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Ardern’s departure pressures Labour

TALKING POLITICS

GORDON CAMPBELL

OPINION: With Jacinda Ardern’s resignation as its leader, the difficulty of Labour’s task in winning re-election has escalated sharply.

No-one else in the Labour caucus can match Ardern’s ability to explain and justify the policy choices her government has been making. More importantly, none of Ardern’s colleagues has her debating skill at carrying the attack back to National, and testing its ability to be a credible alternative government for all New Zealanders.

A vocal minority has welcomed her departure with glee. One can only hope the personal abuse directed at Ardern over the past five years was not a significant factor in her decision. Overall, the overwhelming feeling towards Ardern will be one of gratitude for what she has achieved for New Zealand locally, and on the world stage.

Most obviously, Ardern earned respect for the leadership she showed during the pandemic, after the mosque shootings, and in the wake of the eruption on Whakaari/White Island. In the face of the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, Ardern’s team struck a rational balance between health needs and economic needs. Without the major loss of life experienced elsewhere, New Zealand survived the difficult period until the Covid vaccines arrived, and until the levels of vaccination take-up could prevent the collapse of the public health system.

As Morgan Godfery pointed out in the Guardian, Ardern reacted decisively during the series of crises she faced: enacting the Covid lockdowns, embracing the mosque victims, imposing overnight bans on semi-automatic weapons etc. As a result, New Zealand became the envy of countries being led by the likes of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.

Inevitably, Ardern has had critics on both sides of the political divide. Her reluctance to pursue a meaningful capital gains tax or to enact a wealth tax drew criticism from the left. Much of the criticism she faced from the right was crudely related to her gender and physical appearance, as much as to policy differences. At a profound level, Parliament remains a difficult place for women to balance their public roles and family responsibilities.

By and large, though, New Zealand has weathered the global crisis caused by Covid and the Ukraine war in reasonable shape. During the early stages of the pandemic, our economy was kept afloat via wage subsidies, business subsidies and support schemes for the likes of the tourism industry. Housing construction boomed. Absurdly, business confidence now sits at its lowest level in 52 years. Go figure. New Zealand’s GDP grew by 3.7% during 2021, our levels of government debt are lower than in every other Western democracy, unemployment is low, and last year, farmers enjoyed the best global prices in more than a decade.

Yes New Zealand’s inflation rate is very high (as it is everywhere else) but here and in Australia, this is widely expected to decline over the coming year, and into 2024. Far from inheriting a mess, the next government will be taking over at a time when the economic cycle looks likely to be climbing back towards recovery.

In July, Jacinda Ardern will turn 43. Most of the country will be wishing her well on her return to private life.

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2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281642489304826

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