Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s surprise reshuffle: Melissa Lee demoted, Paul Goldsmith takes Broadcasting portfolio, Hipkins responds

Melissa Lee is out of the Cabinet and stripped of the Media and Communications portfolio in a surprise reshuffle by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Luxon announced this morning that Paul Goldsmith would take on the Media and Communications portfolio. The reshuffle has also seen Penny Simmonds dropped as Disability Issues Minister, which Louise Upston will pick up.

It comes after Lee struggled to front on issues confronting the media sector, including the collapse of Newshub and cuts at TVNZ.

“Melissa Lee is a good, hard-working minister,” Luxon said, claiming Lee was doing a “phenomenal job” in her other portfolios such as Minister for Ethnic Communities.

However, he refrained from answering whether he thought Lee had done well in the media portfolio.

“This is really about the right people being on the right assignment at the right time,” Luxon said.

In a statement, Lee said supported the Prime Minister’s decision and looked forward to continuing her work in the economic development and ethnic communities portfolios.

Melissa Lee has been demoted from the Cabinet. Photo / Mark Mitchell

‘Made a hash of it’

Responding to the reshuffle this afternoon, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said today’s sackings showed the “wheels are falling off already”.

“They were never up to the task they were given, I think it was striking they were given those portfolios in the first place,” Hipkins said.

He said Simmonds had “made a hash” of her portfolio and new Disability Issues Minister Upston should apologise immediately to the disability community for Simmonds’ performance.

Remarks made by Simmonds about members of the community were “unjustified” and “unnecessary”.

In response to Lee’s sacking, Hipkins said: “The crisis unfolding in the New Zealand media has been obvious to everyone for some time now”.

“Melissa Lee’s invisibility during a crisis for the media and therefore a crisis for our democratic institutions has been absolutely baffling,” he said.

Hipkins also said the Government had suffered from recent comments made by ministers David Seymour and Shane Jones, who had both criticised the Waitangi Tribunal. Hipkins referenced how his former minister Stuart Nash resigned shortly after making inappropriate comments about the judiciary.

Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins talks to media about the National Party reshuffle in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Hipkins joked that National MPs Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis were somewhere around the building doing numbers and plotting to roll Luxon.

He claimed the Government was lurching “from bad decision to bad decision on a daily basis”.

“The bigger thing that is hurting this Government is the absolute sense of chaos,” Hipkins said.

“New Zealanders can see they are making the wrong decisions and the wrong choices.”

Hipkins said the Government should defer tax cuts.

“We are at the down part of the economic cycle, it is not the time to be making tax cuts,” he said.

Luxon wants ‘senior ministers’ in portfolios

Speaking to media, Luxon said that as issues changed in prominence, he planned to switch ministerial responsibilities to make sure the Government was best placed to deliver for New Zealanders.

“It has become clear in recent months that there are significant challenges in the media sector. Similarly, we have discovered major financial issues with programmes run by the Ministry of Disabled People.

“I have come to the view it is important to have senior Cabinet ministers considering these issues.

“There are significant synergies between the Arts, Culture and Heritage portfolio and Media and Communications - as such, I’ve asked Paul Goldsmith to take the lead on media issues for the Government.

“The challenges facing our media are being seen all over the world. While there are limited levers for Government here, I look forward to Paul progressing work to ensure regulatory settings are appropriate to enable the media to modernise and adapt to a changing media environment.”

On Lee’s demotion, he cited the “complexity” of the challenges facing the media sector. He said he would constantly make changes to his team as circumstances developed.

“It came pretty fast and pretty soon,” Luxon said of the struggles in the media sector. He said it was appropriate to have more senior ministers in charge.

Goldsmith would now “take stock” of the challenges in the media sector and Luxon said there was an “obvious synergy” between Goldsmith’s arts portfolio and the media portfolio.

Goldsmith was currently overseas but his office said he would be meeting with media and communications officials as soon as possible.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has been given the media and communications portfolio. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The reshuffle didn’t preclude Lee from returning to the Cabinet, Luxon said.

Luxon said the reshuffle was in no way related to the standard of the paper Lee recently brought to Cabinet regarding the Government’s response to challenges in the media sector.

Lee had come under increasing pressure about what actions the Government might take to address challenges being experienced by media companies. She had repeatedly referenced her work on a paper she would take to Cabinet but refused to give any details about what it contained.

Upon his initial allocation of portfolios, Luxon gave himself the role of Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services and stated his desire to monitor the progress of his ministers.

‘This is how I roll’

Luxon said he had gone through his portfolio allocation after about six months to make sure people were on the right assignment, which he said was typical of his leadership style.

“This is how I roll, this is how I lead.

“This is simply about me looking across my team, I want to make sure I’ve got my aces in their places.”

Luxon said he’d had several conversations with Lee and Simmonds in recent months. He said he had informed the pair of the reshuffle this morning.

”I acknowledge it’s disappointing, certainly for Melissa,” Luxon said, noting Lee had “played that back” to him upon learning of the decision.

Neither Lee nor Simmonds had raised issues about their respective workloads, Luxon said.

Act leader David Seymour and NZ First leader Winston Peters had also been briefed this morning on Luxon’s decision.

”This is my decision, but I wanted to make sure they were onboard,” Luxon said of his coalition partners.

Neither Seymour nor Peters had previously raised issues about Lee or Simmonds, he said.

Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will move into Cabinet as a result of Lee’s exit.

Penny Simmonds apologised for announcing changes to purchasing rules for disabled people’s equipment and support services. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He said placing the switch in the disability issues portfolio would free Penny Simmonds up to focus on the Environment portfolio and Tertiary Education.

Simmonds was forced to apologise following backlash from the disability community after the Ministry of Disabled People - Whaikaha - made a surprise announcement of changes to purchasing rules for disabled people’s equipment and support services, limiting what those in the disabled community could spend their entitlements on.

The move was met with strong criticism from the community. Simmonds initially defended the decision, saying anecdotal evidence suggested entitlements had been spent on massages and overseas trips. She also referenced the dire financial state of the ministry.

Simmonds later apologised for how the matter was handled. The Opposition repeatedly called for Simmonds to be sacked from the portfolio.

In a statement today she said: “I support the Prime Minister’s decision. I am looking forward to continuing my work in tertiary education, particularly the disestablishment of Te Pukenga, and in the environment portfolio.”

Upston, also in a statement, said it was clear the ministry faced challenges which would be assessed in a review committed to by the Government.

“We are focused on ensuring disabled people and those who provide care get the support they need.

“The ministry has publicly acknowledged the flexible funding changes have been distressing and caused confusion for the disability community.”