Labour reveals opposition line-up, Robertson retains finance

Public Policy / news

Could Barbara Edmonds be Labour’s future finance spokesperson?

30th Nov 23, 1:24pm by Dan Brunskill

Labour Ministers McAnulty, Robertson, Allen, and Wood give a press conference.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has announced the shadow front bench that will be opposing the new Coalition Government in Parliament, with Grant Robertson holding onto finance.

The top 10 features some familiar faces and some younger MPs expected to be key players in the future.

For example, Robertson has decided to stay on as finance spokesperson for the time being, despite speculation he might resign if Labour was unable to win a third term.

There aren’t formal list rankings in opposition, but Robertson was third in the announcement document, behind Hipkins and his deputy Carmel Sepuloni.

Just outside the top 10, there is a possible successor for Robertson in former Revenue Minister Barbara Edmonds, who spent a short stint in Cabinet prior to the election.

Rather than reprising the revenue portfolio in opposition, she has been given regional economic development, infrastructure, and associate finance.

Two of Robertson’s former associate ministers, Michael Wood and Kiri Allan, have both dropped out of Parliament, leaving the pipeline of future finance ministers empty.

Senior Labour MP Megan Woods has also been named as associate finance spokesperson, alongside climate change, energy, and resources.

The revenue portfolio has been passed to tax expert Deborah Russell who has a lower implied ranking in the opposition list.

Robertson isn’t the only MP who has decided to stay in Parliament despite the election loss.

Māori caucus members Willie Jackson and Kelvin Davis have both opted to stay on board to oppose the Coalition’s proposed reform of the Treaty of Waitangi.

There may also be some nervousness among the party about ceding too much leadership to Te Pati Māori, which won most of the Māori electorate seats during the election.

Competing on climate

Labour has already been eclipsed on climate change by the Green Party, which has successfully positioned itself as the main progressive voice on that issue.

The new government has opted to send James Shaw as the opposition representative accompanying its Climate Minister, Simon Watts, to the COP 28 climate conference.

Hipkins said he was not consulted on this decision and that it was out of step with previous practice. Labour will have to scramble to send a representative under its own steam, if it wants to be at the conference.

Shaw is easily the member of Parliament with the most expertise on climate issues and will likely be seen as the authoritative opposition voice for as long as he remains an MP.

The Green Party also unveiled its portfolio list this week, with the most notable change being Shaw picking up finance from Julie Anne Genter.

The notable promotion in Labour’s opposition lineup was Kieran McAnulty, who has been made Shadow Leader of the House and given the housing, local government, and regional development portfolios.

He now has an implied caucus ranking of #7 while previously very senior MPs have been put in the backseat. These include Kelvin Davis, Damien O’Connor and David Parker.

Parker has been given the foreign affairs portfolio with the understanding that his positive relationship with Winston Peters will help maintain a bipartisan approach overseas.

Duncan Webb—described by his colleagues as being “forensic” in his attention to detail—will be in charge of keeping tabs on David Seymour in his new role as Minister for Regulation.

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35 Comments

by Nifty1 | 30th Nov 23, 1:58pm 1701305930

Got no idea how someone like Robertson can seriously throw around critism with the horrid track record he's had... A job's a job I guess?

by nktokyo | 30th Nov 23, 3:20pm 1701310828

I believe politicians have to disclose assets. Someone I know went through it early on in the Labour tenure and found he owned virtually nothing, which we took as a warning sign for our MOF, I mean at least save up and buy some funds or something. I imagine he needs the work.

by blobbles | 30th Nov 23, 3:06pm 1701309997

When the well paid Minister of Finance can't even afford an investment property after overcooking the market for 6 years, you know nobody else has a shot.

by vman | 30th Nov 23, 3:24pm 1701311072

GR might just be very clever lol...I remember seeing many a wealthy entrepeneur claiming they own nothing when their company went bankrupt,losing others life savings..."I am destitute, am living in this mansion by the grace of family."

by J.C. | 30th Nov 23, 1:55pm 1701305748

Robbo was groomed for politics by Labour, much like Cindy. In many ways, I see this as problematic.

by Idoubtit | 30th Nov 23, 2:23pm 1701307405

I can't agree more.

by Foxglove. | 30th Nov 23, 3:14pm 1701310440

NZ’s parliament is seated as Westminster. It is supposed to be adversarial. Yet for 75% of Clark’s Labour government National were hopeless and then repeated that display for 90% of Ardern’s prime ministership. In between times Labour were the unfortunate sum of that as opposition to Key’s National government. It would do no harm at all for Hipkins to lead an energetic and effective opposition but to do that he will need to curb his, and others, inclination to be lippy and instead concentrate his fire on exposing both bad policy and direction rather than gutter sniping and personal attacks.

by mills | 30th Nov 23, 9:59pm 1701334797

Good point Foxglove. His Majesty's Loyal Opposition is a poorly understood concept in the NZ Parliament, almost as if losing the government benches means there is nothing to do except make snide remarks at every opportunity.

The opposition is there to hold the government to account, to have well researched role in debating any legislative proposals, and generally to do some solid work in bringing to light any significant differences between what the government said they intended, and what is actually happening on the ground.

