pn584. Reactions to the new Cabinet (and a table of members' responsibilites)

"builds fantastic relationships"

Hailed as a Cabinet of surprises by Tova O"Brien (Newshub), Jane Patterson (RNZ) and Julie Iled (NBR), Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom)  writes of "big calls",  and Helen du Plessis-Allan (NZ Herald) of  Jacinda  "finally show(ing) she has a backbone with tough Cabinet calls" while Tim Watkin (RNZ) writes  "in safe hands - but nothing flashy." 

The only overtly negative call, surprisingly,  came from left-leaning Chris Trotter (Daily Blog)  who likened the appointments to a curate's egg, both good and bad. He named the "bad" as the appointment of Kris Faafoi as Minister of Justice and Nanaia Mahuta as Foreign Minister, who, incidentally, are both Polynesian. 

Maori journalists were overjoyed there are five Maori in Cabinet, and one outside. They will cover 16 ministerial and associate ministers roles inside Cabinet, and a further three  outside.

pn581. We need more state houses

 

This article from No Right Turn is critical of Labour's policy.

How bad is the housing crisis? This bad:

For the first time over 20,000 households are on the Government’s waitlist for public housing.

By the end of August 20,385 eligible households were on the waitlist for state or social housing, with over 18,000 ranked as “priority A” – the most needy.

This compared to 19,438 the month before and