True to form in big announcement
National Party leader Christopher Luxon has done what he said he would: He has appointed a shadow cabinet based on merit.
There is neither obvious political payback or punishment, and the best performers over the past year have been promoted.
Luxon was clear on this approach. Although the positions are ranked, Luxon doesn’t personally put much store in the numbers. What he cares about is performance in given portfolios.
To this end, there are no rankings given below 20, which means it lines up with the 20 in the Government’s front bench. And these will be reviewed.
The bolters are Erica Stanford and Matt Doocey, who have both done good work in immigration and mental health respectively. They have been promoted by 18 and 12 places respectively.
Neither are household names. Stanford, 43, has done a hard-graft job of bringing immigration issues and problems since the Covid-19 pandemic into the public consciousness.
She has been the MP for East Coast Bays in Auckland since 2017. Prior to Luxon’s sudden ascendancy, she was talked about as a potential deputy leader to Simon Bridges.
Doocey, 49, is the MP for the North Canterbury seat of Waimakariri, which he has held since 2014.
He is the nephew of Sir David Carter, a former National minister and Speaker of the House.
Doocey’s previous career was in mental health and healthcare management. As National’s mental health spokesman he has scored some good wins against the Government, which has been on a go-slow in the mental health space despite promising big things in 2017.
One of the key positions being watched was that of Judith Collins, who has been handed No 19 and becomes the party’s spokeswoman for research, science, innovation and technology. It is an area she pushed during her tenure as National Party leader. Much will turn on whether Collins feels she is being treated with respect in the reshuffle and on an ongoing basis.
Former Collins loyalist Simeon Brown has also done well, being promoted 10 places after his work hounding the Government on gangs.
Luxon also made it clear that performance will be rewarded and non-performance will not.
Mind you, Judith Collins said the same thing a year ago when she appointed her first National Party list after the 2020 election shellacking. Collins was even talking about introducing some sort of regime of key performance indicators at one point.
Now Luxon has the harder task of putting together a good staff to run National’s operation. That will be crucial to executing whatever plans the new leader makes for next year.
In the meantime, two years is a long time in Opposition politics and Luxon faces off against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in oral questions for the first time today.