New Zealand Should Copy Australia and Take an Axe to Government Agency Numbers, Think Tank Says

‘New Zealand’s executive is too big, too fragmented, and too costly,’ Roger Partridge said.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks to media during a cabinet meeting at Parliament on November 28, 2023 in Wellington, New Zealand. The ministers of the 54th Parliament were sworn in on November 27th, 2023. Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

New Zealand should follow the example of Australia, where reforms in 1987 reduced 28 portfolios to 16 and created durable “consolidated ministries,” a think tank says.

With a population of 5.4 million, New Zealand has 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers and 43 government departments—about three times as many portfolios and nearly twice as many departments as comparable countries.