Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand)

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent Murray McCully since 19 November 2008
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Governor-General of New Zealand
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	James Allen
Formation	24 November 1919

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs is a major ministerial portfolio in the government of New Zealand.

The current Minister of Foreign Affairs is Murray McCully, who was National Party Spokesperson of Foreign Affairs and Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs. There are also Associate Minister roles. Currently, these roles are held by Todd McClay.

Responsibilities and powers

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing New Zealand's relations with foreign countries. The Minister is in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including New Zealand's diplomatic staff. The office is often considered to be one of the more distinguished ministerial posts, and has at times been counted as the most senior role below that of the Prime Minister. In terms of actual political power, however, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is not as prominent as in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the Minister of Finance being considerably more influential.

Historically, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has been a member of Cabinet, with the exception of the Rt Hon. Winston Peters. This situation came about as the result of coalition negotiations in which it was agreed that the New Zealand First Party would take a senior ministerial portfolio but would not join Cabinet.

History

The first New Zealand foreign minister was James Allen, appointed to the post of "Minister of External Affairs" by William Massey in 1919. Before this time, there was no dedicated ministerial portfolio for foreign relations. A Department of External Affairs was created in 1919 but its functions were limited to administering New Zealand's Island Territories in the Pacific; namely the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and the League of Nations Mandate of Samoa.^[1] In 1943, a new Department of External Affairs was created to conduct the country's external relations. The older department was then renamed the Department of Island Territories and a separate portfolio called the Minister of Island Territories was subsequently created.^[2]

From 1943, the Minister of External Affairs became the main ministerial portfolio for conducting New Zealand's external relations.^[3] Like its similarly named Australian and Canadian counterparts, the portfolio was called "External Affairs" rather than "Foreign Affairs" in deference of the British Government’s responsibility for conducting foreign policy on behalf of the British Empire and later the Commonwealth of Nations.^[4] The title was changed to "Minister of Foreign Affairs" in 1970 after the Department was renamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The title became "Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade" following the abandonment of the short-lived "Minister of External Relations and Trade" title, created in September 1988 when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs absorbed the Trade functions of the old Department of Trade and Industry. In 2005 responsibility for trade was split into a separate portfolio, with the title reverting to "Minister of Foreign Affairs".

Historically it has been common for Prime Ministers to take on the role of Foreign Minister themselves, particularly if they have an interest in the field. Several New Zealand Prime Ministers including Peter Fraser, Walter Nash, Keith Holyoake, and David Lange held the External Affairs portfolio.^[3] The most recent Prime Minister to do this is Helen Clark in 2008 as Acting Minister, and prior to her was Mike Moore, in 1990. Thirteen Prime Ministers have served as Foreign Minister for all or part of their terms.

New Zealand has had 27 foreign ministers (regardless of exact title). The longest-serving was Keith Holyoake, who held the post for the duration of his 11-year premiership. The second longest-serving, and the longest-serving who was not also Prime Minister, was Don McKinnon, who became Commonwealth Secretary-General.

List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs

No.	Name		Term of office
1	James Allen	Massey	24 November 1919	28 April 1920	Reform
2	Ernest Lee	Massey	17 May 1920	13 January 1923	Reform
3	Francis Bell	Massey Himself Coates	18 June 1923	24 May 1926	Reform
4	William Nosworthy	Coates	24 May 1926	24 August 1928	Reform
5	Gordon Coates	Himself	25 August 1928	10 December 1928	Reform
6	Joseph Ward	Himself	10 December 1928	28 May 1930	United (Liberal)
7	George Forbes	Himself	28 May 1930	6 December 1935	United (Liberal)
8	Michael Joseph Savage	Himself	6 December 1935	27 March 1940	Labour
9	Frank Langstone	Fraser	1 April 1940	21 December 1942	Labour
10	Peter Fraser	Himself	7 July 1943	13 December 1949	Labour
11	Frederick Doidge	Holland	13 December 1949	31 August 1951	National
12	Clifton Webb	Holland	19 September 1951	26 November 1954	National
13	Tom Macdonald	Holland Holyoake	26 November 1954	12 December 1957	National
14	Walter Nash	Himself	12 December 1957	12 December 1960	Labour
15	Keith Holyoake	Himself Jack Marshall	12 December 1960	8 December 1972	National
16	Norman Kirk	Himself	8 December 1972	31 August 1974	Labour
17	Bill Rowling	Himself	6 September 1974	12 December 1975	Labour
18	Brian Talboys	Muldoon	12 December 1975	11 December 1981	National
19	Warren Cooper	Muldoon	11 December 1981	26 July 1984	National
20	David Lange	Himself	26 July 1984	24 August 1987	Labour
21	Russell Marshall	Lange Palmer	24 August 1987	9 February 1990	Labour
22	Mike Moore	Palmer Himself	9 February 1990	2 November 1990	Labour
23	Don McKinnon	Bolger Shipley	2 November 1990	10 December 1999	National
24	Phil Goff	Clark	10 December 1999	19 October 2005	Labour
25	Winston Peters	Clark	19 October 2005	29 August 2008	New Zealand First
	Helen Clark Acting Minister	Herself	29 August 2008	19 November 2008	Labour
26	Murray McCully	Key	19 November 2008	Incumbent	National

References

↑ "External Affairs Bill", in New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 185 (3 October–5 November 1919), p.337.
↑ Malcolm Templeton, An Eye, an Ear, and a Voice: 50 years in New Zealand's External Relations, 1943-1993, p.1.
1 2 Malcolm Templeton, ed., An Eye, An Ear, And a Voice, pp.1-2.
↑ Alan Watt, "The Department of Foreign Affairs," in The Times Survey of Foreign Ministries of the World,Department of External Affairs (1921–70) ed. Zara Steiner (London: Times Books Limited, 1982), p.35; James Eary, "The Department of External Affairs," in The Times Survey of Foreign Ministries of the World, p.96.

External links

New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

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