New Zealand new government sworn in
19/11/2008 16:42
The government of New Zealand's new Prime Minister John Key was sworn in
today after an election victory earlier this month.
Key and his 27 fellow
ministers, including the 19 from his National Party who will form the cabinet
and those from the support parties of ACT, the United Future and the Maori
parties - were sworn in by Governor-General Anand Satyanand at a ceremony at
parliament in Wellington.
The Cabinet met this afternoon for the first time,
during which Key spelt out his expectations of ministers' performance and
conduct.
All 20 cabinet ministers are National Party MPs. There are three
others who hold portfolios outside cabinet and five ministers from the support
parties which have signed agreements with National.
Key touched on the
challenges faced by New Zealand at the ceremony where he and his ministers were
sworn into their roles.
Key told reporters that being sworn in was a
wonderful feeling.
"Obviously there's the enormity of the task that stands in
front of us but, as I said, I've never felt more confident that the group of
individuals that form the executive are the right individuals to take New
Zealand on a more prosperous and safer future," he said.
Key said it was now
time to get to work.
Today, Helen Clark carried out her last official duty as
Prime Minister. Clark visited the governor-general to end the Labor Government
after three terms in office.
Clark was leader of the Labour Party for 15
years until she resigned following the party's defeat at the Nov. 8 general
elections.
Key said today marked the beginning of his "first 100 days" plan
of action that was released during the election campaign.
Parliament will sit
on Dec. 8 for two weeks, and legislation to cut taxes, streamline the Resource
Management Act and deal with law and order issues will be introduced.
The new
prime minister announced his Cabinet line-up on Monday with top priorities on
economy.
The National Party's deputy leader Bill English was appointed as
deputy prime minister and minister of finance and will pick up the newly created
infrastructure portfolio.
Pansy Wong, 53-year-old ethnic Chinese member of
parliament (MP) , was appointed Minister for Ethnic Affairs and Minister of
Women' s Affairs, becoming the country's first Asian Cabinet minister.
New
Zealand held general elections on Nov. 8. The National party, led by John Key,
defeated the Labour party of Helen Clark, who had led a government for nine
years.
Xinhua
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