Kia ora John,

Today, I had the privilege of announcing our new Ministers for our new Labour Government, and in case you missed it, I wanted to share the final line up with you here. First, though, I just wanted to say thank you for what you helped us to achieve this election.

On 17 October, New Zealand showed the Labour Party its greatest support in at least 50 years and it would not have been possible without the support of each and every one of you. Whether you’re a veteran Labour member or someone who voted for us for the first time this year, because of you we have the mandate we need to continue leading our recovery and rolling out our plan to keep New Zealand moving.

In my speech on election night, I promised you that we would not take the trust you have put in us for granted and that we’d govern for every New Zealander. The Labour Party has always believed in putting people first, and now, with your backing, as we lead our COVID recovery, we will continue to be a Government that puts people first too.

To do this, we need a strong, experienced Cabinet that is focused on our recovery and rebuild. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been working hard, matching people’s skills, experience and talents with the different roles we need to ensure we build back better, and I’m extremely happy with the team we’ll have leading New Zealand through these challenging times.

You can read the full Ministerial and Cabinet line up here.

Our new Ministers will focus on two key priorities: to continue our health response to keep New Zealanders safe from COVID-19, and to drive our economic recovery. The new Cabinet line up reflects these priorities, with an enhanced health team and a senior economic team. I hope you’ll see that with the new Cabinet, we’ve taken full advantage of the wealth of experience we have in our caucus, while also using this opportunity to bring in new talent with firsthand experience in their portfolio areas.

The world continues to face a situation we have not seen before. With the global outlook worsening, New Zealand won’t be immune to COVID’s ongoing impact, but we have a strong, stable and experienced team that will continue tackling the challenges this pandemic presents, while also ensuring we explore any opportunities that our health response has afforded us.

I’ll be back in touch soon with more updates. Until then, thank you again for all the support you’ve shown me and the team over the last three years. We’re excited and humbled to be back in Government after an incredible campaign, and now it’s time to crack on with it.

Thank you,

Jacinda