It almost seems oppositions from both Labour & National over the years prefer to have commissioners of this and that appointed to do what is basically the job we are already paying opposition MP's to do.

by delboy | 30th Nov 23, 2:46pm 1701308785

Robertson has spent his whole career in and around government so there’s not a lot he could do in the outside world.

by Cheetahlegs66 | 30th Nov 23, 3:01pm 1701309700

Consultant? A big part of this is simply opening doors to facilitate access to other individuals.

by J.C. | 30th Nov 23, 3:05pm 1701309958

Consultant? A big part of this is simply opening doors to facilitate access to other individuals.

Yes. This is exactly what his 'value' is and will be. An enabler in the construct.

by sit23 | 30th Nov 23, 3:16pm 1701310576

Some government department bigwig said recently that his department hired a consultant to tell them how to best get things done. The consultant said it was best to use consultants. Even the department bigwig saw the humour in people getting paid good money to advise on how to further their future moneymaking.

by delboy | 30th Nov 23, 7:26pm 1701325612

Consultants are people who tell companies things they already know using language they don’t understand.

by In Vino Veritas | 1st Dec 23, 6:26am 1701365166

No del, consultants are used when the people in the organisation are hopeless, or when the people in the organisation think they might need someone to blame, or both.

by Foxglove. | 1st Dec 23, 7:32am 1701369162

That’s why invariably the consultant has a disclaimer in their contract absolving them from any liability if things go pear shaped. In which case the council can put the blame there but the real purpose is that nobody can be held accountable.

by vman | 30th Nov 23, 3:16pm 1701310618

Speaking of being "groomed for politics"

I am not sure you could say Nicola has a lot of experience outside of Vic Uni life & politics...what financial chops has she got exactly?

5 years at Fonterra seems to be it,most of which appears to be "Manager Government Affairs"

Willis was born and raised in Point Howard, Wellington. She is the eldest of three children.^[4] Willis's mother was a journalist in the Parliamentary Press Gallery,^[4] her father a partner in corporate law firm Bell Gully.^[5] After a "privileged childhood", she first attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate, a private school for girls, before asking to spend her last two years of high school boarding at King's College in Auckland – a decision she regretted.^[5] Her first job was as a cashier and server at a Wholly Bagel Café in Wellington, later working in retail stores selling clothing.^[6]

She graduated with a first-class honours degree in English literature from Victoria University of Wellington in 2003,^[7] and earned a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Canterbury in 2017.^[8] She was a member of the Victoria University Debating Society, and competed in international tournaments.

After graduation, she took up a position as a research and policy advisor for Bill English and went on to serve as a senior advisor to John Key in 2008.^[9] In 2012, Willis joined dairy co-operative Fonterra, taking on senior management roles, as well as serving on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand.^[10]^[11]

Willis was a director of the New Zealand Initiative, a pro-free-market public-policy think tank, from May 2016 until February 2017.^[12]^[13]

Political beliefs[edit]

Willis is described as a social liberal, and has a focus on LGBT rights and action on climate change.^[47] She is a member of the National Party's BlueGreen environmental caucus.^[48]^[49] Willis supports euthanasia, and is pro-choice.^[4]

by agnostium | 30th Nov 23, 3:33pm 1701311634

Bagels - fish and chips

Journalism - public affairs

Research for Bill English - Research for Helen Clark

Advisor to John Key - Advisor to Tony Blair

Seems like the new Jacinda?

I wonder if the rabid misogyny that Jacinda was subjected to will now be directed at Nicola. I sincerely hope not as she does seem one of the more competent voices in the new omnishambles coalition.

by rastus1 | 30th Nov 23, 4:09pm 1701313756

Agree. Where's Hosking and co on this light weight cv?

by kiwikidsnz | 30th Nov 23, 4:23pm 1701314594

The majority of NZdrs simply hated what Jacinda did to the country last term with her lies of comission & omission, gaslighting & implementing unconstitutional policies she had kept secret from voters & therefore had no mandate for.

Anyone who did what she did would've been treated the same

Nothing to do with misogyny, I voted for her twice (fool me once...etc).

by J.C. | 30th Nov 23, 4:36pm 1701315392

Those who should be held in contempt are those who defend the Cindy govt to the end. I personally never doubted her intentions to 'do the right thing'. Doesn't surprise me that she was raised in a Mormon environment. Sincere people but the institution rules over all.

by fortunr | 1st Dec 23, 11:26am 1701383189

The fact that she was raised in a Mormon environment does not mean much. really. In any case, Mormonism is very possibly the most self-evident religious fraud ever, which also has a history of blatant racism, and whose founder was a fraudster charged for financial criminal activities such as illegal banking.

A couple of examples of "nice" individuals raised in an intensely religious environment: Joseph Stalin graduated from the Gori religious school of the Orthodox Christian Church, and then he studied to become a priest in the Orthodox seminary in Tiflis. Franco grew up in an intensely religious Roman Catholic family.

