Senior minister Chris Bishop: “A superman in terms of workload and achievement.” Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
While today\u2019s half-term cabinet report card highlights three ministers who are doing particularly well at present,<\/a> the bottom members of the class are not there at all because they\u2019ve lost their jobs.<\/p>\n The top three are senior ministers Chris Bishop and Judith Collins and junior minister Chris Penk, all extremely busy ministers who are exuding confidence and competence in how they handle their portfolios.<\/a><\/p>\n The non-appearances are from Melissa Lee and Andrew Bayly.<\/p>\n Melissa Lee departed as a minister in January in Christopher Luxon\u2019s big reshuffle,<\/a> the most important feature of which was to replace Shane Reti with Simeon Brown as Health Minister, and to promote first-term MP James Meager as a minister.<\/p>\n The demotion of Lee and of Reti showed Luxon to be just as much the smiling assassin as his mentor, Sir John Key,<\/a> had been in office and demonstrated a willingness to cauterise a problem early, before it turned septic.<\/p>\n Luxon has scored eight out of 10, the same as his score last year. <\/p>\n The ratings are my judgment about each minister\u2019s success in carrying out their ministerial functions. The ratings are subjective and are based on their public dealing and effectiveness at delivering policy. <\/p>\n Most ministers have moved up or down only by one, except Judith Collins and Chris Penk, who have both moved up two to nine points. <\/p>\n Chris Bishop is the only minister to have kept his rating of nine from last year.<\/a> Erica Stanford and Simeon Brown are both still highly rated but have dropped one point to eight.<\/p>\n No ministers have scored below five this time, but three scored five: Matt Doocey, Penny Simmonds and Nicola Grigg. They will need to find ways between now and the election to justify their reappointment in any second-term Government. The one thing in their favour is that all are from the South Island and two are women: neither category is in abundance in the Coalition. +Read more<\/a><\/p>\n If the Prime Minister being booed at the netball <\/a>championship on Sunday is worrying him, he is doing a good job of hiding it. But there are other signs he is worried his Government is struggling to get its messages through.<\/p>\n Christopher Luxon has changed his media routine. He is now beginning to front up on Sundays with a minister or group of ministers for an announcement.<\/p>\n Two weekends ago, it was for a fairly flimsy announcement with Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis committing to starting in the next six months 15 infrastructure projects worth $6 billion – projects already committed to \u2013 or, as Bernard Hickey called it, \u201cperformative politics in high viz\u201d.<\/p>\n This past weekend, after a week of unparalleled focus on the emblematic issue of the price of butter and what the Government cannot do about it, there was an announcement by Luxon with Buildings and Construction Minister Chris Penk about what the Government can do to lower building costs in New Zealand.<\/p>\n On Monday afternoon, at the post-cabinet press conference, Luxon will often have a policy announcement. But with two already notched up by then, Luxon and Willis over 10 minutes recited a list of measures taken aimed at addressing the cost of living, including tax relief a year ago and the family boost subsidy for early childhood education.<\/p>\n Labour leader Chris Hipkins had an immediate and witty response.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we should start calling them Fisher and Paykel because they\u2019ve got more spin than a front-load washing machine.\u201d<\/p>\n But it pays to remember Luxon is talking to the voters, not to Hipkins or the Press Gallery. +Read more<\/a><\/p>\n It should have been a week focused on Palestine, but instead, Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick\u2019s action ensured the focus turned to her. In Parliament\u2019s snap debate on Tuesday about whether the Government should recognise Palestinian statehood<\/a>, she made a brilliant speech \u2013 one of her best \u2013 right until the last few seconds.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when she made comments about MPs getting a spine because the Government has not picked up a sanctions bill on Palestine. The Speaker took offence and Swarbrick refused to withdraw and apologise. It was the same the next day, and then she refused to leave the House until she was voted out<\/a>. More on that later.<\/p>\n Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick became a distraction from the debate on Palestine during a crucial week in which Israel stepped up bombardments of Gaza City and New Zealand began debating a huge issue. But outrageously, she made it about whether being asked twice to apologise was unprecedented. <\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t be so ironic if she hadn\u2019t used her speech to the Greens\u2019 AGM on Sunday to rail against politics that is \u201cdesigned to outrage\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gets headlines. It gets cut-through. It sucks up the oxygen and depletes the energy necessary to focus on the bigger picture. It benefits the multi-multi-multi-millionaire and billionaires, and their puppet politicians. All of this is designed to deflect, distract and divide,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nBack in July, PM Christopher Luxon\u00a0changed his media routine. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick speaks during a House debate on Palestine in August. Photo \/ Screengrab via Parliament TV<\/p>\n