TDB Cabinet Top 10 Rankings

Put aside the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, here are the TDB Top 10 power rankings of Cabinet.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 10: Hon Kieran McAnulty – MP for Wairarapa – Minister for Emergency Management, and Racing, Associate Minister of Local Government, and Transport, Deputy Leader of the House

McAnulty is the great white hope for Labour in the Provinces. He is liked and likeable, brought up in an environment where Utes aren’t seen as a hate crime, Labour are relying on McAnulty to prove to male voters that Labour won’t ban heteronormative sex.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 9: Hon Peeni Henare – MP for Tāmaki Makaurau – Minister of Defence, and Whānau Ora, Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health), Housing (Māori Housing), and Tourism

Humble servant to the Party, his work on Whānau Ora and the new Defence posturing of NZ are probably the 2 most radical expressions of new policy direction and he’s achieved this with barely a ripple in the news headlines.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 8: Hon Aupito William Sio – MP for Māngere – Minister for Pacific Peoples, and Courts, Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education (Pacific Peoples), Justice, and Health (Pacific Peoples)

His ability to deliver the Pacific Island vote that continues to prop up the entire city of Auckland for Labour marks Sio out as one of the most important power brokers in Cabinet. Does so much heavy lifting and gets not nearly enough recognition for that.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 7: Hon Kiri Allan – MP for East Coast – Minister of Justice, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage, the Environment, and Finance

There are few MPs who have the authenticity and genuine likability of Kiri. Her natural intelligence, her ability to command authority and her wit mark her out as a major heavyweight of Labour Party future.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 6: Hon David Parker – List MP – Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, and Revenue, and Associate Minister of Finance

He is the smartest brain in Cabinet, he’s a policy giant and nothing advances in Cab rent without his green light. Major power broker inside Labour.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 5: Hon Nanaia Mahuta – MP for Hauraki-Waikato – Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Local Government, Associate Minister for Māori Development

Has had to endure terrible attacks and allegations of nepotism and a level of naked racism against 3 waters that is cross burning level…

Māoridom were forced into seeking Waitangi Tribunal resolution in 2012 over the issue of Māori water rights because John Key sold 49% of the Hydro water assets alongside taxpayer funded sweeteners. The moment National put a value to water, Māori interests were immediately triggered, and the Waitangi Tribunal ruled that Māori did have water interests and it was up to the State to lay those interests out and protect them.

Labour’s 3 Waters proposal is their attempt at laying those Māori water interests out and protecting them by using the very co-governance model that ACT and National were the original architects of.

To now have ACT and National play the race baiting card over a model they themselves built to solve a privatization of hydro assets they sold is just an audacity beyond words.

…the racist shit she has had to wade through would have broken weaker people.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 4: Hon Andrew Little – List MP – Minister of Health, and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Minister Responsible for the GCSB, NZSIS, and Pike River Re-entry, Lead Coordinating Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into the Terrorist Attack on the Christchurch Mosques

Little is the heavy weight bovver boy Labour send in when they need to really crack heads in a Ministry. His dominance over the issues and ability to push back fearlessly marks him out as one Labour’s Alphas.  Forcing change through at the Ministry of Health is never popular, especially in the middle of a pandemic.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 3: Hon Willie Jackson – List MP based in South Auckland, Minister for Māori Development, and Broadcasting and Media, Associate Minister for ACC

Has managed to get negotiate $3.1Billion in extra funding for Māori in the space of 5 years. That’s twice as much as the Waitangi Tribunal has handed back for the theft of the entire country. Probably the most important Ministers of Māori Affairs ever.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 2: Hon Chris Hipkins – MP for Remutaka – Minister of Education, Police, and the Public Service – Leader of the House

He’s so funny, so insanely capable and very talented. He is the trouble shooter who can be sent into a Ministry to fix problems. One of the most important Minister’s Jacinda has in her Cabinet.

TDB CABINET POWER RANKING 1: Hon Michael Wood – MP for Mt Roskill, Minister of Immigration, Transport, and Workplace Relations & Safety

Audrey got his nickname wrong, it isn’t ‘Napoleon’, it’s the ‘Little General’, the same nickname of Rugby League great, Stacey Jones. TDB knows this because we gave him that nickname years ago! Wood has shown real leadership by pushing for greater minimum wage and better public transport costs for working class people. He has real compassion and ethical integrity that marks him out as a one of the most important political voices for those capitalism doesn’t care about.

Jacinda and grant have a far stronger Cabinet than detractors like to claim.

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