The Shadow Cabinet of Judith Collins formed the official Opposition in the 53rd New Zealand Parliament, and previously in the 52nd Parliament. It comprised the members of the New Zealand National Party, which is the largest party not a member of the Government. On Collins' dismissal as leader on 25 November 2021, the cabinet essentially ceased to exist, but what remained was de jure led on an interim basis by her deputy leader, Shane Reti, until the next leadership election. The cabinet was succeeded by that of Christopher Luxon.
Collins came to power after the resignation of Todd Muller on 14 July 2020. She led the party into the 2020 New Zealand general election and was reconfirmed as leader after the election on 6 November 2020. Following a reduction in the National Party's parliamentary membership as a result of the election, the second iteration of Collins' shadow Cabinet was announced on 11 November 2020.
52nd Parliament (July–October 2020)
Formation After gaining the leadership, Collins stated that she would formally announce portfolio assignations and the caucus rankings on 16 July. However, she indicated in her first press conference on 14 July that Paul Goldsmith would likely retain the Finance portfolio, suggested in a television interview that ousted deputy leader Nikki Kaye would likely keep the Education portfolio, and stated in her second press conference on 15 July that Shane Reti would replace Michael Woodhouse as Health spokesperson and join the front bench.
Ahead of Collins' announcement, Kaye and Amy Adams, who had ranked third and been a key part of the leadership "triangle", announced they would retire at the general election. Adams' retirement was apparently linked to the loss of her COVID-19 recovery portfolio. The full list of party spokespersons was announced on 16 July. Commentators noticed that the departures of senior MPs Kaye and Adams meant that the "minor" reshuffle Collins had foreshadowed was "more substantial" as a result.
National's former leaders were ranked highly: Simon Bridges at four, the same rank he had given Collins when he was leader, and Muller at eight. Woodhouse, the former Health spokesperson, was demoted and given the Pike River recovery and regional economic development portfolios. Mark Mitchell, who had contested the leadership against Collins, was also demoted, from ninth to 15th, and lost the Justice portfolio to Bridges. Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis, who are regarded as members of the "liberal wing" of the National Party and were key players in Muller's coup two months earlier, were both promoted and received new roles. Bishop became Shadow Leader of the House; Willis picked up the Education role. These promotions were regarded as replacing the more liberal but departing Kaye and Adams. Another significant promotion was that of first-term MP Harete Hipango who was moved up 21 places and made Shadow Attorney-General. Deputy leader Gerry Brownlee took a new portfolio for COVID-19 Border Response. Adams' drug reform role went to the conservative MP Nick Smith who, other than Collins and Brownlee, is the last remaining member of former Prime Minister John Key's 2008 Cabinet.
As in previous National Party portfolio allocations, only MPs contesting the next election are assigned portfolios. The press release issued with most of the changes appears to have been incomplete; the National Party website shows Paulo Garcia holding the Land Information portfolio (which previously belonged to the now-retiring Hamish Walker), Agnes Loheni in an Associate Health role, and Jian Yang in the list of retiring MPs.
Subsequent changes Under pressure from Collins, the first-term MP for Rangitata, Andrew Falloon, resigned from Parliament on 21 July 2020 after sending sexually explicit text messages to young women. Falloon had been ranked at 35 and was spokesperson for biosecurity, and an associate spokesperson for agriculture, economic development and transport. The National Party website was updated to show that senior whip Barbara Kuriger was allocated Falloon's agriculture role and third whip Tim van de Molen had picked up Falloon's biosecurity and transport responsibilities; the associate economic development portfolio was not reassigned.
List of spokespersons RankMPPortfolio1Hon Judith Collins Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for National Security and Intelligence2Hon Gerry Brownlee Deputy Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for the GCSB Spokesperson for the NZSIS Spokesperson for COVID-19 Border Response3Hon Paul Goldsmith Spokesperson for Finance Spokesperson for the Earthquake Commission4Hon Simon Bridges Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Spokesperson for Justice5Shane Reti Spokesperson for Health6Hon Todd McClay Spokesperson for Economic Development Spokesperson for Tourism7Chris Bishop Spokesperson for Infrastructure Spokesperson for Transport Shadow Leader of the House8Todd Muller Spokesperson for Trade9Hon Louise Upston Spokesperson for Social Development Spokesperson for Social Investment10Hon Scott Simpson Spokesperson for the Environment Spokesperson for Climate Change Spokesperson for Planning (RMA Reform)11Hon David Bennett Spokesperson for Agriculture12Hon Michael Woodhouse Spokesperson for Regional Economic Development Spokesperson for Pike River Mine re-entry Deputy Shadow Leader of the House13Nicola Willis Spokesperson for Education Spokesperson for Early Childhood Education14Hon Jacqui Dean Spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development Spokesperson for Conservation15Hon Mark Mitchell Spokesperson for Defence & Disarmament Spokesperson for Sport & Recreation16Melissa Lee Spokesperson for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Spokesperson for Data and Cyber-security17Andrew Bayly Spokesperson for Revenue Spokesperson for Commerce Spokesperson for State-Owned Enterprises Spokesperson for Small Business and Manufacturing Associate Spokesperson for Finance18Hon Nick Smith Spokesperson for