Grant Robertson


Grant Murray Robertson is a retired New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party who served as the Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2023, as Minister of Foreign Affairs in November 2023, and as the 19th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2020 to 2023. He was the member of Parliament for from to.
Robertson maintained and competed for several leadership positions during the party's stint in opposition following the end of the Fifth Labour Government. He was elected Labour's deputy leader in 2011 under leader David Shearer, and contested the leadership of the party in both 2013 and 2014. Subsequently, Robertson was named the party's finance spokesperson and was ranked third on Labour's party list. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appointed him to the finance portfolio in the Sixth Labour Government. As finance minister, Robertson was prominent in the government's economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.
Following the 2020 general election he was appointed the 19th Deputy Prime Minister by Prime Minister Ardern. Robertson assumed the role on 6 November. Following the 2023 general election, Robertson resigned on 22 March 2024 to assume the position of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago.

Early life

Robertson was born in Palmerston North, the youngest of three boys. His Presbyterian family lived in Hastings before settling in South Dunedin. His mother, Yvonne Wilkie, initially stayed at home before later becoming a teacher. His father, Douglas Robertson, was an accountant and Presbyterian lay-preacher, who was imprisoned in 1991 for stealing around $120,000 from the law firm he worked for. His grandfather Bob Wilkie ran unsuccessfully for Labour in the Wairarapa electorate in and. Robertson had a paper round as a boy and at 16 he got his first job at a New World supermarket in Dunedin in the fruit and vegetable department preparing fruit and vegetables for display and sale.
Robertson attended King's High School in Dunedin, where he was head boy. He then studied political studies at the University of Otago, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with honours in 1995. His honours dissertation studied the restructuring of the New Zealand University Students' Association in the 1980s. Robertson served as President of the Otago University Students' Association in 1993 and as co-president of the New Zealand University Students' Association in 1996.
Robertson was interested in politics from a young age. In 2021, North & South described him, at age 10, as having "memorised every major candidate and their electorate in the 1981 general election." Robertson viewed former prime minister David Lange—"an overweight guy with glasses"—as an early political inspiration.

Professional life

Robertson joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1997 after leaving university. His overseas postings included the United Nations in New York. Robertson also managed the NZ Overseas Aid Programme to Samoa – a $7.7 million fund with projects in diverse areas such as basic education, healthcare, public sector capacity building, small business development and the empowerment of women. He left MFAT in 2001.
Robertson returned to New Zealand during the first term of the Fifth Labour Government to work as a ministerial advisor to minister for the environment Marian Hobbs and, later, prime minister Helen Clark. His role in Clark's office included liaising with the smaller parties supporting the government. He also had a role in designing Labour's interest-free student loans policy, which was credited with winning the election for Labour. Robertson's influence reportedly resulted in him having the nickname "H3", with "H1" and "H2" being Clark and her chief of staff Heather Simpson respectively.
After the 2005 election, Robertson left the Prime Minister's office to work as a senior research marketing manager for the University of Otago based at the Wellington School of Medicine.

Political career

2008 general election

In late 2006, the sitting Labour MP for Wellington Central Marian Hobbs announced that she would be retiring at the 2008 New Zealand general election. Robertson was considered to be a front runner and was subsequently selected unopposed. Robertson ran a well-staffed campaign, based on local issues like the closure of the Crossways Community Centre and threats to the Public Service. He was also involved in the formation of a Wellington inner-city residents' association.
The Labour Party list for the 2008 general election ranked Robertson at number 46. In the Wellington Central electorate, Robertson defeated National Party candidate Stephen Franks by 1,904 votes.

First term, 2008–2011

Helen Clark's government was defeated at the 2008 election. Robertson was appointed as the opposition's spokesperson for state services, and associate spokesperson for arts, culture and heritage and foreign affairs by new Labour leader Phil Goff.
In May 2010 Robertson's Ethical Investment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot. According to Robertson, the Bill "sought to have clear and consistent criteria for ethical investment in the legislation that govern our major investment funds such as the Super Fund and ACC." Although the Bill gained support from MPs in the Green and Māori parties, the Bill was defeated at its first reading.
On 15 June 2010, Goff promoted Robertson to be spokesperson for tertiary education and the 20th-ranked Labour MP, the highest of the 2008 intake of Labour MPs to be promoted at that point.
In the election year reshuffle, on 2 February 2011, Robertson was further promoted to the front bench to take the health portfolio. Commenting on the promotion, Phil Goff said that Robertson has "made a very strong impact in a very short time" and that he "has a promising future ahead of him."

