Minister of Justice (New Zealand)

Minister of Justice
Minister of Justice
	Coat of arms of New Zealand
	Flag of New Zealand
	Incumbent; Paul Goldsmith; since 27 November 2023
	Ministry of Justice
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Cabinet of New Zealand; Executive Council;
Reports to	Prime Minister of New Zealand
Appointer	Governor-General of New Zealand
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation	13 June 1870
First holder	Henry Sewell
Salary	$288,900
Website	www.beehive.govt.nz

The Minister of Justice is a minister in the New Zealand Government. The minister has responsibility for the formulation of justice policy and for the administration of law courts.

The current Minister of Justice is Paul Goldsmith since 27 November 2023.^[2]

History

The first Minister of Justice was appointed in 1870. This was followed in 1872 by the creation of the Department of Justice.

The Attorney-General is responsible for supervising New Zealand law and advising the Government on legal matters, and has ministerial jurisdiction over the Crown Law Office and the Parliamentary Counsel Office. The position is separate from that of 'Minister of Justice', though the two positions have sometimes been held by the same person, e.g. Geoffrey Palmer (1984 to 1989).^[3]

Responsibility for the police has never technically belonged to the Minister of Justice per se. Originally, the Minister of Defence was responsible. During the early 20th century, however, it became established that the person serving as Minister of Justice was also the minister in charge of the police. This continued until the election of the First Labour Government in 1935, when responsibility for the police became detached – the Minister of Police was eventually established as a full ministerial post in 1969.

In 1995, the Department of Justice was split into three parts – a Ministry of Justice would deal with policy matters, while the practical administration of the court system and the prison system would be given their own departments. This resulted in the creation of two new ministerial portfolios – Minister of Court and Minister of Corrections. The former has since been absorbed back into the Justice portfolio, but the latter is still independent.

List of justice ministers

Key

Independent Liberal Reform United Labour National

	Name	Term of Office
1	Henry Sewell	13 June 1870	30 October 1871	Fox
2	John Bathgate	29 October 1872	20 February 1874	Waterhouse
				Fox
				Vogel
3	Maurice O'Rorke	20 February 1874	13 August 1874
4	Charles Bowen	16 December 1874	13 October 1877
				Pollen
				Vogel
				Vogel
				Atkinson
5	John Sheehan	13 October 1877	8 October 1879	Grey
6	William Rolleston	15 December 1880	13 April 1881	Hall
7	Thomas Dick	13 April 1881	11 October 1882	Hall
7	Thomas Dick	13 April 1881	11 October 1882	Whitaker
8	Edward Conolly	11 October 1882	16 August 1884	Whitaker
8	Edward Conolly	11 October 1882	16 August 1884	Atkinson
9	Joseph Tole	3 September 1884	8 October 1887	Stout
10	Thomas Fergus	8 October 1887	17 October 1889	Atkinson
11	William Russell	17 October 1889	24 January 1891	Atkinson
12	William Pember Reeves	24 January 1891	28 May 1892	Ballance
13	Alfred Cadman	28 May 1892	1 May 1893	Ballance
13	Alfred Cadman	28 May 1892	1 May 1893	Seddon
(12)	William Pember Reeves	20 July 1893	6 September 1893
(13)	Alfred Cadman	6 September 1893	28 March 1895
(12)	William Pember Reeves	28 March 1895	10 January 1896
14	William Hall-Jones	10 January 1896	2 March 1896
15	Thomas Thompson	2 March 1896	23 January 1900
16	James McGowan	23 January 1900	6 January 1909
				Hall-Jones
				Ward
17	John Findlay	6 January 1909	26 December 1911	Ward
18	Josiah Hanan	28 March 1912	10 July 1912	Mackenzie
19	Alexander Herdman	10 July 1912	12 August 1915	Massey
20	Robert McNab	12 August 1915	20 February 1917
(18)	Josiah Hanan	20 February 1917	14 November 1917
21	Thomas Wilford	14 November 1917	25 August 1919
22	Gordon Coates	4 September 1919	3 April 1920
23	Ernest Lee	3 April 1920	13 January 1923
24	Francis Bell	13 January 1923	27 June 1923
25	James Parr	27 June 1923	18 January 1926
				Bell
				Coates
26	Frank Rolleston	18 January 1926	26 November 1928
27	William Downie Stewart Jr	26 November 1928	10 December 1928
(21)	Thomas Wilford	10 December 1928	10 December 1929	Ward
28	Thomas Sidey	18 December 1929	28 May 1930	Ward
29	John Cobbe	28 May 1930	6 December 1935	Forbes
30	Rex Mason	6 December 1935	13 December 1949	Savage
30	Rex Mason	6 December 1935	13 December 1949	Fraser
31	Clifton Webb	13 December 1949	26 November 1954	Holland
32	Jack Marshall	26 November 1954	12 December 1957	Holland
32	Jack Marshall	26 November 1954	12 December 1957	Holyoake
(30)	Rex Mason	12 December 1957	12 December 1960	Nash
33	Ralph Hanan	12 December 1960	24 July 1969	Holyoake
34	Dan Riddiford	22 December 1969	9 February 1972	Holyoake
35	Roy Jack	9 February 1972	8 December 1972	Marshall
36	Martyn Finlay	8 December 1972	12 December 1975	Kirk
36	Martyn Finlay	8 December 1972	12 December 1975	Rowling
37	David Thomson	12 December 1975	13 December 1978	Muldoon
38	Jim McLay	13 December 1978	26 July 1984	Muldoon
39	Geoffrey Palmer	26 July 1984	8 August 1989	Lange
40	Bill Jeffries	8 August 1989	2 November 1990	Palmer
40	Bill Jeffries	8 August 1989	2 November 1990	Moore
41	Doug Graham	2 November 1990	1 February 1999	Bolger
41	Doug Graham	2 November 1990	1 February 1999	Shipley
42	Tony Ryall	1 February 1999	10 December 1999	Shipley
43	Phil Goff	10 December 1999	19 October 2005	Clark
44	Mark Burton	19 October 2005	31 October 2007
45	Annette King	31 October 2007	19 November 2008
46	Simon Power	19 November 2008	12 December 2011	Key
47	Judith Collins	12 December 2011	30 August 2014
–	Chris Finlayson Acting Minister	30 August 2014	8 October 2014
48	Amy Adams	8 October 2014	26 October 2017
48	Amy Adams	8 October 2014	26 October 2017	English
49	Andrew Little	26 October 2017	6 November 2020	Ardern
50	Kris Faafoi	6 November 2020	14 June 2022
51	Kiri Allan	14 June 2022	24 July 2023
51	Kiri Allan	14 June 2022	24 July 2023	Hipkins
52	Ginny Andersen	24 July 2023	27 November 2023	Hipkins
53	Paul Goldsmith	27 November 2023	present	Luxon

