Prime Minister-elect John Key showed a clear intention
yesterday to move the National-led government more to the
Right of the political spectrum than had previously been
signalled.
His new Cabinet, which will be sworn in tomorrow, shows a
bias to the Right despite moves during the election campaign
to position National as a centrist party.
As expected, Clutha-Southland MP Bill English becomes Finance
Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister -
crucial roles for the new Government as it tackles the
financial crisis.
Mr English has held finance and revenue roles before in a
previous National government.
The appointment of Gerry Brownlee as Energy and Resources
Minister and Economic Development Minister, Judith Collins as
Police and Corrections Minister, Anne Tolley as Education
Minister, David Carter as Agriculture Minister, Tim Groser as
Conservation Minister (as well as the expected Trade
Minister), Steven Joyce as Transport Minister along with
Associate Finance and Associate Infrastructure Minister, and
Paula Bennett as Social Development and Employment Minister,
will see the direction of some of New Zealand's major
institutions come in for close attention.
Areas like energy and resources, conservation, police and
corrections and social development were targeted by National
all last year and before the election.
If the Cabinet stays true to its earlier comments, some
pruning and rearranging will happen quickly.
National has also been critical of educational standards and
Mrs Tolley is one of the new no-nonsense ministers.
Mr Joyce's intentions were well signalled when he ran
National's campaigns in 2005 and 2008.
He comes into Parliament and straight into the Cabinet.
The multimillionaire made his money in private radio and is
also Minister for Communications and Information Technology.
He and Mr English will be responsible for National's $1.5
billion broadband plan.
Ms Bennett has been rewarded for winning Waitakere for
National from Labour with her quick promotion to the inner
circle.
She has gone from receiving the domestic purposes benefit to
overseeing the department responsible for paying it.
She says she is proud of her Maori and Pakeha ancestry, her
background as a single teenage mother and working in menial
jobs until the turning point - studying and graduating with a
degree in social policy at Massey University and then a
business career.
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