Minister of Health (New Zealand)

Minister of Health of New Zealand
Coat of arms of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand
Incumbent Hon Dr David Clark since 26 October 2017
Ministry of Health
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 Her Majesty's pleasure
Formation	8 November 1900
First holder	Joseph Ward
Salary	$288,900
Website	www.beehive.govt.nz

The Minister of Health, formerly styled Minister of Public Health, is a minister in the government of New Zealand with responsibility for the New Zealand Ministry of Health and the District Health Boards.

The present Minister is David Clark, a member of the Labour Party.

History

The first Minister of Public Health was appointed in 1900, during the premiership of Richard Seddon. The word "Public" was dropped from the title when Sir Māui Pōmare took over the portfolio from 27 June 1923, as simply "Minister of Health".

In the health system reforms of the 1980s, the Department of Health lost responsibility for both the provision and funding of healthcare — these roles were transferred to separate Crown Health Enterprises (the precursors to today's District Health Boards) and the Health Funding Authority, respectively. The only function remaining was policy-making (resulting in the Department being renamed a Ministry). For a time, there was a separate Minister in Charge of Crown Health Enterprises, who was not necessarily the same as the Minister of Health. Further reforms have changed this, however — the Health Funding Authority has been re-absorbed into the Ministry of Health, and the modern District Health Boards, while not part of the Ministry, are considered a responsibility of the Minister of Health.

List of Health Ministers

Colour key (for political parties)
Liberal   Reform   United   Labour   National

No.		Name	Portrait	Term of Office		Prime Minister
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	1	Joseph Ward		8 November 1900	6 August 1906	style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	Seddon
style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|						Hall-Jones
style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	2	George Fowlds		6 August 1906	6 January 1909	rowspan=2 style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	Ward
style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	3	David Buddo		6 January 1909	28 March 1912
style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	4	George Warren Russell		28 March 1912	10 July 1912	style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	Mackenzie
style="background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|	5	Heaton Rhodes		10 July 1912	12 August 1915	rowspan=4 style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|	Massey
style="background:Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color"|	(4)	George Warren Russell		12 August 1915	25 August 1919
style="background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|	6	Francis Bell		4 September 1919	3 April 1920
style="background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|	7	James Parr		3 April 1920	7 June 1923
rowspan=3 style="background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|	8	Maui Pomare		7 June 1923	18 January 1926	height=15 style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|
style="background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|						Bell
height=15 style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|						Coates
style="background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|	9	Alexander Young		18 January 1926	10 December 1928		style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|
style="background:Template:United Party (New Zealand)/meta/color"|	10	Arthur Stallworthy		10 December 1928	22 September 1931	rowspan="2" style="background:Template:United Party (New Zealand)/meta/color"|	Ward
height=15 style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|	(9)	Alexander Young		22 September 1931	6 December 1935
style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color"|						style="background:Template:United Party (New Zealand)/meta/color"|	Forbes
height=15 style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	11	Peter Fraser		6 December 1935	30 April 1940	style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color;"|	Savage
height=15 style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|						style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color;"|	Fraser
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color;"|	12	Tim Armstrong		30 April 1940	21 January 1941	rowspan=3 style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color;"|
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color;"|	13	Arnold Nordmeyer		21 January 1941	29 May 1947
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color;"|	14	Mabel Howard		29 May 1947	13 December 1949
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	15	Jack Watts		13 December 1949	19 September 1951	rowspan=2 style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	Holland
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	16	Jack Marshall		19 September 1951	26 November 1954
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	17	Ralph Hanan		26 November 1954	12 December 1957	height=36 style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|						Holyoake
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	18	Rex Mason		12 December 1957	12 December 1960	style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	Nash
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	19	Norman Shelton		12 December 1960	24 January 1962	rowspan=2 style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	Holyoake
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	20	Donald Norman McKay		24 January 1962	9 February 1972
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	21	Lance Adams-Schneider		9 February 1972	8 December 1972	style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	Marshall
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	22	Bob Tizard		8 December 1972	10 September 1974	style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	Kirk
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	23	Tom McGuigan		10 September 1974	12 December 1975	style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	Rowling
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	24	Frank Gill		12 December 1975	13 December 1978	rowspan=3 style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	Muldoon
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	25	George Gair		13 December 1978	11 December 1981
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	26	Aussie Malcolm		11 December 1981	26 July 1984
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	27	Michael Bassett		26 July 1984	24 August 1987	rowspan=2 style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	Lange
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	28	David Caygill		24 August 1987	30 January 1989
rowspan=3 style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	29	Helen Clark		30 January 1989	2 November 1990	height=36 style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|						Palmer
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|						Moore
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	30	Simon Upton		2 November 1990	27 March 1993	rowspan="4" style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	Bolger
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	31	Bill Birch		27 March 1993	29 November 1993
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	32	Jenny Shipley		29 November 1993	16 December 1996
rowspan="2" style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	33	Bill English		16 December 1996	2 February 1999
rowspan="2" style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|						Shipley
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	34	Wyatt Creech		2 February 1999	5 December 1999
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	35	Annette King		5 December 1999	19 October 2005	rowspan=3 style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	Clark
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	36	Pete Hodgson		19 October 2005	5 November 2007
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	37	David Cunliffe		5 November 2007	19 November 2008
style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	38	Tony Ryall		19 November 2008	6 October 2014	rowspan="2" style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	Key
height=15 style="border-bottom:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	39	Jonathan Coleman		6 October 2014	26 October 2017
style="border-top:solid 0 grey; background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|						style="background:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color"|	English
style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	40	David Clark		26 October 2017	present	style="background:Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color"|	Ardern

External links

• New Zealand Ministry of Health