State Services Spokesperson for Electoral Law Reform Spokesperson for Drug Reform19Hon Alfred Ngaro Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Spokesperson for the Community and Voluntary Sector Spokesperson for Children Spokesperson for Disability Issues20Barbara Kuriger Senior Whip Spokesperson for Food Safety Spokesperson for Rural Communities Spokesperson for Women Associate Spokesperson for Agriculture21Harete Hipango Shadow Attorney-General Spokesperson for Crown-Māori Relations Spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Spokesperson for Māori Tourism22Jonathan Young Spokesperson for Energy & Resources Spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage23Hon Tim Macindoe Spokesperson for ACC Spokesperson for Skills and Employment Spokesperson for Seniors Spokesperson for Civil Defence24Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities Associate Spokesperson for Justice25Matt Doocey Junior Whip Spokesperson for Mental Health26Stuart Smith Spokesperson for Immigration Spokesperson for Viticulture27Simon O'Connor Spokesperson for Customs Associate Spokesperson for Social Development Associate Spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development (Social Housing)28Lawrence Yule Spokesperson for Local Government29Denise Lee Spokesperson for Local Government (Auckland)30Parmjeet Parmar Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation Spokesperson for Statistics31Brett Hudson Spokesperson for Police Spokesperson for Government Digital Services32Simeon Brown Spokesperson for Corrections Spokesperson for Tertiary Education Spokesperson for Youth Associate Spokesperson for Education Associate Spokesperson for Drug Reform33Ian McKelvie Spokesperson for Racing Spokesperson for Fisheries Spokesperson for Forestry34Jo Hayes Spokesperson for Whanau Ora Spokesperson for Māori Development35Matt King Spokesperson for Regional Development (North Island) Associate Spokesperson for Transport36Chris Penk Spokesperson for Courts Spokesperson for Veterans37Erica Stanford Spokesperson for Internal Affairs Associate Spokesperson for the Environment Associate Spokesperson for Conservation38Tim van de Molen Third Whip Spokesperson for Building and Construction Spokesperson for Biosecurity Associate Spokesperson for Transport39Maureen Pugh Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs Spokesperson for Regional Development (South Island) Spokesperson for West Coast Issues40Dan Bidois Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety41Agnes Loheni Associate Spokesperson for Small Business Associate Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Associate Spokesperson for Health42Paulo Garcia Spokesperson for Land Information
Unranked MPs (retiring at 2020 election)
Hon Amy Adams Hon Maggie Barry Hon Paula Bennett Rt Hon David Carter Hon Nathan Guy Hon Nikki Kaye Hon Anne Tolley (Deputy Speaker) Hon Nicky Wagner Sarah Dowie Alastair Scott Hamish Walker Jian Yang
53rd Parliament (November 2020–November 2021)
Formation The 2020 election saw National lose 23 seats compared to its 2017 result, including 14 sitting MPs who failed to be re-elected. The composition of the new National caucus was definitively confirmed by the release of the final election results on 6 November, while the Government announced its new ministerial line-up on 2 November. Before the announcement of the new Shadow Cabinet, the party held a contest on 10 November for its leadership and whip roles, as required by its internal rules. On 6 November, incumbent deputy leader Gerry Brownlee announced that he would not seek to retain his position. At the meeting Collins was confirmed as leader without opposition, and Shane Reti was elected deputy leader, also without opposition. Matt Doocey and Maureen Pugh were chosen as the Senior and Junior Whips, respectively. The new Shadow Cabinet was announced on 11 November.
Commentary on the portfolio allocations focused on the finance role, which was split between Andrew Bayly (in the new role of Shadow Treasurer) and Michael Woodhouse (as finance spokesperson). Collins' former finance spokesperson, Paul Goldsmith, had also held that position under Collins' two predecessors as National Party leader but attracted negative attention during the election campaign after a "four billion dollar hole" was identified in the party's fiscal and economic plan. Goldsmith was demoted to twelfth-rank and assigned the education portfolio. The New Zealand Herald reported that Collins asked former leader Simon Bridges to take the finance portfolio, but that Bridges did not agree to Collins' plan to divide the portfolio across two positions. In a press conference, Collins explained that Bayly would be responsible for revenue, budget preparation and review, monetary policy, KiwiSaver and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, while Woodhouse would have responsibility for the monitoring of government expenditure, fiscal settings debt and interest rates. The twin roles are similar to the Australian model of Treasurer and Minister for Finance, which was also used in New Zealand at the end of the Fourth National Government in 1996–1999. Attention was drawn to the fact that while the Shadow Cabinet has a Shadow Treasurer, there is no person in the Government with the role of Treasurer for them to shadow, although Collins suggested re-establishing that role if National were to win the next general election.
In addition, Collins assigned herself a new role as spokesperson for technology, manufacturing and artificial intelligence; she had previously committed, during the election campaign, to establishing a Minister for Technology. Chris Bishop picked up a new role as spokesperson for COVID-19 recovery, mirroring the new ministerial role held by Labour's Chris Hipkins. Brownlee, no longer deputy leader, was placed at 15 on the list, ahead of former leader Todd Muller at 19 as spokesperson for internal affairs and trade. National's five newest MPs were put in alphabetical order at the bottom of the list.