Second term, 2011–2014

During the 2011 New Zealand general election, Robertson retained Wellington Central by a margin of 6,376 votes, defeating National's candidate Paul Foster-Bell. Following the 2011 election, which Labour lost, and Annette King's resignation as Labour deputy leader, Robertson was elected by the Labour caucus as the new deputy leader under David Shearer. In Shearer's shadow Cabinet, Robertson also served as spokesperson for employment, skills and training, and arts, culture and heritage.
Following Shearer's resignation from the leadership in 2013, Robertson contested the party-wide leadership election. Although Robertson achieved the plurality support from his colleagues in caucus, David Cunliffe garnered more support from party members and affiliates to win the overall vote. Under Cunliffe's leadership, Robertson was the third-ranked Labour MP and held various portfolios including spokesperson for economic development and shadow Leader of the House.
Throughout 2014, Robertson was critical of National Party minister Judith Collins, after she was accused of having a conflict of interest in regards to her visiting the dairy products company Oravida in China. He repeatedly called for her to resign during the Oravida saga, and when Collins later released information to the media about 1News journalist Katie Bradford, he reiterated his call for her to resign, claiming she had "lost all perspective".

Third term, 2014–2017

During the 2014 New Zealand general election, Robertson retained Wellington Central by a margin of 8,267 votes, defeating National's candidate Paul Foster-Bell.
Overall, the Labour Party performed poorly and Cunliffe immediately came under pressure to resign. He was seen by some in the party as taking insufficient blame for the defeat. Media reports suggest that some of the Labour caucus were trying to get Cunliffe to resign so Robertson and Jacinda Ardern could replace the current leadership unopposed. On 26 September, the voting record in the previous leadership race of unions affiliated to Labour was released, showing Cunliffe had won very strong union support in the previous race, and highlighting the challenge for Robertson's bid.
On 28 September, after Cunliffe had signalled his intention to resign, Robertson put his name forward to run for the Labour Party leadership. Robertson pointed to Labour's poor performance in the election as leading him to run: "I couldn't stand by and see the party poll at 24 per cent and not do something now that David's triggered the contest. That's why I've put my name forward." He also argued that the Labour Party needed unity, and he would be a unifying figure, with the support of most of the Labour caucus. Because there were four candidates for the leadership, the Labour Party held a leadership election.
Robertson lost the leadership election to Andrew Little by a small margin, Little receiving 50.52 per cent of the vote to Robertson's 49.48 per cent after the votes from the other unsuccessful candidates had been reallocated. However Robertson once again won the support of most of the caucus, as well as a majority of the membership. After the results were announced, Robertson said he would not seek the Labour Party leadership again in the future.
In Andrew Little's shadow cabinet reshuffle of November 2014, Robertson received the finance portfolio, and was ranked number 3 on the Labour list. Robertson chaired the Labour Party's "Future of Work Commission," a two-year-long policy investigation. The final report was released in 2016.
Robertson said his aims for the portfolio were to cut down on the number of policies, and "humanise" the policy.

Fourth term, 2017–2020

During the 2017 New Zealand general election, Robertson retained Wellington Central by a margin of 9,963, defeating National's candidate Nicola Willis.
Following Labour's formation of a coalition government with New Zealand First and the Greens, Robertson was elected as a Cabinet minister by the Labour Party caucus. He was given the key role of finance minister by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, along with the portfolios of Minister for Sport and Recreation and associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.
On 27 June 2019, Robertson was appointed as Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission, succeeding Megan Woods.
As finance minister, Robertson was a close confidant of Ardern. During the New Zealand government's COVID-19 response, Robertson would sometimes deputise for Ardern at her daily press conferences. Their close working relationship led some commentators to describe him as her "de facto political deputy," over Labour Party deputy leader Kelvin Davis.