Reshuffle: Who will be up and who will be down in Christopher Luxon’s new Cabinet?
Thursday, 2 April 2026
ANALYSIS: Christopher Luxon’s reshuffle today is a long time coming.
Governments often do a shake-up at the start of the year - it is now April. More importantly he has had an ample excuse to shake up his Cabinet ever since Judith Collins announced she would be leaving the Ministry all the way back in January.
Luxon now makes the reshuffle in the teeth of a serious fuel crisis and some recent poor polling for his party.
It is likely to be the last major reshuffle before the election in seven months’ time, meaning new ministers will have the role of both managing their portfolios and telling the public why they deserve to keep them.
Read more:
Christopher Luxon’s long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle coming on Thursday
Labour reshuffle sees Willow-Jean Prime lose education, Peeni Henare’s portfolios doled out
Luxon will have to balance what all prime ministers must: Promoting talent while not overly-angering others when they are either passed over, or have portfolios removed.
The reshuffle will be closely analysed by many across the political spectrum for all the little signals it sends about the National Party and Luxon’s strength within it.
On Wednesday night one source close to the party suggested that the reshuffle might have angered senior Minister Chris Bishop, who holds a bevy of big portfolios and is widely seen as one of Luxon’s top rivals for the leadership.
The Post asked Bishop about that claim and did not receive a response.
What’s on offer
Two Cabinet ministers have announced their exit at this year’s election - meaning their portfolios are very obviously up for grabs.
Judith Collins will relinquish the portfolios of:
Attorney-General
Defence
Public Service
The intelligence agencies
Digitising Government
Space
Shane Reti will presumably be relinquishing:
Pacific Peoples
Science, Innovation, and Technology
Statistics
Universities
But it likely won’t be just those jobs changing hands. After all if you give someone a huge role like Attorney-General or Defence you might also take away a portfolio to free them up.
If the suggestion that Bishop might lose a portfolio proves correct it could be the housing one that goes. Bishop has stood apart from his party in openly calling for house prices to fall and his desire to allow far greater density in Auckland has been repeatedly cut down by his Cabinet colleagues. It could also be a less chunky portfolio like the Leader of the House or his Associate Sports portfolio.
This removal would make some sense for Luxon if he was also giving Bishop the role of Attorney-General - or if he just wanted to make the argument that as National Party campaign chair he has too much on his plate.
Who is likely to rise?
There are some very obvious choices for some of the portfolios.
Chris Penk, currently associate minister for defence outside of Cabinet, makes a lot of sense as the new defence minister, and a new entrant to Cabinet.
Penk could also take the Attorney-General role.
James Meager, minister for the South Island outside of Cabinet, would also make some sense for promotion - especially if Luxon decides to demote Matt Doocey, the only Cabinet minister from the South Island currently in Cabinet, despite losing most of his portfolios.
But there is some chatter that Meager’s reported role as a “numbers man” for an abandoned coup attempt by Bishop could hurt him here.
Minister for Women Nicola Grigg is also from the South Island and has a lot of experience in politics and media as a former staffer, meaning she could make sense for Luxon’s new Cabinet. Given National’s problems with women in recent polling, making all the promotions men might be something the party seeks to avoid.
The promotion of some of these ministers outside of Cabinet opens up some more room for backbench MPs to become ministers outside of Cabinet too.
Obvious candidates include Finance and Expenditure Committee chair Cameron Brewer, Education and Workforce Committee chair Katie Nimon, Environment Select Committee chair Catherine Wedd, and junior whip Suze Redmayne.
Wedd is best known for her campaign to ban social media for teenagers - a policy Luxon appears to be very fond of - while the others have all shown real ability in their current roles.
When will the reshuffle take place?
At press time, unclear. The Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed the reshuffle will be on Thursday but not given a time to expect it.