References

^ "Parliamentary Salaries and Allowances Determination 2016" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament.
^ "Reallocation of ministerial portfolios". New Zealand Parliament. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
^ "Sir Geoffrey Palmer" (PDF). United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law. Retrieved 15 September 2019.

External links

New Zealand Ministry of Justice

[1] "Parliamentary Salaries and Allowances Determination 2016" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament.

[2] "Reallocation of ministerial portfolios". New Zealand Parliament. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.

[3] "Sir Geoffrey Palmer" (PDF). United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law. Retrieved 15 September 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Ministerial portfolios of New Zealand
Current portfolios	Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister Leader of the House ACC Agriculture Arts, Culture and Heritage Attorney-General Auckland Biosecurity Building and Construction Child Poverty Reduction Children Climate Change Commerce and Consumer Affairs Community and Voluntary Sector Conservation Corrections Courts Māori–Crown Relations Customs Defence Digitising Government Disability Issues Earthquake Commission Economic Development Education Emergency Management and Recovery Energy Ethnic Communities Environment Finance Foreign Affairs Forestry Food Safety Health Housing Hunting and Fishing Immigration Internal Affairs Infrastructure Justice Land Information Local Government Māori Development Media and Communications Mental Health Ministerial Services National Security and Intelligence Oceans and Fisheries Pacific Peoples Police Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Public Service Racing Regional Development Regulation Resources Revenue Minister for RMA Reform Rural Communities Science, Innovation and Technology Seniors Small Business and Manufacturing Social Development and Employment Sport and Recreation Space State Owned Enterprises Statistics Tertiary Education and Skills Trade Transport Tourism and Hospitality Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Veterans Whānau Ora Women Workplace Relations and Safety Youth
Former portfolios	Civil Aviation Colonial Secretary COVID-19 Response Disarmament and Arms Control Electricity Employment Industries and Commerce Island Territories Labour Lands Marine Marketing Mines Pike River Re-entry Postmaster-General Primary Industries Railways Regulatory Reform Small Business Social Housing Social Investment State Insurance Trade and Industry Treasurer Works without portfolio
Current Government

History

List of justice ministers

See also

References

External links