Jacinda Ardern lets the side down

Your posts are very interesting Jumblygran. Thanks for sharing.

As I said earlier, I believe it is Jacinda’s authoritarian style and the policies which the Labour government have persued that has made her unpopular.
I am only partly talking about lockdowns although some people are angry about them and some lost their jobs through mandates.
I am talking about things like co-governance with Māori, this includes a seperate Māori health system, sharing the governing of bodies ie water, local government 50/50 with Māori and the interpretation of our treaty of Waitangi which was signed with Māori in 1840, afterwards the white governors behaved badly and much land was unfairly confiscated. Recently we have had a 25 year long treaty process of compensation which the population has been largely behind. The big concern is that there has been no discussion and anyone who wants to discuss the policies rationally is vilified and called racist by the media.
Most of us are feeling left behind by this direction especially since the Māori leaders are not going to be democratically elected, these are huge constitutional issues and no one is allowed to talk about it.

NZ Herald is traditionally fairly conservative they have taken money from the government and therefore not squeaky clean.
Our economy has slowed and business confidence is down, I am not so sure about the long term outlook.
I do know that they are saying inflation is entrenched.

Normandygirl

Mollygo

Thank you Jumblygran. It’s interesting to read about NZ from a different point of view.
In the UK, much was made of JA’s ability to shut down the country, where we didn’t do it so strictly. Businesses closed here as well and our Government held responsible for that.
I hope she enjoys time with her daughter now.

A failed policy as it turns out. NZ and many other countries are now suffering the dire consequences of disastrous lockdown policies and mandates. Of course Ardern should accept the responsibility for that, no matter how "well intentioned" she was portrayed to be, to the rest of the world.

Who says it's failed, Normandygirl?

I've just done a speculative search and this came up.

While growth is set to slow over 2023, Keall said the current strength in the economy suggests activity is proving exceedingly resilient. (14 Dec 2022)

All countries are set to slow in 2023. I do wonder how New Zealand will compare with, say, the UK. Resilient is not a word I would apply to our economy.

I think the "Keall" referred to is the technology editor and a senior business writer for the NZ Herald and I have know knowledge of that papers political leaning.

effalump

Wow! So many people actually sound as though you think she's a good person. She was part of the WEF's Young Leaders for years. So was Trudeau in Canada (he'll be the next to resign) and many others is Cabinets arount the world. Klaus Schwab boasted about "have infiltrated most cabinets". Instead of watching Reality shows on tv, please do some serious research.

Having done a little research I now know what the WEF is, who Klaus Schwab is and how he funded WEF. He seems like one of the good guys to me not the malign person that you seem to suggest. So perhaps it would be helpful to say what you post actually means

effalump

Wow! So many people actually sound as though you think she's a good person. She was part of the WEF's Young Leaders for years. So was Trudeau in Canada (he'll be the next to resign) and many others is Cabinets arount the world. Klaus Schwab boasted about "have infiltrated most cabinets". Instead of watching Reality shows on tv, please do some serious research.

On TRIP’s they said that Ardern , Trudeau and Macron are subject to far more online abuse than any other leaders. .

Normandygirl, as you say,
NZ and many other countries are now suffering the dire consequences of disastrous lockdown policies and mandates.
I don’t understand the ‘should accept the responsibility’.
Nobody really knew what would work. Different countries’ media constantly posted how much better any other country was managing it.
We wanted BJ to accept the responsibility and resign. JA has done just that.

Mollygo

Thank you Jumblygran. It’s interesting to read about NZ from a different point of view.
In the UK, much was made of JA’s ability to shut down the country, where we didn’t do it so strictly. Businesses closed here as well and our Government held responsible for that.
I hope she enjoys time with her daughter now.

A failed policy as it turns out. NZ and many other countries are now suffering the dire consequences of disastrous lockdown policies and mandates. Of course Ardern should accept the responsibility for that, no matter how "well intentioned" she was portrayed to be, to the rest of the world.

Thank you Jumblygran. It’s interesting to read about NZ from a different point of view.
In the UK, much was made of JA’s ability to shut down the country, where we didn’t do it so strictly. Businesses closed here as well and our Government held responsible for that.
I hope she enjoys time with her daughter now.

I really don’t understand effalump. Surely you don’t think Jacinda is a bad person? In my opinion she’s has done nothing to deserve that description. I realise that she’s become less popular at home, for all sorts of reasons but mainly because of inflation and disagreement about Covid policy, but that doesn’t in any way make her a bad person.

effalump

Wow! So many people actually sound as though you think she's a good person. She was part of the WEF's Young Leaders for years. So was Trudeau in Canada (he'll be the next to resign) and many others is Cabinets arount the world. Klaus Schwab boasted about "have infiltrated most cabinets". Instead of watching Reality shows on tv, please do some serious research.

So difficult to guess your political bias from that "effalump" (Not!)

I’m not sure I understand what you mean effalump. Could you explain a little more please?

Wow! So many people actually sound as though you think she's a good person. She was part of the WEF's Young Leaders for years. So was Trudeau in Canada (he'll be the next to resign) and many others is Cabinets arount the world. Klaus Schwab boasted about "have infiltrated most cabinets". Instead of watching Reality shows on tv, please do some serious research.

Jumblygran Thank you for your post clarifying the situation in NZ with your lived experience. I found it very interesting.

The OP already said it was the wrong choice of words and apologised.

vile is rather a strong word to use too.

What a vile thing for the OP to say! She has given it her all and worked through a mass murder, the pandemic and various other things un anticipated when she took the job. And, yes, she had a baby too. Far from "letting the side down" she has shown the world an excellent model of how to be a compassionate and empathetic leader, which is much more exhausting than dialling in a performance and just enjoying the perks. Let the poor woman have a break.

