Minister of Defence (New Zealand)

Initially, military affairs in New Zealand were controlled by the British-appointed Governor, without input from the New Zealand Parliament, which was only established in 1853. There was no Minister of Defence as such, as the Governor retained control over all armed forces in the colony.[3] However, senior military officers did serve as members of the Executive Council. Three such appointments were made: Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wynyard, Major General Thomas Simson Pratt, and Lieutenant General Duncan Alexander Cameron.

In 1863, under the premiership of Alfred Domett, a Minister for Colonial Defence was appointed. Reader Wood, a former militia officer, became the first Minister. This post continued to exist with only brief interruption until Edward Stafford's short-lived premiership of 1872, in which no defence minister was appointed. As a consequence of the New Zealand Wars, the defence portfolio was considered closely linked to the post of Minister of Native Affairs — on occasion, the latter post was formally titled "Minister of Native Affairs and Defence". It was not until the premiership of Robert Stout in 1884 that a separate Minister of Defence was formally appointed, and not until 1887 that the post was given to someone who was not simultaneously Minister of Native Affairs. Until 1896 the responsibility for the New Zealand Police rested with the Minister of Defence before being allocated to the Minister of Justice instead.[4]

During World War II, the post was supplemented by several others — a Minister of National Service (conscription), a Minister of Supply and Munitions, a Minister in Charge of War Expenditure, and a Minister of Armed Forces and War Co-ordination. All were part of the special War Cabinet, but only the first was a member of the regular domestic Cabinet.

Key

  Independent   Liberal   Reform   United   Labour   National   NZ First

No.		Name	Portrait	Term of Office		Prime Minister
	1	Reader Wood		22 July 1862	30 October 1863		Domett
	2	Harry Atkinson		24 November 1864	16 October 1865		Weld
	3	Theodore Haultain		31 October 1865	28 June 1869		Stafford
	4	Donald McLean		28 June 1869	10 September 1872		Fox
1872–1884: No separate appointments, although John Bryce twice held office as "Minister of Native Affairs and Defence"; broken by William Rolleston from 4 February to 19 October 1881.
	5	John Ballance		16 July 1884	8 October 1887		Stout
	6	Thomas Fergus		8 October 1884	17 October 1889		Atkinson
	7	William Russell		17 October 1889	24 January 1891
	8	Richard Seddon		24 January 1891	22 June 1896		Ballance
							Seddon
	9	Thomas Thompson		22 June 1896	23 January 1900
	(8)	Richard Seddon		23 January 1900	10 June 1906
	10	Albert Pitt		21 June 1906	18 November 1906		Hall-Jones
							Ward
	11	Joseph Ward		23 November 1906	28 March 1912
	12	Arthur Myers		28 March 1912	10 July 1912		Mackenzie
	13	James Allen		10 July 1912	28 April 1920		Massey
	14	Heaton Rhodes		21 July 1920	18 January 1926
							Bell
							Coates
	15	Frank Rolleston		18 January 1926	26 November 1928
	16	William Downie Stewart Jr		28 November 1928	10 December 1928
	17	Thomas Wilford		10 December 1928	10 December 1929		Ward
	18	John Cobbe		10 December 1929	6 December 1935
							Forbes
	19	Fred Jones		6 December 1935	13 December 1949		Savage
							Fraser
	20	Tom Macdonald		13 December 1949	26 September 1957		Holland
	21	Dean Eyre		26 September 1957	12 December 1957		Holyoake
	22	Phil Connolly		12 December 1957	12 December 1960		Nash
	(21)	Dean Eyre		12 December 1960	12 December 1966		Holyoake
	23	David Thomson		12 December 1966	9 February 1972
	24	Allan McCready		9 February 1972	8 December 1972		Marshall
	25	Arthur Faulkner		8 December 1972	10 September 1974		Kirk
	26	Bill Fraser		10 September 1974	12 December 1975		Rowling
	(24)	Allan McCready		12 December 1975	13 December 1978		Muldoon
	27	Frank Gill		13 December 1978	21 August 1980
	(23)	David Thomson		28 August 1980	26 July 1984
	28	Frank O'Flynn		26 July 1984	24 July 1987		Lange
	29	Bob Tizard		24 July 1987	9 February 1990
							Palmer
	30	Peter Tapsell		9 February 1990	2 November 1990
							Moore
	31	Warren Cooper		2 November 1990	1 March 1996		Bolger
	32	Paul East		1 March 1996	5 December 1997
	33	Max Bradford		5 December 1997	10 December 1999		Shipley
	34	Mark Burton		10 December 1999	12 October 2005		Clark
	35	Phil Goff		12 October 2005	19 November 2008
	36	Wayne Mapp		19 November 2008	14 December 2011		Key
	37	Jonathan Coleman		14 December 2011	6 October 2014
	38	Gerry Brownlee		6 October 2014	2 May 2017
							English
	39	Mark Mitchell		2 May 2017	26 October 2017
	40	Ron Mark		26 October 2017	6 November 2020		Ardern
	41	Peeni Henare		6 November 2020	present

• Ministry of Defence (New Zealand)
• Defence Diplomacy

• New Zealand Ministry of Defence