Seemingly without rhyme or reason, these numbers continue to grow.
Simply, there are far too many for a country our size. Frankly, there are an awful lot of meaningless titles and departments.
We have more ministerial portfolios than comparative population-sized countries such as Ireland and Norway. The United Kingdom has 24 ministerial departments.
In a speech to Tauranga Business Chamber members on Thursday, Seymour proposed capping the number of ministers at 20, with no ministers outside the Cabinet.
He highlighted several portfolios in his sights, including Racing, Hospitality, Auckland, the South Island, Hunting and Fishing, the Voluntary Sector, and Space.
It is worth noting these are all currently held by either National or New Zealand First ministers. But Seymour’s point still has merit.
“The cynics among us would say it’s symbolism. Governments want to show they care about an issue, so they create a portfolio to match,” he argued.
“Portfolios shouldn’t be handed out like participation trophies. There’s no benefit to having ministers juggling three or four unrelated jobs and doing none of them well.”
He is correct. Portfolios get dished out and entire departments created to keep coalition partners happy, appease politicians’ egos, and send an often hollow message to the public that the government is taking an issue seriously.
The reality is these are often micro-portfolios which hold little power and are subservient to what we can all identify are the big jobs.
Minister of Finance Nicola Willis was recently handed a new portfolio by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Its title, Minister for Economic Growth.
What was the point? Willis was already responsible for this.
Luxon also created a South Island portfolio and gave it to new MP James Meager. What exactly does this role do to improve the lives of the people on the mainland? What could it do that others sitting around the Cabinet couldn’t?
The answer is realistically nothing and was, perhaps, just some lip-service at a time when the Government was being criticised over its handling of Dunedin Hospital.
We also have a Minister of Housing and a Minister of Building and Construction. A Minister of Defence and a Minister for Veterans Affairs.
Why can these portfolios not be merged?
Economist and executive director of The New Zealand Initiative Oliver Hartwich told Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB yesterday: “It’s completely mad.”
New Zealand has more ministers in charge of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) than Ireland has in its entire Cabinet, he said.
Seymour also used MBIE as an example and said its officials report to up to 19 different ministers.
Successive governments have created a special mess, and these portfolios have solved little of the issues this country faces.
If the Government wants to send a message to the public, then a slimmer Cabinet would suggest it is focusing on the core issues.
Perhaps after weeding through the ministerial portfolios, we could also look at disestablishing the unproductive departments which appear to serve nobody but virtue.
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