Ardern a star among world leaders but NZ voters take more convincing

times more likely than Pa¯ keha¯ to report their child is not in care due to cost or other access issues. Education Ministry data shows 10% fewer Ma¯ori and Pacific Island 3-year-olds attend ECE for more than 10 hours a week than Pa¯ keha¯ children.

And while there are often more spaces in low-income areas, they are less likely to be high quality. Several educators emphasised the point. ‘‘Participation at any cost doesn’t necessarily make things good for children,’’ Victoria University School of Education Associate Professor Sue Cherrington says. ‘‘High quality early education and care makes a positive difference to children. Bad quality, on the other hand, is bad for children,’’ says her colleague, Professor Carmen Dalli.

All express frustration that ECE, and the lives of women and children, is so undervalued.

‘‘In early childhood you’re working with really vulnerable children who are going through a critical time in their development, and it’s hard work,’’ Cherrington says.

‘‘We know if we give them a good start now, they’ll do better later in life.

‘‘I think the pandemic provided a window into that, and then people just picked themselves up and went back to work and forgot about it.’’

At an event held on the margins of the world’s parliament in New York, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she loves her job. A few hours later, as she answered questions from the press pack, a bystander yelled her love for Ardern.

Her charisma continues to make Ardern one of the most popular and recognised politicians globally, even as her popularity plummets at home.

Her global stardom shone brightly at the United Nations General Assembly this week, evident in the warm response from other leaders and Prince William’s personal request that she take his speaking slot at an environment summit run by his charity, after the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, meant he didn’t go.

Ardern says New Zealand’s strong reputation has been bolstered by its life-saving pandemic response, but shakes off the notion it’s tied to her celebrity status.

‘‘Our reputation being so strong in this environment is really beneficial to us. At the same time there are very real challenges, and also within the global environment right now, that we are well-placed for.’’

Those challenges take the form of multiple crises – climate, floods, drought, inflation and general upheaval from the pandemic. A global energy crisis is more acutely affecting the United Kingdom, Germany and China.

New Zealand, heading into summer and with a tourism sector tentatively finding its feet again, is not in such dire straits, she says.

However, some of her key points in her national statement to the General Assembly may have rung hollow for New Zealanders watching from home, Dr Nina Hall, an international relations expert, explains.

While Ardern spoke of ensuring pandemic preparedness, New Zealand did not initially support a waiver for Covid-19 vaccine patents and the World Trade Organisation, only doing so when it followed the US six months later.

New Zealand is also not doing enough on climate change. An independent climate action tracker has New Zealand as ‘highly insufficient’ behind even coal-loving Australia.

Ardern did show the momentum behind her work with the Christchurch Call, Hall says, an area where New Zealand has something specific to offer. With French President Emmanuel Macron, Ardern announced funding for new research into how algorithms affect people’s online experiences, the first project under the Christchurch Call.

‘‘It was an opportunity for Ardern to address issues of hate speech and extremist violence online and to work with social media companies, and while I don’t think it’s complete... there is momentum behind this work,’’ Hall says.

This year’s general assembly was the first time leaders have met in person since the start of the pandemic. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s escalation of his war against Ukraine after humiliating losses ‘‘pulled the carpet out from under everyone’’, Hall says.

While some, including US president Joe Biden, have called Moscow’s war on Ukraine ‘‘genocide’’, Ardern – while rallying against it – has only called it ‘‘illegal’’ and ‘‘immoral’’. She has also promised more work on reforming the veto initiative on the security council.