Record number of Māori in Cabinet: 'We should be proud of that' – PM Jacinda Ardern

Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis with Māori ministers and senior MPs during a press conference at the Beehive, Parliament, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand has a historically high number of Māori ministers sitting around the Cabinet table but there is still "a lot more work to do".

That is according to Kelvin Davis, who leads a team of five Māori ministers inside Cabinet, as well as two outside Cabinet and an under-secretary.

Māori ministers now also have responsibility for a number of key portfolios, including Children, Māori Education, Māori Development, Māori Health, Conservation, Foreign Affairs, Fisheries, Defence and others.

"We're very happy with the level of representation we have now," Davis said.
"We are also very happy with the role that we will play in Māoridom."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her Cabinet is one with both merit and talent which also happens to be incredibly diverse.

"I think that's an important point to make – these are individuals who have been promoted for what they bring to this Cabinet."

She said they also reflect the New Zealand that elected them.
The five new Māori ministers means Māori make up 25 per cent of Cabinet.
"I think as a country we should be proud of that," Ardern said.

Davis said the five Māori ministers around the Cabinet table is likely the highest proportion in New Zealand's history.

"Māoridom has been wanting representation for 160 years – this Government has the interest of Māoridom at his heart."

Davis is Minister for Children, Corrections and Māori Crown Relations and is ranked number three in the Cabinet rankings.

The Māori he is joined by are:

• Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta

• Defence Minister Peeni Henare

• Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson

• Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan

Māori Ministers outside of Cabinet include Minister of Customs Meka Whaitiri and Green Party co-leader, and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Marama Davidson.

Rino Tirikatene is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries.

"We're very happy with the level of representation we have now," Davis said.

But he said: "We have a lot of work to do over the next three years."

"The work we will do together as a team for our people."

Political commentator Morgan Godfrey said there is a "delicious irony" in that Mahuta, a senior member of the Kingitanga – the 19th-century resistance movement to the Crown – is now in charge of that same Crown's foreign policy.

"There's another bite of irony in Peeni Henare's appointment as Minister of Defence. Henare is a member of the Kingitanga's advisory council, the same council that would have been in charge of defence against the Crown in the 19th century," he said.

"It's a signal of just how far we've come as a country."

(With reporting from Michael Neilson)