Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
The deputy prime minister of New Zealand is the second-most senior member of the Cabinet of New Zealand. The officeholder usually deputises for the prime minister at official functions. The current deputy prime minister is Winston Peters of the NZ First party, who has held the position twice before, and will serve until 31 May 2025 due an arrangement under the current coalition government in which he would then be succeeded in the position by ACT party leader David Seymour.
Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
Image: Keith Holyoake 1954 (cropped)
Image: Jack Marshall, 1972
Image: Robert Muldoon 1970 (cropped)
The Cabinet of New Zealand is the New Zealand Government's body of senior ministers, accountable to the New Zealand Parliament. Cabinet meetings, chaired by the prime minister, occur once a week; in them, vital issues are discussed and government policy is formulated. Cabinet is also composed of a number of committees focused on specific areas of governance and policy. Though not established by any statute, Cabinet wields significant power within the New Zealand political system, with nearly all government bills it introduces in Parliament being enacted.
Swearing-in of ministers by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, 26 October 2017. Cabinet members are first appointed as executive councillors before receiving warrants for their ministerial portfolios.
A meeting of Cabinet in 1972. At this time, Cabinet members were usually Pākehā and male; Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan (seated second-left from the centre) was the only female Cabinet minister.
Photograph taken before the first meeting of the Cabinet of the Sixth National Government of New Zealand, Beehive, 28 November 2023
Image: Winston Peters 2023 cropped headshot