As a New Zealander I can see that some of Labour's policies have made the international inflationary pressure worse, they have hugely increased government spending over and above the cost of the pandemic. I don't know anyone who is personally blaming Jacinda for our financial situation.
I would agree New Zealand is insular and parochial we are quite isolated.
Unfortunately our country has changed much in the last few years it has become a divided country with many people feeling like we are loosing our democracy. Which is something I think perhaps other countries are seeing also.
We have a media which was poor before the pandemic and now it is atrocious.
Our media has been bought by the government.
The Public Interest Journalism Fund, has been taken up by all our media and is received after agreeing to certain proviso's which are mostly to do with race based reporting.
We have a situation where if any one questions the agenda of the government publicly they are vilified by the press.
As regards to Jacinda she is thought of as authoritarian by those who don't like her. There are many who lost their jobs over vaccination mandates and the shutting down of our economy over COVID.
As I said in my previous post the Labour government campaigned on policies which they have been spectacular in their inability to deliver, admittedly there has been a pandemic to deal with. They have introduced policy and agenda which they didn't campaign on probably because they knew it would be unpopular.
But it is a lovely summer day here in NZ, I am sitting working at home, birds outside singing and grandchildren coming up for a swim later on. We have much to be thankful for.

Jacinda is going to have a rest and hopefully a nice holiday before Neve starts school which must be a good thing.

Apparently people in NZ are blaming Jacinda for the economic crisis without remembering that this is going on all over the world. Maybe, as touched on by maddyonne in her last past, because New Zealand is so insular and remote cut off from the rest of the world, its people don't always see the bigger picture.
Here in the UK we blame Boris, Truss, Rishi or whoever for the economic crisis and the strikes, but we do not lose sight of the fact that across the channel Macron is dealing with exactly the same stuff, or that in Holland, say, inflation is going barmy.

MrsFlowers

@galaxy with all respect, if you are a long term visitor to NZ, with the lifestyle of living between 2 or more countries, then you are definitely speaking from a position of privilege compared to your average NZer.

With respect MrsFlowers you know nothing of my circumstances nor my life style. I’m sorry if you were offended by my comments about JA but just like every other member of Gransnet, I have the right to join in discussion and state my opinion. That our opinions appear to differ is just life, people have different opinions.
I will just add, my lifestyle does not include living between two different countries, I am visiting my daughter and her family and this is only my second visit to New Zealand, although possibly not my last. My home is firmly in the UK as many regular posters on Gransnet know. My husband and I do like to travel which is one reason that we would never entertain the idea of living in New Zealand, beautiful though it is, because travel is more difficult and long winded, not to mention expensive, and we can much more easily travel to our much loved and appreciated, and equally beautiful, European countries from Britain. Indeed it is also comparatively easier to travel to America and Canada and we have taken various opportunities to explore that continent too.

It’s pretty obvious that Jacinda has done the right thing for her. She’s gone with her head held high and dignity intact. She is aware that it is likely that her party will lose the next election, and it doesn’t matter if it’s the farming community who are fed up of her, because every single vote is valid, and because she sees the likely result, she is going. I wish more politicians would see when their days are numbered and would act accordingly. They all say they want to spend more time with their family, whoever and wherever they are, when resigning. It’s just what they do.

Jacinda, in common with all world leaders has been through a difficult time with the pandemic. It was a novel virus and no one knew which way to jump. Personally I think citizens should never be locked out of their home country. Imagine the outcry on Gransnet if BJ had locked UK citizens out of the UK. I saw some comments about that very scenario near the beginning of the pandemic and Gransnetters were absolutely not in favour of that policy. To applaud one politician for that very act and disparage another for the very possibility seems rather too faced strange to me.

Jacinda has been the victim of vile comments on social media apparently. It is a very sad fact of life now that most, if not all politicians are abused in this way, and also a lot of other celebrities are too. It is a terrible indictment of society today that people in the public eye are vilified in this way. Indeed two of our British politicians have been murdered by vile people. I hope Jacinda will receive full protection for life, as all British Prime Ministers do. I think I’m right in saying that all ex presidents of America do too.

JaneJudge

I have wotsits

Thank you! 🤗

I remember Jacinda Ardern saying that under no circumstances would she go with the idea of herd immunity until there was a vaccine. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson seemed to be fairly enthusiastic about letting "old" people die to build herd immunity.

I agree. This is a very mean title. Remember her handling of the Christchurch Mosque shootings and her ability to empathise with the mourners? Remember her swift introduction of stricter gun laws, after this event? Remember her policy decisions which contained the Covid outbreak in NZ? Remember her progressive policies on gay rights?
I think she's achieved more in a few years than other politicians have achieved in a lifetime. What's more, there is already someone who will take her place without the antics that have taken place here in the UK.

I think she looks ill and strained. Perhaps there is more to it. I believe her popularity has taken a bit of a dive recently.

If it is truly because she feels she has "nothing left in the tank" why is that letting the side down? My feeling is someone like Boris Johnson lets the side down by treating his position as prime minister with very little respect.

Perhaps Ahern has, as she has implied, worn herself into the ground. That is obviously unwise, but it is more honourable than treating your job like one massive stepping stone to greater influence and riches.

What a sad slant the OP has put on this. JA spoke from the heart and indeed looked completely drained.

She’s an inspiration and no way has let any ‘side’ down

In NZ before the pandemic everyone who spoke of her was positive about her. I certainly applauded her banning of any Chinese visitors, while we were there. It was positive to ban them immediately. not like here were it is something to be implemented next week or next month.