There’s a call to cull some of New Zealand’s ministers.  

A new report from the New Zealand Initiative found New Zealand has 81 ministerial portfolios, while comparable countries have a third of that.  

The think-tank says we should be more like countries with comparable populations, like Norway which has 17 portfolios, and Singapore with 16. 

Co-author Roger Partridge told Mike Hosking we keep slicing off pieces of portfolios and giving them new names, resulting in important policy areas being split across multiple ministers.  

Housing for example, reports up to 12 ministers, he says, and when you splinter key portfolios you get fragmented decision-making, a lack of accountability, and higher costs.  

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