Newshub political editor Jenna Lynch has named Poto Williams as New Zealand's worst-performing minister of the year
Lynch called 2022 "the year of discontent" because everyone has been grumpy and for good reason. It's tough out there, she said.
While Kiwis were living paycheck-to-paycheck, Lynch said it felt like the Government was living week-to-week on policy as well - constantly playing catch-up with the next crisis and coming late to the party with solutions.
But there were some ministers who weathered the storm of discontent well, while others sunk in the storm.
Best performing minister - Michael Wood
Lynch said Wood got the gong for simply using his ears, being open to criticism and feedback - even if he is a bit slow actually making the changes necessary.
Wood stepped into the immigration portfolio in June after his predecessor Kris Faafoi called it quits. Faafoi was under pressure to put nurses on the immediate residency pathway and it took Wood six months to make the changes after consistent calls from healthcare workers.
"He really does listen and that is all we can ask of our politicians; if they get something wrong, to listen to the public, listen to the feedback and not be afraid to change a policy when they hear they've got it wrong," Lynch said of Wood.
Worst performing minister - Poto Williams
Lynch said Williams "completely lost control of the ram-raids issue" and had to be reshuffled out of there. Williams announced this morning she would be retiring from politics at the next election.
Lynch also gave special mention to the Prime Minister's communications.
"She kind of lost comms with the public this year. The line went a bit crackly. She was so good at communicating with us for two whole years but this year she kind of lost that ability to kind of communicate the Government's message and lost the ability to hear or listen to what the public was telling her."
Trophy for biggest loser - self-destructor Gaurav Sharma
"The biggest loser of the year, you cannot go past Dr Gaurav Sharma completely blowing up his political career," said Lynch.
After losing his seat in the Hamilton West byelection on Saturday, Sharma turned up at the National camp's victory party.
"He showed up there. He wanted to make a speech. It was awkward, he was told not to."
