The Shadow Cabinet of Simon Bridges was the official Opposition in the 52nd New Zealand Parliament between 11 March 2018 and 22 May 2020. It comprised all members of the New Zealand National Party, which was the largest party not a member of the Government.
Simon Bridges was elected Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition on 27 February 2020 and announced his first shadow cabinet two weeks later. The portfolio allocations were amended six times during the term as a number of National members of Parliament either resigned or announced their intention not to contest the 2020 general election.
Following Bridges' defeat by Todd Muller in the May 2020 National Party leadership election and the formation of Muller's shadow Cabinet, the Bridges shadow Cabinet ceased to exist.
Formation Bridges followed his predecessor Bill English's lead by naming each of National's 56 members of Parliament to at least one spokesperson or associate spokesperson role. Like English, Bridges took no portfolios other than national security and intelligence, which is traditionally held by the Leader of the Opposition. His deputy, Paula Bennett, was given responsibility for social investment and social services; tertiary education, skills and employment; and women.
Commentators noticed that the initial portfolio allocations and caucus rankings rewarded Bridges' rivals for the leadership. Former justice minister Amy Adams, who had placed second in the leadership election, was named finance spokesperson and was ranked third. Judith Collins, who finished third, was placed at fourth rank, and received the housing portfolio, which she had asked for. Previous aspirants to the leadership, Jonathan Coleman and Mark Mitchell were also ranked highly, in sixth and seventh position respectively. Bridges' allies Todd McClay and Jami-Lee Ross were placed fifth and eighth respectively. Ross was the highest-ranked National MP who did not serve as a minister in the previous National-led government. The front bench was completed economic and regional development spokesperson Paul Goldsmith and education spokesperson Nikki Kaye. Melissa Lee and Sarah Dowie were the other two non-ministers to gain promotion to the top twenty.
Bridges had promised "generational change" on his ascension to the leadership. The front bench line up in particular was praised for including a high proportion of women MPs. Bridges and Bennett were, notably, the first National leadership team both to be of Māori descent. Bridges also placed several former ministers in lower positions than they had held in the English shadow Cabinet. Former senior minister Gerry Brownlee lost the foreign affairs portfolio to McClay, while former finance minister Steven Joyce resigned from Parliament when he was not offered the finance portfolio. Former conservation minister Maggie Barry (who had openly supported Amy Adams' leadership bid) and customs minister Nicky Wagner were also demoted. The twelve new MPs elected in the 2017 general election were listed last, alphabetically by surname. Whānau Ora spokesperson Jo Hayes was the lowest ranked returning MP.
Amendments Portfolio allocations were amended six times throughout Bridges' tenure as leader to accommodate the departures or planned retirements of members. The first change was made two weeks after the formation of the shadow Cabinet, on 26 March, with the resignation of Jonathan Coleman. Coleman had been the spokesperson for health and sport and recreation, portfolios he had held ministerial warrants for in the previous government. Michael Woodhouse, a former hospital chief executive, gained health. Education spokesperson Nikki Kaye picked up sport and recreation. Woodhouse's portfolio of workplace relations and safety was added to the responsibilities of environment spokesperson Scott Simpson.
In October 2018, a series of events that involved the leaking of Bridges' travel expenses saw transport and infrastructure spokesperson Jami-Lee Ross stand down from his portfolios while undertaking personal leave before resigning from the National Party. Judith Collins and Paul Goldsmith picked up Ross's portfolios. The third resignation, in January 2019, was of former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson. His shadow Attorney-General portfolio went to Amy Adams and a new drug reform portfolio, responding to the Government's decision to hold a referendum on legalising the sale, use, possession and production of cannabis in 2020, was assigned to Paula Bennett.
In June 2019, finance spokesperson Amy Adams and Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott announced they would not seek re-election to Parliament at the 2020 general election. Along with the retirement of list MP and Māori development spokesperson Nuk Korako in mid-May, this triggered a broad reshuffle. Paul Goldsmith was promoted to be the third-ranked MP, holding the finance portfolio. Goldsmith's economic and regional development portfolios were split between Todd McClay and Chris Bishop, who was promoted to the second bench and also gained the transport portfolio. Jo Hayes was promoted to be spokesperson for Māori development and Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, but retained a low ranking. Tim Macindoe became Shadow Attorney-General and Gerry Brownlee returned as foreign affairs spokesperson.
Agriculture spokesperson Nathan Guy announced his intention to retire at the next election in July 2019. He was replaced by Bridges' eventual successor to the leadership, Todd Muller, whose climate change portfolio was passed to Simpson. The sixth and final reshuffle, in February 2020, featured minor redistributions of portfolios following announcements that Maggie Barry (on 5 November 2019), Nicky Wagner, Sarah Dowie and David Carter (all on 11 February 2020, although Carter had previously indicated his intentions on 17 October 2018) would retire at the next election.
