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Ginny Andersen, one of the newest Cabinet ministers, has been promoted to police minister after Stuart Nash resigned amid controversy.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced Andersen would become police minister on Monday afternoon, after Nash boasted about calling Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to encourage him to appeal a “very bad” sentence – breaching Cabinet rules.
Andersen, the Hutt South MP, entered Cabinet in February and was the second-lowest ranked minister at the table. For two months she had been minister for digital economy and communications, seniors, and small business.
“She’s very well suited to take up that role,” Hipkins said.
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“I think Ginny Andersen will hold her own … It is a big portfolio and I have confidence in Ginny and her ability to handle it.”
Hipkins said Andersen would start the job immediately. He said law and order would still be a “key area of focus”, and he expected Andersen to continue the Government’s focus on retail crime, youth offending, and organised crime.
ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff
Before entering Parliament in 2017, Ginny Andersen worked for police for more thanover a decade.
“I’ve got absolute confidence in Ginny,” he said.
Andersen has been contacted for an interview.
National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell said Andersen’s appointment was a “signal” that Labour had “clearly given up on law and order”.
“They’ve appointed a minister with less than two months experience at the bottom of the Cabinet rankings at a time when the country is experiencing the worst crime levels it has ever seen,” he said.
ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff
Minister for small businesses Ginny Andersen is now police minister.
Andersen has previously been chairperson of the Justice Select Committee, steering through the Government’s legislative reform.
Before entering Parliament in 2017, she worked for police for more than a decade, including as a ministerial advisor, and worked in the Office of Treaty Settlements.
She speaks te reo Māori.
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