So Phil Twyford didn’t quite make the cut for the new Cabine. The PM, thank goodness, finally saw the light on him. 

Maybe she saw the light all along but just didn’t want to say anything. I’m not sure why he wasn’t demoted sooner, but you couldn’t have that much failure in the lap of one minister and keep him on for a second term.

I said yesterday that I hoped she'd demote him as he just didn’t deserve the portfolios he had. He’s not even inside Cabinet, and that’s what should happen when you don’t perform.

And speaking of performance, Grant Robertson gets Deputy Prime Minister, rightfully so, I don’t think anyone could argue with that. He’s a heavyweight in her team deserving of big titles. He’ll keep Finance and Infrastructure. I’ll be interested to see what he does with the shovel ready fund... let’s see some shovel ready projects actually get shovel ready, even better, let’s actually move some shovels.

Chris Hipkins gets a new portfolio – Covid 19 response, and that’s a biggie because it includes border management, managed isolation facilities, testing etc... and yet he’s also still going to do Education, as well as be Leader of the House. That’s a lot for one person – but that’s what happens when you’re talent pool is shallow.

Andrew Little gets Health, and inexplicably David Clark is back in the fold into Cabinet as Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Clearly moving house during lockdown, going for bike rides and family trips to the beach is no biggie, all is forgiven.

Stuart Nash gets Economic and Regional Development, Tourism, and Forestry, and he will keep Small Businesses. So he’ll be a busy man too.

The biggest surprise is Nanaia Mahuta as Foreign Affairs Minister. She is New Zealand's first female Foreign Affairs Minister,  but I hope that’s not exclusively why she got the role. The PM said it was a "natural decision" given her previous Associate Trade role. I’m not sure how you jump from Associate Trade to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It seems a pretty massive leap to me, and right over the top of David Parker, but there you go.

So seven new ministers into Cabinet in total. They’ll be sworn in Friday; I'm not sure why that takes so long, but hopefully then they can get on with the business of running the country.

Ardern’s promised if Minister’s don’t deliver they’ll be shown the door. But history tells us she’s very forgiving. David Clark’s back in Cabinet and Twyford took a whole term to finally be demoted. So I’m not sure what her bar is in terms of ‘don’t deliver’.

But delivery should be the focus this term, not much was delivered last term, so the rubber needs to really now hit the road. We can however be grateful for the position of the Greens this time round, and the merciful blessing that Julie Anne Genter is in charge of nothing.