Jacinda Ardern

2022 - 12 - 16

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Image courtesy of "The Sydney Morning Herald"

How New Zealand fell out of love with Jacinda Ardern's government (The Sydney Morning Herald)

A pang of dissatisfaction lingers around Jacinda Ardern's government and the outlook does little to inspire confidence as she fights for a third term.

Inflation and a better-than-expected economic ride through the pandemic have swollen the coffers. The problem for Robertson is that beating Australia – as much of a passion as it is for New Zealanders – isn’t as fun when you’re not exactly winning yourself. The biggest question, though, is how Ardern will campaign in 2023. In short, National has played the role of opposition to a tee. On the release of higher-than-expected GDP growth of 2.0 per cent this week, he pointed to New Zealand’s 7.9 per cent GDP growth since the start of the pandemic, ahead of Australia, the US, Canada, the eurozone, Japan and Britain. New Zealand voters are a patient bunch, giving the last three governments three terms each. The single biggest factor preventing Ardern from emulating her hero and former boss Helen Clark and claiming a third term will be the economy. The flow-on effects in a health system that is underfunded by Australian standards has been bleak. The five-point plan to ease the cost of living is repeated ad nauseam. For all of that, it will be remembered as the year that COVID-19 caught up with New Zealand – and Ardern – after a golden run. While outsiders painted New Zealand as a hermit kingdom, locals revelled in being the little country that could. Wellington: It is tough to overstate the challenge facing Jacinda Ardern as she fights for a third term.

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Image courtesy of "New Zealand Herald"

Groundswell NZ puts views to Jacinda Ardern, James Shaw and ... (New Zealand Herald)

“A healthy exchange of information” is how Groundswell New Zealand co-founder Laurie Paterson describes yesterday's meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda ...

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said there was a sharing of information and views, as was the case with the regular meetings she had with farming sector groups. Groundswell had repeatedly asked for a meeting with Ardern and been snubbed, but after recently writing to both her and Shaw, they received the timeslot. They also said the widespread conversion of farmland into trees had to stop and pointed out it was happening on good farming land, not just poor ground.

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Image courtesy of "politik.co.nz"

The irrational anger directed at Ardern | Politik (politik.co.nz)

30092021 PHOTO: ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF L-R: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield give the latest Covid numbers in the ...

A much more convincing case for the merger was put by the Koi Tu Institute for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland, who argued this was a way to build an organisation with the heft and reach to combat disinformation. They managed to extend that to 15. National was on 39.4 per cent. The latest Curia poll has Labour on just over 33 per cent. But instead of articulating that, the Prime Minister emphasised how the reform proposals would mean cleaner, healthier water. But while the restrictions undoubtedly saved lives, they also appear to have provoked a massive wave of almost irrational anger directly personally at the Prime Minister. At one stage, it was proposed that TVNZ and RNZ each get 10 minutes. However, he has done sufficient to erode Ardern’s popularity. “The bill needs to be considered in relation to the declining trust in democracy, civil institutions, and the media,” the Institute said in a submission on the merger legislation. That was true, but it was the reason to undertake reform, not the reason to undertake the specific reform the Government was proposing. We only stopped wearing masks three months ago. It was that constant assertion from the epidemiologists, Ministry of health officials and the prime Minister herself that the restrictions were necessary that had begun to grate by the end of last year.

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