As I predicted last week Jacinda Ardern has had a cabinet reshuffle, largely forced on her by Kris Faafoi abandoning ship for ‘family reasons’, and Trevor Mallard becoming an albatross around her neck and needing a sinecure diplomatic position created for him in order to ease his pathetic angry arse out the door. Add to that the incredibly poor performance of a plethora of ministers, but none more pathetic than Police Minister Poto Williams. Mallard is given the overseas arse card, Faafoi heads for home and Poto Williams is gassed in the reshuffle.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi will step down from Parliament, as will Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard, sparking a major Cabinet reshuffle.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced changes to a number of portfolios, including taking the police portfolio off Poto Williams, and handing it to Chris Hipkins.
“Minister Faafoi has decided to leave Parliament to spend time with his family as his youngest son starts school,” Ardern said in the Beehive on Tuesday.
“This was a decision Kris shared with me at the election, in fact he wanted to leave 18 months ago, but I asked him to give us another year.”
Michael Wood, Kiri Allan and Willie Jackson will pick up his immigration, justice and broadcasting portfolios, respectively.
Allan will also pick up an associate finance role.
“She has a big future in front of her,” Ardern said.
Trevor Mallard will step down as speaker in mid-August to take a diplomatic role in Europe. Ardern said he had been “deliberately” moving Adrian Rurawhe into the role.
Ardern said Poto Williams was a capable minister and kept her confidence. She picks up conservation and disability issues.
“That is why she is in Cabinet, but change is required.”
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Ardern was in quite the impossible situation really – so many useless ministers, so few options. Now she is co-opting another two useless MPs to replace Mallard and Faafoi. They are starting to really scrape the proverbial barrel.
It is highly ironic that, instead of a hard gassing of Poto Williams, Ardern has instead appointed the crippled minister to the Disability portfolio. Poto Williams should have been sacked outright: she’s dead-set useless but meets diversity quotas so she stays, albeit in a reduced capacity.
The burden falls on a very shallow talent pool of ministers that are barely coping. Ardern’s ministry is effectively five key people, the rest are passengers.
A brave Prime Minister assured of her position and the undying love of her people would have made a bold reshuffle, gassing the inept and incompetent and promoting the skilled and capable.
Instead, we have a quivering and fearful reshuffle that has all the hallmarks of moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic.
Ardern knows her ministers are hopeless, so she heaps even more work on the few and the rest just go along for the ride. It is poor leadership and poor governance. It makes Ardern’s ministry look like the places are filled because of quotas for the work-shy and the incompetent – some sort of perverse diversity game where even the special kids get a job.
This is not going to be a lasting re-shuffle.
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