Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promoted Rangitata MP James Meager in his Cabinet reshuffle over the weekend.
Meager is now a Minister outside of Cabinet after being given the new title of Minister for the South Island.
He also takes on the youth and hunting and fishing portfolios, and an associate transport role.
Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown said South Island councils have told the government they felt their voice wasn’t being heard.
Introducing a South Island Minister was a good move, while having the local MP promoted to Minister outside of Cabinet will provide a “more direct connection with Wellington”, Brown said.
“We have close relationships with other Ministers but having our local MP closer to Cabinet might prove another port of call to help champion our cause.”
Brown has been impressed by Meager in his first term.
“The Prime Minister must be seeing what we are from James and rewarded him.”
The first-term MP was attending the Black Clash cricket match in Christchurch on Saturday night when he got the call from Luxon.
“[I was] a little bit surprised but very excited to take on the new roles,” Meager said.
"I see it as a vote of confidence.”
Meager said he had initially discussed with Luxon and National's deputy leader Nicola Willis about the new South Island post.
Two major priorities were to ensure the South Island had a voice in government decisions and supporting Finance Minister Willis’ economic growth plan, he said.
“I’m always going to wear my colours on my sleeve as a parochial advocate for Mid and South Canterbury, but it is a South Island-wide focus.”
The South Island was critical to any economic growth plan, he believed.
Meager planned to meet with local government leaders from across the South Island to establish what their priorities were.
As Youth Minister, he was keen to focus on employment, mental health and “what children are leaving our education system with to operate in the real world”.
He had yet to discuss the associate transport role with new Transport Minister Chris Bishop around “what it is he wants me to focus on”.
He would also continue his work as chairman of the justice select committee, which is dealing with the Treaty Principles Bill.
The committee would listen to 80 hours of oral submissions over a month after the bill received over 300,000 submissions.
Luxon has repeatedly said it would not pass a second reading, but the committee had to follow the process, Meager said.
“The committee just has to deal with what’s in front of it and the House can decide whether it passes or not.”
- By Jonathan Leask
Local Democracy reporter
• LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
