It’s a globe-trotting Government: Five months and ministers make more than 25 trips abroad
Attending an anti-doping conference in Switzerland. Talking space technology in Colorado. Commemorating the country’s war dead in New Caledonia.
The National-led coalition Government has been globe-trotting in its first five months in power, with Cabinet ministers and their under-secretaries taking more than 25 trips out of the country for various engagements.
This month, as the Government prepares to slash spending in the coming May Budget, has been the busiest for international travel so far. This week alone, Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Turkey, Finance Minister Nicola Willis has been in Washington DC, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith in London, Defence Minister Judith Collins in Europe, Education Minister Erica Stanford in Singapore, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary Jenny Marcroft in New Caledonia.
“I am happy with the way ministers are conducting their travel and we have already made major in-roads in strengthening our relationships with other countries and harnessing opportunities for New Zealand,” said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, in a statement.
Luxon said his “number one priority” was to rebuild the economy, and crucial to this was “getting out in the world to build relationships, showcase our products and value, and maximise trade opportunities for New Zealand”. “We’re also committed to delivering better public services and there’s a lot we can learn from other high-performing countries.”
A Labour spokesperson said it was important New Zealand connected with the world but “in a time where the Government has asked others to tighten their belts they need to be conscious that these trips are value for money”.
According to a list of ministerial travel provided by Luxon’s office, there have been 27 occasions of ministers leaving the country in the past five months, excluding Stanford’s trip to Singapore.
Within the total 28 were trips taken together by ministers, including Peters and Collins heading to Melbourne in January, and Peters and Health Minister Dr Shane Reti to the Pacific in February.
Today, many ministers will be commemorating Anzac Day abroad. Stanford, in Singapore for an International Summit on the Teaching Profession, was expected to attend
a dawn service. Marcroft, who has under-secretary responsibilities for media and communications and oceans and fisheries, is in Nouméa to represent New Zealand at two Anzac ceremonies. She would also be part of the opening of a new science facility that will analyse the effect of climate change on tuna fisheries.
Collins will be at a commemoration event in Belgium, and Peters in Gallipoli, Turkey.
Luxon first travelled to Sydney in December, and at the weekend returned from a week-long trip through Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore.
But foreign minister Peters is the most travelled of the ministers. So far, he has spent 34 days abroad, including the current trip to Turkey. As with his National Party coalition colleagues, Peters was a strident critic of the past government, particularly then-foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta, for what he deemed insufficient travel.
The 2020 Labour ministry’s ability to travel abroad was initially hampered by New Zealand’s Covid-19 border restrictions and controls elsewhere in the world. However, a tally of Mahuta’s travel for the 12 months after she began travelling, in November 2021, put her at 69 days spent outside New Zealand – twice that of Peters’ five month tally.
Since December, Trade Minister Todd McClay has travelled to India, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and recently China.
Collins, minister for defence as well as science, innovation, and technology, has visited New Caledonia, Australia, the United States for a space conference, and now France and Belgium for an OECD meeting and Anzac commemorations.
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop travelled to Switzerland in March for an anti-doping conference, and also visited London for meetings with parliamentarians and think tanks about housing and infrastructure policies.
Associate Police Minister Casey Costello, an NZ First MP, was also in London that month for a global fraud summit.
ACT ministers are the lesser travelled of Cabinet ministers and under-secretaries.
Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden was the only one to have travelled overseas, attending a Summit for Democracy in South Korea and visiting New Zealand defence staff at the demilitarised border with North Korea, in March.