KEY POINTS:
When all the deal-making is done, one party governs. The National Cabinet Prime Minister-elect John Key announced yesterday is the team that will take most of the day-to-day decisions, though some of the new ministers will need to be highly adept at working with supporting parties.
The line-up looks to be a good mixture of fresh faces and experience. Some of the freshest faces are as yet barely known to the public. New Education Minister Anne Tolley is one, Attorney-General-to-be Chris Finlayson is another. Steven Joyce, Paula Bennett, Jonathan Coleman and Kate Wilkinson will also soon be better known.
But in deputy leader and Finance Minister Bill English, health's Tony Ryall, environment's Nick Smith, agriculture's David Carter and foreign affairs' Murray McCully, the Cabinet will have a core of experience. Some of the first-time ministers - Gerry Brownlee, Simon Power, Judith Collins, Pansy Wong - have been prominent in Opposition for so long they add to the air of experience.
Mr Brownlee and Mr Power will shoulder heavy loads. Mr Power has justice, state-owned enterprises and commerce, Mr Brownlee energy, Leader of the House (responsible for Parliament's legislative programme), economic development and associate to the Minister for the Rugby World Cup, Mr McCully.
Two ministers for the 2011 event seems odd, until it is remembered that Mr Key himself has taken tourism because national promotion is one of the pillars on which he hopes to expand the economy. His other pillars are infrastructure, a new portfolio that will be handled by Mr English, telecommunications, which has been given to Mr Joyce (who also gets transport and associate roles in finance and infrastructure), and science, which Defence Minister Wayne Mapp will combine with associate tasks in tertiary education and economic development.
While the economic project is important, the social implications of Mr Key's partnership with the Maori Party could be even more far-reaching. Its success will rely heavily on his appointments to Maori affairs, education, health, social development, employment and corrections.
As Associate Minister of Maori Affairs, Georgina te Heuheu will have a seat at the Cabinet table while the minister, the Maori Party's Pita Sharples, will not. They will have to be in tune. So will Paula Bennett and Tariana Turia, minister and associate minister respectively of social development and employment. Ms Bennett, who has known life on a benefit, is the most unexpected of Mr Key's appointment and perhaps the most inspired.
She is one of six women in the Cabinet of 20, and she and Mrs te Heuheu are the only Maori inside it. The Cabinet boasts the country's first Asian minister, Mrs Wong, but the South Island, with five ministers, might feel short-changed.
As predicted, two experienced ministers have been demoted for some pre-election comments that were too candid for Mr Key's comfort. Former transport minister Maurice Williamson has been given some responsibilities outside the Cabinet and former trade minister Lockwood Smith is destined for Speaker, his trade role taken by the well-equipped negotiator Tim Groser.
It is a team that looks solid and safe. With pragmatists such as Mr Power in charge of state enterprises and commerce there is not much prospect of asset sale proposals or more competitive deregulation. Some of the little-known figures, such as Mr Finlayson and Dr Coleman, could be among its best performers. Some will take charge of their departments, some will be rubber stamps. For the moment, they present a refreshing change.
