New Zealand gets tattooed Maori foreign minister, gay deputy PM
02 November, 2020
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern unveiled what she named an "incredibly diverse" cabinet Monday which includes New Zealand's first openly gay deputy prime minister and a foreign minister with a Maori facial tattoo.
The center-left leader revamped her ministerial line-up in the wake of a landslide election victory, saying her second-term priorities were giving an answer to COVID-19 and promoting economical recovery.
Ardern appointed Grant Robertson as deputy prime minister, making him the first openly gay person to carry the role.
Women and the Maori community are also strongly represented in the 20-member cabinet, including new Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, who includes a moko kauae -- a normal Maori tattoo on the chin.
While expressing pride at her cabinet's diversity, Ardern also said appointments were made on merit.
"It really is both a cabinet with huge merit and talent, which also is actually incredibly diverse," the 40-year-old said.
"I think it's a significant point to make -- they are individuals who have already been promoted for what they bring to the cabinet, in addition they reflect the brand new Zealand that elected them. I think as a country we have to be proud of this."
Robertson, 49, who was simply chief strategist during Ardern's election campaign, retains the finance portfolio he held in the first term and in addition becomes infrastructure minister.
Asked about the importance of experiencing a gay man in the role, Ardern said her reasons for selecting him were his leadership qualities, not how he identified.
"Among the amazing reasons for having New Zealand is that people are often in an area where these questions become secondary," she said. "The representation will there be and that's not the first consideration, that can often be not how our members first and foremost identify themselves."
Ardern won the October 17 election campaigning on New Zealand's success containing coronavirus and her cabinet carries a new role of minister for Covid-19 response, filled by former health minister Chris Hipkins.
She said the change would allow Hipkins to give attention to issues such as border control and managed isolation, without distraction from the wider health portfolio.
While Ardern won the election with a complete majority, meaning her Labour Party can govern alone, she also appointed two Greens lawmakers to ministries beyond your cabinet.
One Greens co-leader, James Shaw, can be climate change minister and the other, Marama Davidson, could have a portfolio concentrating on preventing family and sexual violence.
The federal government will be sworn in on Friday.
Source: japantoday.com
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