New Zealand political leader

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

assembled a " shadow cabinet" system amongst the Labour caucus following her election to the position of Leader of the Opposition in 1993. She composed this of individuals who acted for the party as spokespeople in assigned roles while she was Leader of the Opposition (1993–99). As the Labour Party formed the largest party not in government, the frontbench team was as a result the Official Opposition of the New Zealand House of Representatives.

List of shadow ministers

Frontbench teams

1993–96

The lists below contains a list of Clark's spokespeople and their respective roles during the 44th Parliament. In the lead up to MMP several party defections took place during the parliamentary term, making reshuffles commonplace. Clark announced her first lineup on 13 December 1993. Less than a year later, in October 1994,

Peter Dunne Peter Francis Dunne (born 17 March 1954) is a retired New Zealand politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ōhāriu. He held the seat and its predecessors from 1984 to 2017—representing the Labour Party in Parliament from 1984 ...

split from Labour, leading to a rearranging of portfolios. Dunne's commerce and customs portfolios were given to

Annette King Dame Annette Faye King (née Robinson, born 13 September 1947) is a former New Zealand politician. She served as Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011, and from 2014 until 1 March 20 ...

and the revenue portfolio transferred to

Jim Sutton James Robert Sutton (born 7 November 1941), generally known as Jim Sutton, is a New Zealand politician who was a Member of Parliament between 1984 and 1990 and again between 1993 and 2006. He has held a range of ministerial portfolios including ...

. His seat on the frontbench was allocated to Steve Maharey. In June 1995 two MPs, Clive Matthewson and

Margaret Austin Margaret Elizabeth Austin (née Leonard; born 1 April 1933) is a former New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1984 to 1996, representing first the Labour Party and then briefly United New Zealand. Life Early life, family and career Aust ...

, left Labour to form a new party,

United New Zealand United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000. History Formation United was founded on 28 June 1 ...

. Deputy Leader

David Caygill David Francis Caygill (born 15 November 1948) is a former New Zealand politician. Caygill was born and raised in Christchurch. He entered politics in 1971 as Christchurch's youngest city councillor at the age of 22. He served as a Member of Pa ...

took the education portfolio from Austin and Annette King was given Matthewson's Social Welfare portfolio. In the same reshuffle Clark took on foreign affairs due to the impending retirement of

David Lange David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...

. In June 1996 Caygill announced his retirement and the education portfolio was given to

Trevor Mallard Trevor Colin Mallard (born 17 June 1954) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party. First elected to Parliament in 1984, he was Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2017 until 2022. Mallard was a Cabinet m ...

. Jack Elder defected to New Zealand First in April 1996 and his overseas trade portfolio was allocated to Jim Sutton. In September 1996 the former leader

Mike Moore Michael Moore is an American filmmaker and author. Michael Moore may also refer to: Academia * Michael G. Moore (fl. 1970s–2020s), professor of education * Michael S. Moore (academic) (fl. 1960s–2020s), American law professor * Michael Moore ...

, who had previously declined to take any portfolio, accepted the foreign affairs and overseas trade portfolios.

First iteration

Final iteration

1996–99

The list below contains a list of Clark's spokespeople and their respective roles during the 45th Parliament: Clark announced her first post-election lineup on 20 December 1996. In August 1997 there was a reshuffle surrounding the removal of

Lianne Dalziel Lianne Audrey Dalziel (; born 7 June 1960) is a New Zealand politician and former Mayor of Christchurch. Prior to this position, she was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 23 years, serving as Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister ...

as Shadow Minister of Health. She was instead made Shadow Attorney-General and given the portfolios of immigration, youth affairs and statistics.

replaced her as Shadow Minister of Health with King's social welfare and racing portfolios being transferred to Steve Maharey and

Damien O'Connor Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who currently serves as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister ...

respectively. Jill Pettis gained the conservation portfolio from

Pete Hodgson Peter Colin Hodgson (born 13 June 1950) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Dunedin North from 1990 to 2011. Early life Hodgson was born in Whangarei, and received a Bachelor's degree in veter ...

who was given labour from Maharey. In September 1999

resigned as Shadow Minister of Forestry after a policy disagreement. The portfolio was given to Pete Hodgson. After

left Parliament to become

Director-General of the World Trade Organization The director-general of the World Trade Organization is the officer of the World Trade Organization (WTO) responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative operations. Since the World Trade Organization's decisions are ...

the foreign affairs portfolio was given to

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 N ...

and overseas trade allocated to Jim Sutton.

First iteration

Final iteration

Notes

References

* {{Helen Clark New Zealand Labour Party Clark, Helen Helen Clark 1993 establishments in New Zealand 1999 disestablishments in New Zealand