Prime Minister Chris Hipkins couldn't name who his Customs Minister is after another round of ministerial reshuffles.
MP Kiri Allan resigned her portfolios on Monday after she was involved in a car crash on Evans Bay Parade in Wellington on Sunday night.
She was charged with careless use of a motor vehicle and refusing to accompany a police officer, and will appear in court at a later date. Allan was also issued an infringement notice for excess breath alcohol between 250 and 400mcg.
Allan is the fifth minister to leave their portfolios this year, leaving Hipkins with multiple ministerial reassignments.
The latest announcement sees Ginny Andersen become the new Minister of Justice, Kieran McAnulty take up Minister for Regional Development, and Grant Robertson take over the lead coordination role for Tairawhiti. Meanwhile David Parker will pass on Revenue to Barbara Edmonds "at his request", freeing him up to focus on transport.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon after revealing the new portfolios, Hipkins was questioned if he knew who the Workplace Relations Minister is, or who the Customs Minister is.
While he could name Carmel Sepuloni - also Hipkins' Deputy Prime Minister - as holding Workplace Relations, he fumbled to answer Customs.
"Ah... I believe... I'd have to check Customs Minister actually," he replied after closing his eyes in strenuous thought.
"It's not a portfolio that papers have come up from in the past few weeks."
Customs had been held by Meka Whaitiri until she shocked her party by jumping ship to Te Pāti Māori. It's now held by Jo Luxton.
Hipkins didn't think it showed he's had to reshuffle so many times he's lost track of who's doing what.
"No, it does indicate that there's a lot of portfolios," he said.
ACT leader David Seymour thought it showed the number of ministers the Government has lost recently.
"That's a lot of churn and churn is never a good sign in an organisation," he said.
And National leader Christopher Luxon thought there's a pattern of ministerial appointments and behaviour that hasn't been managed well.
"You know, it has gone on and on, whether it's Stuart Nash three or four times, Michael Wood, you know, 12 to 16 times, Kiri Allan with a series of issues," he said.
"But it's not sorted out. There's obviously a culture and a challenge in the leadership of that Cabinet."
When Luxon was asked who his Customs spokesperson is, he was quick to reply: "Simon O'Connor."
