Ayesha Verrall

Incoming Health Minister Ayesha Verrall says the future of the new Dunedin Hospital project will be major focus for her. Dr Verrall was yesterday named as ...

Mr Hipkins’ new line-up, which will be sworn in today, has five women and five men on the front bench. "I also know that the community is passionate about defending its health system. "I’m very proud of that work and I certainly hope the programme that we built up can continue and complement the additional work I take on in that role and there is continuity in an area I am very passionate about." Mr Tirikatene, the MP for Te Tai Tonga, who moved to Dunedin a year ago, will become minister for courts, and also minister of state for trade and export growth. The former lawyer who was an under-secretary for oceans and fisheries, and trade and export growth, outside former prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s Cabinet, said he was humbled and thrilled by his new role. "I look back on my student time at Otago just being so formative in terms of giving me a sense that getting involved in the political process was worth it and that if you were involved that you could make a difference." Two — Dr Verrall and Finance Minister Grant Robertson — are former presidents of the Otago University Students’ Association. "I will take the opportunity to be briefed and will then be in touch with the council and others who are raising concerns." She entered Parliament on Labour’s list in 2020 and was immediately elevated to Cabinet rank, where she has recently been associate health minister and minister for Covid-19 response. "I trained in Dunedin Hospital and I know the very important meaning it has for the Dunedin and wider community," she told the Otago Daily Times. It is a very important project from the Government’s point of view and a very big spend that we need to deliver on. Dr Verrall was yesterday named as the new minister of health by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, and she is well versed in health-care issues in Otago and Southland.