"Sincerity" in ideological terms (which I'd rather call fanaticism) comes most often jointly with disingenuity and dishonesty towards everybody and everything else.

by Foxglove. | 30th Nov 23, 4:45pm 1701315905

Suggest that she, not entirely unwittingly, found herself on a pedestal that was then built up very rapidly and unrealistically high with associated expectations, by particularly the media both domestic and international. That becomes inevitably an unenviable position because history reveals that not too many identities can actually handle it, personally. The ageless idiom, the bigger they are the harder they fall is accompanied in this case, by the higher the pedestal the greater the drop.

by interesting1234 | 1st Dec 23, 8:35am 1701372915

I liken her to a manager who talks the talk and has the image of leadership, but when it comes to doing what is required, they simply never deliver until they move on to another role or get ousted when their lack of performance becomes well known and a drag on the business, while simultaneously denying any accountability for said performance.

by Inthecentre | 1st Dec 23, 12:34pm 1701387254

You have to get over the anger issues you have with Maori. If you knew even a skerrick of NZ history you would know that they have been hard done by and reddress is required beyond land settlement. Promises were made by the settler government during land purchases that were never kept, and the big middle finger was flipped at Maori for the next 150 years. Rather than relying on 'I reckon' source of knowledge like the average kiwi, please do some genuine research so you wont come across as completely clueless.

by kiwikidsnz | 1st Dec 23, 7:36pm 1701412606

Thanks for reminding me: I had forgotten to mention Jacinda's institutional racism.

I have given you no reason to suggest that I "have anger issues with Maori" many of whom I've worked with (& 1 I've loved) all my life. I can only assume that you misunderstand the politics of democracy.

The "skerrick of NZ history" I know convinces me that Maori were very fortunate to get the respectful Treaty they did which was rare in those times, along with the benefits of "the rights & privileges of British subjects" (eg. the European enlightenment, democracy, Magna Carta, legal system, sanitary plumbing...).

by In Vino Veritas | 1st Dec 23, 6:29am 1701365393

Of course leaving out the senior management roles at Fonterra - leader of world young socialists, agnostium. I guess you’d think they are sort of the same?

by J.C. | 30th Nov 23, 3:48pm 1701312527

I am not sure you could say Nicola has a lot of experience outside of Vic Uni life & politics...what financial chops has she got exactly?

Agree. The Fonterra role was kind of one of these 'non-jobs'. Govt liaison. The Tony Blair association should raise alarm bells. That guy and his organizations are pure grift.

by Cheetahlegs66 | 30th Nov 23, 5:23pm 1701318182

Define ‘privileged?’ Today with dysfunctional families being the norm it simply means having two loving and nurturing parents who encourage you to succeed. Reading to your children, visiting the library and prioritising their upbringing above alcohol, cigarettes, gambling and drugs.

I was brought up in Papatoetoe to a cleaner and mechanic. Couldn’t have had a better start to life.

by Inthecentre | 1st Dec 23, 12:22pm 1701386566

David Seymour is pretty lightweight also.

Seymour joined ACT as a student at the University of Auckland. Seymour worked in public policy in Canada during the 2000s,^[1] before returning to New Zealand and standing unsuccessfully for election to Parliament in 2005 and 2011. He entered the House of Representatives in 2014 as ACT's sole MP, after which he replaced Jamie Whyte as party leader. In 2018 he appeared in a television dance contest, Dancing With the Stars.

by Oldfart | 30th Nov 23, 5:48pm 1701319722

I have to say that since the election result and the utter aghast reaction of the dreadful Jessica's Tova's John's and Ryan's etc.....etc I am discovering a whole new interest in politics. Long may Winston do his baiting of the sad MSM creatures and allow them to vent their spleen on him while Chris and David get on with disassembling the devious shit that the left tried to sneak through on New Zealand (not aoteoroa).

by linklater01 | 1st Dec 23, 1:08pm 1701389280

Oldfart,

"Jessica's Tova's John's". Since you don't even understand where and when apostrophes should be used( clue, not for plurals) then I doubt if you understand enough to realise that even with their faults, we need a free press more than we need a bullying, thin-skinned p.....k like Peters.

by Zwifter | 30th Nov 23, 6:45pm 1701323150

Don't see Chippy or Robo there next election, some big changes needed for Labour or they are going to be out for a couple of terms at least.

by vman | 30th Nov 23, 6:49pm 1701323372

If the new lot don't shoot themselves in the foot or 'someone' goes rogue, they should get 2 terms.

by Foxglove. | 30th Nov 23, 7:08pm 1701324487

The Labour Party is in form, NZ’s longest established political party. The first Labour party held power for 17 years but that included WW2 and a coalition government. Since then, from 1949, National governments have not failed to govern for at least three terms. But Labour, Helen Clark’s prime ministership, only achieved that once. In fact they have had two one term governments. That history would suggest that Labour had much more difficulty in holding a government together. MMP though has of course vastly altered the playing field. This is NZ’s first MMP government in true nature. That is two junior coalition partners of sizeable representation. Hard to foresee exactly what history is now being formulated isn’t it.

by Mr Pink | 30th Nov 23, 7:38pm 1701326305

Robinson is just a puppet and should resign after the mess he has caused.