List of spokespersons
Original membership Rank MP Portfolio 1 Hon Simon Bridges Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for National Security and Intelligence 2 Hon Paula Bennett Deputy Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for Social Investment and Social Services Spokesperson for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Spokesperson for Women 3 Hon Amy Adams Spokesperson for Finance 4 Hon Judith Collins Spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development Spokesperson for Planning (RMA Reform) 5 Hon Todd McClay Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Trade Spokesperson for Tourism 6 Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman Spokesperson for Health Spokesperson for Sport and Recreation 7 Hon Mark Mitchell Spokesperson for Justice Spokesperson for Defence Spokesperson for Disarmament 8 Jami-Lee Ross Spokesperson for Infrastructure Spokesperson for Transport 9 Hon Paul Goldsmith Spokesperson for Economic and Regional Development Spokesperson for Revenue Associate Spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage 10 Hon Nikki Kaye Spokesperson for Education 11 Hon Gerry Brownlee Shadow Leader of the House Spokesperson for the GCSB Spokesperson for the NZSIS Spokesperson for the America's Cup 12 Hon Nathan Guy Spokesperson for Agriculture Spokesperson for Biosecurity Spokesperson for Food Safety 13 Hon Michael Woodhouse Deputy Shadow Leader of the House Spokesperson for Immigration Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety 14 Hon Louise Upston Spokesperson for Social Development 15 Hon Alfred Ngaro Spokesperson for Children Spokesperson for the Community and Voluntary Sector Spokesperson for Pacific Peoples 16 Hon Christopher Finlayson Shadow Attorney-General Spokesperson for Crown-Māori Relations Spokesperson for Pike River Re-entry 17 Hon Scott Simpson Spokesperson for the Environment 18 Hon Jacqui Dean Spokesperson for Local Government Spokesperson for Small Business 19 Melissa Lee Spokesperson for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities 20 Sarah Dowie Spokesperson for Conservation 21 Hon Anne Tolley Deputy Speaker 22 Rt Hon David Carter Spokesperson for State Owned Enterprises 23 Hon David Bennett Spokesperson for Corrections Spokesperson for Land Information Associate Spokesperson for Infrastructure 24 Jonathan Young Spokesperson for Energy and Resources Spokesperson for Regional Development (North Island) 25 Hon Maggie Barry Spokesperson for Seniors Spokesperson for Veterans Associate Spokesperson for Health 26 Hon Dr Nick Smith Spokesperson for State Services (including Open Government) Spokesperson for Electoral Reform 27 Barbara Kuriger Senior Whip 28 Matt Doocey Spokesperson for Mental Health Junior Whip 29 Simon O'Connor Spokesperson for Customs Associate Spokesperson for Housing (Social) Associate Spokesperson for Social Development 30 Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi Spokesperson for Internal Affairs Associate Spokesperson for Justice 31 Hon. Tim Macindoe Spokesperson for ACC Associate Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Trade 32 Brett Hudson Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Spokesperson for Government Digital Services Associate Spokesperson for Transport 33 Stuart Smith Spokesperson for the Earthquake Commission Spokesperson for Civil Defence Spokesperson for Viticulture 34 Todd Muller Spokesperson for Climate Change 35 Dr. Jian Yang Spokesperson for Statistics Associate Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities 36 Dr. Parmjeet Parmar Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation Associate Spokesperson for Economic Development 37 Nuk Korako Spokesperson for Māori Development Spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations 38 Chris Bishop Spokesperson for Police Spokesperson for Youth 39 Ian McKelvie Spokesperson for Fisheries Spokesperson for Racing 40 Hon. Nicky Wagner Spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage Spokesperson for Greater Christchurch Regeneration 41 Andrew Bayly Spokesperson for Building and Construction Associate Spokesperson for Finance 42 Dr. Shane Reti Spokesperson for Data and Cybersecurity Spokesperson for Disability Issues Associate Spokesperson for Health 43 Alastair Scott Spokesperson for Forestry Associate Spokesperson for Finance 44 Jo Hayes Spokesperson for Whānau Ora Spokesperson for Māori Education 45 Simeon Brown Associate Spokesperson for Education 46 Andrew Falloon Spokesperson for Regional Development (South Island) 47 Harete Hipango Spokesperson for Māori Tourism 48 Matt King Spokesperson for Rural Communities 49 Denise Lee Spokesperson for Local Government (Auckland) 50 Chris Penk Spokesperson for Courts 51 Erica Stanford Associate Spokesperson for the Environment 52 Tim van de Molen Third Whip 53 Hamish Walker Associate Spokesperson for Agriculture 54 Lawrence Yule Spokesperson for Horticulture 55 Maureen Pugh Associate Spokesperson for Children56Nicola Willis Spokesperson for Early Childhood Education
Final iteration At the point of its disestablishment, the Bridges Shadow Cabinet consisted of the following spokespersons. Rank MP Portfolio 1 Hon Simon Bridges Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for National Security and Intelligence 2 Hon Paula Bennett Deputy Leader of the Opposition Spokesperson for Social Investment and Social Services Spokesperson for Women Spokesperson for Drug Reform 3 Hon Paul Goldsmith Spokesperson for Finance Spokesperson for Infrastructure Spokesperson for State Owned Enterprises 4 Hon Judith Collins Spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development Spokesperson for Planning (RMA Reform) 5 Hon Todd McClay Spokesperson for Trade Spokesperson for Economic Development Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety Spokesperson for Tourism Spokesperson for Small Business 6 Hon Mark Mitchell Spokesperson for Justice Spokesperson for Defence Spokesperson for Disarmament Spokesperson for Pike River Mine re-entry 7 Hon Nikki Kaye Spokesperson for Education Spokesperson for Sport and Recreation 8 Hon Gerry Brownlee Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Shadow Leader of the House Spokesperson for the GCSB