Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand)
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs is a major ministerial portfolio in the government of New Zealand.
The present Minister is the Rt Hon. Winston Peters, who was created Minister outside cabinet following the 2005 elections. Also linked to the portfolio are the separate roles of Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control and Minister for Trade Negotiations which are now held by Peters' predecessor, the Hon. Phil Goff. Under a special agreement, Peters reports directly to the Prime Minister instead of the Cabinet.
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[edit] Responsibilities and powers
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing New Zealand's relations with foreign countries. The Minister is in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including New Zealand's diplomatic staff. The office is often considered to be one of the more distinguished ministerial posts, and has at times been counted as the most senior role below that of the Prime Minister. In terms of actual political power, however, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is not as prominent as in other countries (such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States), with the Minister of Finance being considerably more influential.
Historically, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has always been a member of Cabinet, but this is not required by law, and the current Minister is not. This situation came about as the result of coalition negotiations in which it was agreed that the New Zealand First Party would take a senior ministerial portfolio but would not join Cabinet.
[edit] History
The first New Zealand foreign minister was James Allen, appointed to the post of "Minister of External Affairs" by William Massey in 1919. Before this time, there was no dedicated ministerial portfolio for foreign relations. At a later date, the title was changed to "Minister of Foreign Affairs". When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs absorbed responsibility for trade negotiations, the title formally became "Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade". In 2005, however, responsibility for trade was split away into a separate portfolio, with the title reverting simply to "Minister of Foreign Affairs".
Historically, it has been common for Prime Ministers to take on the role of Foreign Minister themselves, particularly if they have an interest in the field. The most recent Prime Minister to do this was Mike Moore, in 1990. In total, thirteen Prime Ministers have served as Foreign Minister for all or part of their terms.
New Zealand has had twenty-six foreign ministers (regardless of exact title) since the post was first created. The longest-serving foreign minister was Keith Holyoake, who held the post for the duration of his eleven-year premiership. The second longest-serving foreign minister, and the longest-serving foreign minister who was not also Prime Minister, was Don McKinnon, who later became Commonwealth Secretary-General.
