The Minister for Infrastructure is a ministerial post created in November 2008 by the Government of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, in accordance with the National party's pre-election policy.

Conception

National leader

Don Brash Donald Thomas Brash (born 24 September 1940) is a former New Zealand politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from October 2003 to November 2006, and the Leader of ACT New Zealand from April to No ...

announced his intention to create the office on 18 August 2005 in the campaign for the

2005 New Zealand general election 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

. He cited the rewriting of the

Resource Management Act 1991 The Resource Management Act (RMA) passed in 1991 in New Zealand is a significant, and at times, controversial Act of Parliament. The RMA promotes the sustainable management of natural and physical resources such as land, air and water. New Zea ...

–which he described as a "major impediment" to fast decisions– as a major task for the future minister, who would also work with ministers in the areas of transport, energy, communications, building and the environment. The creation of the portfolio was one of the National Party's election pledges for the 2005 general election.

History

The Minister of Infrastructure post was tipped by some media for

Steven Joyce Steven Leonard Joyce (born 7 April 1963) is a New Zealand former politician, who entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2008 as a member of the New Zealand National Party. In the same year he became Minister of Transport and Minis ...

but was given to

Bill English Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former National Party politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and minister of f ...

, who held the position for the first term of the

Fifth National Government of New Zealand The Fifth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand for three parliamentary terms from 19 November 2008 to 26 October 2017. John Key served as National Leader and Prime Minister until December 2016, after which Bill En ...

, and was sworn in on 19 November 2008. Joyce was appointed Associate Minister. The portfolio was absorbed into the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

portfolio on 14 December 2011 as Key formed his Cabinet after the

2011 New Zealand general election The 2011 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 26 November 2011 to determine the membership of the 50th New Zealand Parliament. One hundred and twenty-one MPs were elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives, 70 from sing ...

. The position was re-created on 20 December 2016, when Prime Minister Bill English named his Cabinet on 18 December 2016. Steven Joyce was named to the post, as well as

List of Ministers

;Key

References

Infrastructure Briefing for the Incoming Minister, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minister Of Infrastructure (New Zealand)

Infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

Political office-holders in New Zealand