Minister of Foreign Affairs
Coat of Arms of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand
Incumbent Winston Peters since 27 November 2023
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
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
Inaugural holder	James Allen
Formation	24 November 1919
Salary	$288,900[1]
Website	www.beehive.govt.nz

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TheMinister of Foreign Affairs, also known as theForeign Minister, is a seniorminister in theNew Zealand Government heading theMinistry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and responsible for relations with foreign countries.

The current Minister of Foreign Affairs isWinston Peters.^[2]

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeingNew Zealand's relations with foreign countries and the promotion of New Zealand's interests abroad.^[3] The Minister is in charge of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including New Zealand'sdiplomatic staff. The office is often considered to be one of the more distinguished ministerial posts, and has at times been counted as the most senior role below that of thePrime Minister. In terms of actual political power, however, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is not as prominent as in countries such asAustralia,Canada, theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States, with theMinister of Finance being considerably more influential.

The first New Zealand foreign minister wasJames Allen, appointed to the post ofMinister of External Affairs byWilliam Massey in 1919. Before this time, there was no dedicated ministerial portfolio for foreign relations. ADepartment of External Affairs was created in 1919 but its functions were limited to administering New Zealand's Island Territories in the Pacific; namely theCook Islands,Niue,Tokelau, and theLeague of Nations Mandate ofSamoa.^[4] In 1943, a newDepartment of External Affairs was created to conduct the country's external relations. The older department was then renamed theDepartment of Island Territories and a separate portfolio called theMinister of Island Territories was subsequently created.^[5]

From 1943, the Minister of External Affairs became the main ministerial portfolio for conducting New Zealand's external relations.^[6] Like its similarly namedAustralian andCanadian counterparts, the portfolio was called "External Affairs" rather than "Foreign Affairs" in deference of the British Government's responsibility for conducting foreign policy on behalf of theBritish Empire and later theCommonwealth of Nations.^[7] The title was changed toMinister of Foreign Affairs in 1970 after the Department was renamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1993, the portfolio was merged with the trade portfolio (except for trade negotiations, which were a separate responsibility) asMinister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2005, responsibility for trade was returned to a separate portfolio and the title of "Minister of Foreign Affairs" was restored.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is usually a senior member of theCabinet. The portfolio has been held by 13 prime ministers, includingPeter Fraser,Walter Nash,Keith Holyoake,David Lange andMike Moore,^[6] and has been assigned to the deputy prime minister on four occasions. Only once has the foreign minister sat outside of Cabinet (Winston Peters between 2005 and 2008).

New Zealand has had 29 foreign ministers (regardless of exact title). The longest-serving wasKeith Holyoake, who held the post for the duration of his 11-year premiership. The second longest-serving, and the longest-serving who was not also prime minister, wasDon McKinnon, who later becameCommonwealth Secretary-General.

Key

  Reform  United  Labour  National  NZ First

No.		Name	Portrait	Term of office		Prime Minister
	1	James Allen		24 November 1919	28 April 1920		Massey
	2	Ernest Lee		17 May 1920	13 January 1923
	3	Francis Bell		7 June 1923	18 January 1926
							Bell
							Coates
	4	William Nosworthy		24 May 1926	24 August 1928
	5	Gordon Coates		25 August 1928	10 December 1928
	6	Joseph Ward		10 December 1928	28 May 1930		Ward
	7	George Forbes		28 May 1930	6 December 1935		Forbes
	8	Michael Joseph Savage		6 December 1935	27 March 1940†		Savage
	9	Frank Langstone		1 April 1940	21 December 1942		Fraser
	10	Peter Fraser		7 July 1943	13 December 1949
	11	Frederick Doidge		13 December 1949	19 September 1951		Holland
	12	Clifton Webb		19 September 1951	26 November 1954
	13	Tom Macdonald		26 November 1954	12 December 1957
							Holyoake
	14	Walter Nash		12 December 1957	12 December 1960		Nash
	15	Keith Holyoake		12 December 1960	8 December 1972		Holyoake
							Marshall
	16	Norman Kirk		8 December 1972	31 August 1974		Kirk
	17	Bill Rowling		6 September 1974	12 December 1975		Rowling
	18	Brian Talboys		12 December 1975	11 December 1981		Muldoon
	19	Warren Cooper		11 December 1981	26 July 1984
	20	David Lange		26 July 1984	24 August 1987		Lange
	21	Russell Marshall		24 August 1987	9 February 1990
							Palmer
	22	Mike Moore		9 February 1990	2 November 1990
							Moore
	23	Don McKinnon		2 November 1990	10 December 1999		Bolger
							Shipley
	24	Phil Goff		10 December 1999	19 October 2005		Clark
	25	Winston Peters		19 October 2005	29 August 2008
		Helen Clark Acting Minister		29 August 2008	19 November 2008
	26	Murray McCully		19 November 2008	2 May 2017		Key
							English
	27	Gerry Brownlee		2 May 2017	26 October 2017
	(25)	Winston Peters		26 October 2017	6 November 2020		Ardern
	28	Nanaia Mahuta		6 November 2020	11 November 2023
							Hipkins
	29	Grant Robertson		11 November 2023	27 November 2023
	(25)	Winston Peters		27 November 2023	present		Luxon

• New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

• Lists of government ministers of New Zealand
• Foreign relations of New Zealand
• Ministers of foreign affairs of New Zealand

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