Local MPs have put in solid performances this year according to TransTasman, a report card put out by the Main Group.
In its ninth annual review, the Main Group editors have given the tick to Whanganui MP Chester Borrows, retiring Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia and Rangitikei MP Ian McKelvie.
The report said Mr Borrows deserves promotion and that his ministerial ranking belies the responsibilities he has been given with reform of the courts system and he showed he was "ready to step up to the next level".
It also said his experience as a former police officer shows.
"He knows what he's talking about and the media appreciates his straight answers."
Mr Borrows is Minister for Courts and Associate Minister of Justice and Social Development but while saying he deserves elevation to a Cabinet rank, the report has dropped him half a point from 6.5 in 2012 to 6 this year.
Mr Borrows told the Chronicle said he was "pretty happy" with the comments from the Main Group.
It said the Whanganui MP had earned respect throughout Parliament which, Mr Borrows said, was probably the result of the non-partisan approach he preferred.
"I try and work across the House but that's the way I've always been. To do otherwise is petty and stupid in my view."
As to suggestions from the report that he deserves promotion, Mr Borrows said he was ready "any time the Prime Minister wants me".
He said while he enjoys the justice and social development areas, "you obviously take whatever you're given".
The editors said as Minister for Whanau Ora, Minister for Disability Issues and Associate Minister of Health, Housing, Social Development and Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Mrs Turia had been "devoting her life to Whanau Ora but most people probably still don't understand how it works or what it's achieving".
They said her departure will leave the Maori Party "in the lurch", that it could slide into obscurity and certainly mean one less partner for National. She gets a 6.5, up from 6 last year.
The report said predictably Whanau Ora had been firmly in Winston Peters' sights and it was a question whether the positive aspects of the programme got submerged by the negative headlines the NZ First leader stirred up.
Mr McKelvie, National's man in the Rangitikei, gets the thumbs up and his rating improved from a 3 last year to a 4 in 2013. The report describes him as "an affable bloke, who is very effective in Caucus and very well regarded by colleagues but pretty invisible".
For the full scorecard go to: transtasman.co.nz