[Slick]

I've found that the Colonization Minister is not too bad in the latter portion of the middle game. Once your borders get kind of established and you aren't too choosy about colonizing those remaining inner, small, unbreathables he does a fair job. You can effectively box him in by smartly using the "systems to avoid" option.

He will not change a ship's orders if the target planet gets colonized before the colonizer gets there, though. And he is inept at using the right breathing population to colonize worlds. He assumes that your native breathables are the best, even if he accidentally loads other-breathing people into the colonizer which will cause a "green star" planet to be domed. He will also load as many people onto a colonizer as it will hold (if the colonizer is empty to start with) when he sets off, so it is in your best interest to load 1M colonists onto a colonizer before turning on this minister. Send them on their way and hope for the best.