting their professional expertise.
One thing you won't: Allow the focus of our education to be narrowed down to a small range of arbitrary measures.

Andrew Little, 52

Hon Andrew Little MP, Minister of Justice, Minister for Courts, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Minister Responsible for the NZSIS, Minister Responsible for the GCSB, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry

• I'm happily married to my lovely best friend Leigh Fitzgerald and we have an amazing 15-year-old son, Cam.
• List MP.
One thing you will do: I will work relentlessly to ensure New Zealand has a justice system that reduces offending and keeps all New Zealanders safe.
One thing you won't: I won't ever stop learning te reo Māori. Nga manaakitanga!

Carmel Sepuloni, 40

Minister for Social Development, Minister for Disability Issues

• Engaged, two children.
• Kelston MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Making the welfare system fairer and more accessible and helping people to realise their potential.
One thing you won't: Make life harder for those who are already struggling.

Dr David Clark, 45

Minister of Health, Associate Minister of Finance

• Married with three children.
• Dunedin North MP.
One thing you commit to doing: I will work hard to ensure every New Zealander has access to affordable, quality healthcare.
One thing you won't:
I won't back away from addressing inequalities New Zealanders increasingly face in seeking health care.

David Parker, 58

Attorney-General, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for the Environment, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Associate Minister of Finance

• Partner: Barbara Ward and three adult children.
• List MP.
One thing you commit to doing: To drive the economy towards productive investment rather than speculation.
One thing you won't: Build a sheep farm in the Saudi desert.

Nanaia Mahuta, 47

Minister for Māori Development, Minister of Local Government.

• Married to William Ormsby, two children
• Hauraki-Waikato MP.
Mahuta did not respond to questions

Stuart Nash, 50

Minister of Police, Revenue, Fisheries and for Small Business.

• Married to Sarah, four children including two from previous marriage.
• Napier MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Work towards recruiting 1800 extra police over three years as per the Coalition Agreement.
One thing you won't: I hope to avoid annoying Parliament's Speaker, Trevor Mallard, again.

Iain Lees-Galloway, 39

Workplace Relations and Safety, Immigration, ACC

Iain Lees-Galloway. Photo / Brett Phibbs

• Married with three children.
• Palmerston North MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Make New Zealand a better place to work.
One thing you won't: Strip away workers' rights.

Jenny Salesa, 50

Minister for Building and Construction, Minister for Ethnic Communities, Associate Minister of Health, Associate Minister of Education, Associate Minister of Housing and Urban Development.

• Married to Damon Salesa with two children.
• Manukau East MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Continue to serve our most vulnerable in society in a compassionate way.
One thing you won't: Stop caring about people who need our help the most.

Damien O'Connor, 60

Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity, Food Safety and Rural Communities, Associate Minister of Trade and Export Growth.

• Partner and five daughters.
• West Coast-Tasman MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Drive development of a strategic pathway to higher value agribusiness primary production.
One thing you won't: Allow rural communities to be ignored.

Clare Curran, 57

Minister of Broadcasting, Communi-cations and Digital Media, Minister for Government Digital Services, Associate Minister for ACC, Associate Minister of State Services (Open Government)

• Single, with two sons.
• South Dunedin MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Putting non-commercial public media news and New Zealand-made content at the centre of our media.
One thing you won't: I won't let New Zealand be viewed by the world, and the next generation, as a place where ideas don't flourish and transparency is a myth.

Ron Mark, 64

Minister of Defence, Minister for Veterans

• Partner: Christine Tracey, five children, 13 grandchildren.
• List MP.
One thing you commit to doing: Achieve the best possible cross-party consensus on Defence matters, to give security and confidence to the men and women who serve our country. One thing you won't: Ask anyone to do anything I wouldn't do myself.

Tracey Martin, 53

Minister for Children, Minister for Seniors, Minister of Internal Affairs, Associate Education Minister

• Married to Ben, with three children.
• List MP.
One thing you commit to doing: To care about people before politics.
One thing you won't: No stunts.

Shane Jones, 58

Regional Economic Development, Forestry, Infrastructure, Associate Finance, Associate Transport

• Married (in January) to Dot. Seven tamariki.
• List MP.
One thing you commit to doing: I'm committed to weight reduction for the purposes of Golden Oldies Rugby.
One thing you won't: I've recently married and I can promise you a thing that won't happen — there will never be a pregnancy announcement.

• Winston Peters, Ron Mark, Tracey Martin and Shane Jones are NZ First MPs.