New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks to media during a cabinet meeting at Parliament on November 28, 2023 in Wellington, New Zealand. The ministers of the 54th Parliament were sworn in on November 27th, 2023. Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
New Zealand should follow the example of Australia, where reforms in 1987 reduced 28 portfolios to 16 and created durable “consolidated ministries,” a think tank says.
With a population of 5.4 million, New Zealand has 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers and 43 government departments—about three times as many portfolios and nearly twice as many departments as comparable countries.
