Minister for National Security and Intelligence (New Zealand)

The Minister of National Security and Intelligence is a minister in the government of New Zealand who is responsible for leading and setting the policies and legislative framework of New Zealand's national security system. Some of the Minister's other known responsibilities include chairing the Cabinet National Security Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee.

History

This portfolio was created by the Second National Government (as Minister of New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service) in September 1969, and was initially held by Prime Minister Sir Keith Holyoake. Since then and up until 2014, the portfolio and all ministerial responsibility for New Zealand's intelligence apparatus sat with the Prime Minister.

Prior to 2014, the Minister of New Zealand Security and Intelligence, and therefore the Prime Minister, was the sole Minister responsible for New Zealand's two intelligence Agencies, the NZSIS and GCSB. This changed when Prime Minister John Key announced that the Minister of New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service would be renamed Minister of National Security and Intelligence, with direct ministerial responsibility for New Zealand's intelligence agencies delegated to two different portfolios, the Minister Responsible for the NZSIS and Minister Responsible for the GCSB.

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson of the National Party was appointed to both the NZSIS and GCSB portfolios following their creation in 2014, and remained Minister until the formation of the Labour-New Zealand First coalition government in 2017. Labour Minister Andrew Little replaced Finlayson in the role and has held both portfolios since.

List of Ministers of National Security and Intelligence

Key

  National   Labour

No.		Name	Portrait	Term of Office		Prime Minister
As Minister of New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service
	1	Keith Holyoake		1 September 1969	9 February 1972		Holyoake
	2	Jack Marshall		9 February 1972	8 December 1972		Marshall
	3	Norman Kirk		8 December 1972	31 August 1974		Kirk
	4	Bill Rowling		6 September 1974	12 December 1975		Rowling
	5	Robert Muldoon		12 December 1975	26 July 1984		Muldoon
	6	David Lange		26 July 1984	8 August 1989		Lange
	7	Geoffrey Palmer		8 August 1989	4 September 1990		Palmer
	8	Mike Moore		4 September 1990	2 November 1990		Moore
	9	Jim Bolger		4 September 1990	8 December 1997		Bolger
	10	Jenny Shipley		8 December 1997	10 December 1999		Shipley
	11	Helen Clark		10 December 1999	19 November 2008		Clark
	12	John Key		19 November 2008	8 October 2014		Key
As Minister of National Security and Intellegence
	12	John Key		8 October 2014	12 December 2016		Key
	13	Bill English		12 December 2016	26 October 2017		Englisch
	14	Jacinda Ardern		26 October 2017	25 January 2023		Ardern
	15	Chris Hipkins		25 January 2023	Inucmbent		Hipkins	Notes References Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.