  the minister of foreign affairs is a major ministerial portfolio in the government of new zealand. the current minister of foreign affairs is murray mccully, who was national party spokesperson of foreign affairs and shadow minister of foreign affairs. there are also associate minister roles. currently, these roles are held by tim groser. ==responsibilities and powers== the minister of foreign affairs is responsible for overseeing new zealand's relations with foreign countries. the minister is in charge of the ministry of foreign affairs and trade, including new zealand's diplomatic staff. the office is often considered to be one of the more distinguished ministerial posts, and has at times been counted as the most senior role below that of the prime minister. in terms of actual political power, however, the minister of foreign affairs is not as prominent as in countries such as australia, canada, the united kingdom and the united states, with the minister of finance being considerably more influential. historically, the minister of foreign affairs has been a member of cabinet, with the exception of the rt hon. winston peters. this situation came about as the result of coalition negotiations in which it was agreed that the new zealand first party would take a senior ministerial portfolio but would not join cabinet. ==history== the first new zealand foreign minister was james allen, appointed to the post of "minister of external affairs" by william massey in 1919. before this time, there was no dedicated ministerial portfolio for foreign relations. the title was changed to "minister of foreign affairs" in 1970. the title became "minister of foreign affairs and trade" following the abandonment of the short-lived "minister of external relations and trade" title, created in september 1988 when the ministry of foreign affairs absorbed the trade functions of the old department of trade and industry. in 2005 responsibility for trade was split into a separate portfolio, with the title reverting to "minister of foreign affairs". historically it has been c
Foreign_relations_of_New_Zealand Lists_of_government_ministers_of_New_Zealand New_Zealand_foreign_ministers