Brownlee's current portfolios will be divvied up: Mark Mitchell will take on Defence (and will be promoted to Cabinet), Nathan Guy will take on Civil Defence, and Nicky Wagner will take on the Christchurch rebuild.
Prime Minister Bill English finalised the Cabinet ministers he'll take into the September election today (Monday).
There were no surprises associate education minister Nikki Kaye was rewarded with the education portfolio to take over from Hekia Parata, who announced last year she was stepping down from politics.
