RNZ News
Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle.

Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet.

Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet.

Pictured: Melissa Lee . . . under pressure after Warner Bros Discovery announced it would stop producing local news in New Zealand through Newshub. Image: RNZ/Angus Dreaver 

The changes came today five months to the day after Luxon first announced the ministerial roles and responsibilities.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the changes in a statement this afternoon.

He said Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith — currently overseas — would take over the Media and Broadcasting role, while Social Development Minister Louise Upston would pick up Disability Issues.

Lee was under pressure after Warner Bros Discovery announced it would stop producing local news through Newshub, and shut the majority of its operations in New Zealand.

Repeated questions
She faced repeated questions about what the government would do about the closure of Newshub, with Labour saying she had “more than enough time” to find solutions.

Simmonds had also been in headlines over the handling of changes to disability-related funding.

She admitted the handling of the disability funding changes — which included restricting the way equipment and support services were funded — was bungled, and later apologised for it.

She signed off on the decision a few days before it was announced on the ministry’s social media accounts, taking disabled people and carers by surprise.

Labour said the changes were callous and a broken promise, and leader Chris Hipkins called for her to be sacked over it.

After the changes, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said future decisions on the funding would have to be taken to cabinet.

‘Changing circumstances’
Speaking to reporters, Luxon said the changes were about making sure the government had “the right people on the right assignment at the right time”.

“In both these cases of both these portfolios there have been significant changes and complexities added to them over the course since the ministers were allocated these responsibilities . . .  there’s a lot more complexity added to these portfolios.”

He avoided saying whether either of the ministers had done anything wrong, despite multiple questions about why they deserved the demotions — particularly Lee, who had been an MP for 16 years and held the media portfolio for the National Party since 2017.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ and Asia Pacific Report