The doctor who patiently waited for his dream role, then lasted barely a year in it.

If you’ve ever lived in Whangārei, chances are you’ve seen Shane Reti out and about in the city. Whether it was at Jimmy Jack’s on a Friday night, or Whangārei Growers Market on Saturday morning, Reti was always surrounded by a group of people eager to chat with their local MP. Clearly, Reti is well-liked by his constituents, having won his electorate seat three times out of four (he narrowly lost Whangārei in the Labour landslide of 2020).

Another thing that is clear about Reti is that his dream job was always minister of health. As a former GP, Reti had long been vocal about what needed to be done better in the health sector. But after patiently waiting in the wings for more than a decade, Reti had his dream job taken off him after a little over a year in the role.

Here’s a timeline of the political rise, and subsequent fall, of the man known affectionately as Dr Reti.

2013: Reti returns to Aotearoa from Boston, where he had been living for six years, working at Harvard Medical School. He had previously spent 17 years as a GP in Whangārei and was a member of the Northland District Health Board for seven years.

January 2014: Phil Heatley announces he is resigning from parliament after serving as the MP for Whangārei for 15 years. Reti declares his interest in contesting the relatively safe National seat.

March 2014: Reti is nominated as the National Party candidate for Whangārei, beating both current National list MP Paul Foster-Bell and local businessman Adam Isa.

September 2014: Reti wins the Whangārei electorate with a total of 20,111 votes, almost triple the amount received by the Labour candidate. He becomes the first Māori to hold the seat and a member of the fifth National government of New Zealand.

September 2017: After a relatively uneventful first term, Reti is re-elected in Whangārei, but the National government is replaced by the sixth Labour government after NZ First plays kingmaker. Under leader Bill English, Reti remains a low-ranking MP at 44 on the National Party list, but is named National’s associate spokesperson for health, and becomes deputy chairperson of the health select committee.

July 2018: National introduces a bill on medicinal cannabis in the name of Reti, who spearheaded its development. At the time, Reti said the bill would make cannabis medication products more widely available while also adding some much-needed regulatory detail to the then Labour government’s bill. The bill fails its second reading in 2021 but there was a large amount of overlap with the government’s medicinal cannabis legislation.

January 2019: In addition to his associate health spokesperson role, Reti picks up the shadow portfolio for tertiary education, skills and employment.

March, 2020: Reti is made a member of the Epidemic Response Committee, a select committee that considered the government’s response to Covid-19.

July 2020: Under leader Todd Muller, Reti is promoted to number 13 on the party list and given the associate drug reform portfolio. When Judith Collins takes over as leader of the opposition, she transfers the health spokesperson role from Michael Woodhouse to Reti, saying: “We have in Dr Shane Reti someone who is not only a medical doctor, but a specialist and someone who has even worked at Harvard.”

October, 2020: Preliminary results from the general election have Reti being re-elected to the Whangārei seat but the official count sees Labour newcomer Emily Henderson win the seat by 431 votes. Reti safely returns to parliament via his high list ranking (number four).

November, 2020: Following the election defeat, Gerry Brownlee steps down as deputy leader of the National Party. The party votes for Collins to retain her position as leader, while Reti is elected unopposed to replace Brownlee at number two. “Hopefully, I am complementary to what Gerry brought to the table. Caucus has seen me as a safe pair of hands and hardworking pair of hands – all attributes that Gerry has as well,” Reti says to RNZ.

November, 2021: Reti has a brief spell as interim leader of the National Party following the ousting of Judith Collins. In a formal leadership election a week later, Christopher Luxon becomes leader, with Nicola Willis replacing Reti as deputy.

January-March, 2022 : Reti gains attention after successfully requesting Elon Musk send Starlink satellite technology to Tonga following the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai tsunami. Luxon reshuffles the party list, with Reti moving from fifth to fourth. 

October 14, 2023: Reti wins back his seat in Whangārei at the general election, defeating Labour candidate Emily Warren-Clarke by 11,424 votes.

November 24, 2023: After a decade in politics, Reti is announced as health minister and Pacific peoples minister in the sixth National government, seemingly landing his dream role.

November 28, 2023: It doesn’t take long for Reti to find himself the subject of criticism, with many, including his fellow medical practitioners, condemning his defence of the government’s plans to amend smokefree legislation. Reti is also criticised by many Māori for his defence of plans to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora and the government’s plans to review the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

December 2023: It is unveiled that Reti has set the wheels in motion for the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora. Three days later, it is reported that Reti has been charged with reviewing the University of Auckland’s Māori and Pacific Admission Programme, which he benefited from himself while studying at the University of Auckland. The next day, Reti appoints Ken Whelan as a Crown observer to Te Whatu Ora, citing ongoing difficulties with the restructure and health reforms.

May-June 24, 2024: Reti announces a $604m boost for Pharmac funding, which would include 54 new medicines and 26 cancer treatments. The announcement is hindered, however, by earlier unkept election promises made by National around funding for 13 cancer drugs. Those 13 drugs were not funded in the budget as promised but are included in the Pharmac boost announcement.

July 22, 2024: With mounting public pressure over a failing health system, Reti appoints Lester Levy as health commissioner,  sacking the entire Health NZ board. 

September 10, 2024: Hawke’s Bay health officials are instructed by Reti to scrap a policy that would allow free additional services for Māori and Pasifika youth.

September 25, 2024: Alongside infrastructure minister Chris Bishop, Reti announces the planned redevelopment of Dunedin Hospital either needs to be reduced, or done in stages. A report commissioned by the government found the current plans could not be delivered within the current $1.88bn budget. The announcement leads to massive public backlash and protests, with many claiming the government is prioritising roads and landlords instead of health. 

October 8, 2024: Reti announces the government has allocated an extra $6m to improve wait times and patient care and services at Palmerston North Hospital.

January 19, 2025: Luxon shuffles his cabinet, with the biggest demotion being that Reti is no longer the minister of health, giving up the position to Simeon Brown. Instead, Reti is appointed as minister of science, innovation and technology and given the new universities portfolio. He is demoted from fourth to ninth place in the cabinet ranking. “I am confident the organisation is heading in a much better direction than it was when we entered office but I’ve also heard Kiwis’ concerns – they expect to see even more progress,” Luxon explains. “What we need is the skills that Simeon Brown brings, which is delivery and execution, and I want him to now bring that into our healthcare system.”