Go well Jacinda

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, April 5th, 2023 - 91 comments
Categories: climate change, jacinda ardern, labour, political parties, politicans, poverty - Tags:

Today is Jacinda’s official last day on the job as a member of Parliament.

She will deliver her valedictory speech this afternoon at 5:30 pm.

She is still young, she is only aged 42 and who knows what else she will achieve.  Already she has achieved a great deal and performed that rare feat of leaving the country in much better shape than it was in when she took over.

Already the new jobs are rolling in.

Prince William has appointed her as a trustee of the Earthshot Prize, a trust dedicated to funding projects designed to save the planet.  She has also been appointed as special envoy for the Christchurch Call.

She has always had her detractors.  Even today my snark detector is off the chart as the right show their lack of class and engage in the sorts of personal denigration they are renowned for.

There are those who complain about the lack of delivery.  They lack an appreciation of the enormity of the job or how complex the issue is.  For instance with climate change the structures and goals are now in place.  And with the most recent return indicating a 3.5% reduction in green house gas emissions for the last measured quarter the trends are in the right way as well.

There are strong arguments that the pace needs to be quickened but reflecting on the past six years the structures are now in place for the Government to kick on with the issue.

And dealing with this issue, and child poverty, while managing through a one in one hundred year global pandemic took great skill and stamina.

Most importantly was the style that she brought to the job.  She successfully campaigned on being kind and avoiding the level of personal abuse and attacks that are far too common.

And as pointed out by Bronwyn Hayward her style of leadership was the perfect counter and the perfect antidote to current attacks on democracy.  From Radio New Zealand:

Political scientist Bronwyn Hayward of the University of Canterbury said Ardern’s Christchurch Call to eliminate extremist content will have a long-lasting impact on not just New Zealand, but the world.

“There’s been a lot made about the fact that she resigned under pressure from the trolls, which is completely missing the point that what she’s saying is that in this era where we’ve got particularly Russian, but also other countries’ bots that are attacking liberal leaders,” Hayward told Morning Report, saying Ardern was the first global leader to “really understand” how what happens online can spill over into the real world.

“She understands that democracies are now under attack, and the front line is your social media, where we’ve got a propaganda war coming internationally.

“So she’s taken a very systemic approach to thinking about how to tackle that, so that in local communities it feels like you’re reeling from Islamophobia, to racism to transphobia, but actually, when we look internationally at what’s happening, naive and quite disaffected groups have been constantly fed this material and she’s taken a systemic approach to it.”

Like Helen Clark I am sure that Jacinda will continue to contribute to New Zealand for decades to come.  And once the dust thrown up by trolls and the right settles she will be ranked as one of our greatest Prime Ministers.

 

91 comments on “Go well Jacinda ”

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  1. Patricia Bremner 1
    5 April 2023 at 12:26 pm

    'You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone.'

    Thank you Jacinda. We have been lucky, and we are so proud of how you have conducted yourself, at home and abroad. We hope you and yours have a happy life.

    The Bremner Family.

  2. Reality 2
    5 April 2023 at 1:20 pm

    Grateful thanks to Jacinda for her hard work and dedication, charm, style, kindness, humour, empathy, and last but not least, her smile. Also for raising New Zealand's profile internationally.

  3. Anker 3
    5 April 2023 at 1:52 pm

    I wish Jacinda and her family a peaceful, relaxing life.

  4. thebiggestfish7 4
    5 April 2023 at 2:08 pm

    "leaving the country in much better shape than it was in when she took over". This would make a great Aprils fool's joke. Cost of Living, Homelessness, Debt, Climate, Divisiveness, the list goes on and on. All wore under her premiership. Its up to Hipkins and others to reverse the damage.

  5. Ad 5
    5 April 2023 at 2:14 pm

    Thankyou Jacinda for working so hard for us.

    In particular for your international leadership, and your leadership in times of crisis.

    I personally hope that you don't take too much time off, or do a Richie McCaw and do something satisfying but small.

    You have a lot still to give and I hope you do that on a broader stage than New Zealand.

  6. observer 6
    5 April 2023 at 2:28 pm

    If anyone still doesn't know how impressive Jacinda Ardern was in a very tough job, then give the job to Christopher Luxon and you will quickly find out.

    Hell of a price to pay for your education, though.

    • Tony Veitch 6.1
      6 April 2023 at 8:44 am

      Oh, too true!

      • Patricia Bremner 6.1.1
        6 April 2023 at 10:19 am

        devil Yes Observer, Luxon has put on a veneer lately, but that mask would slip very quickly.

        He will be remembered for dissing NZ overseas and having no time for bottom feeders. Look at his "friends".

        You will be known by the company you keep, (and your suited stand-ups).

    • Hunter Thompson II 6.2
      6 April 2023 at 9:42 am

      True, Luxon probably falls into the smile/wave/do as little as possible category of politics which John Key practised so well.

      Why anyone would want the job of PM is a mystery to me. Perhaps it is the attraction of exercising power? But it is a role somebody must perform.

      Trouble is, once you are PM every New Zealander expects you to solve all the nation's problems – a good definition of impossible.

  7. mary_a 7
    5 April 2023 at 3:02 pm

    Much Aroha Jacinda, Clarke and Neve for your future.

    You will be remembered kindly in this household and no doubt many others, for your devotion towards the wellbeing of all NZers, in both the good times and the bad.

    Keep safe. Take care

    Kia Kahaheart

    Mary & Kevin

  8. AB 8
    5 April 2023 at 4:14 pm

    Her greatest achievement – the best Covid response in the western world – was never going to be allowed to stand. Any example of an activist, social democratic state achieving historic popularity by prioritising the common good over private profit, must be villified, poisoned, belittled or forgotten. The global and domestic far-right ran the vilification attack, their enablers in the local mainstream right mounted the more socially acceptable attack of amnesia. Given my age and the ravages of childhood asthma, I may indeed be alive because of her. 'Thanks' are insufficient.

    • observer 8.1
      5 April 2023 at 4:31 pm

      Yes.

      At the start of the pandemic in 2020 somebody on Twitter said something like "the measure of a successful response will be all the people who are still here to complain that it wasn't successful".

      There are no opinions in a cemetery.

    • Tiger Mountain 8.2
      5 April 2023 at 4:32 pm

      Yes, for a few brief incredible months public health was put before private profit. And many special needs and older people in particular owe their lives to that.

      It is easy enough to forget now that in the early months of COVID there was no guarantee that a vaccine could be developed or made widely available. A lot of the noise around the pandemic was international capital wanting to proceed on its merry exploitative way.

    • Bearded Git 8.3
      5 April 2023 at 10:42 pm

      Well said indeed AB. +100%

    • Patricia Bremner 8.4
      6 April 2023 at 10:21 am

      yesheart Same here AB

    • Grey Area 8.5
      6 April 2023 at 9:02 pm

      Great response to Covid for some time (that I whenever I had the chance praised and thanked them them for) then she and Labour gave up and started making political decisions, not ones based on the science. The amnesia you speak of seems to relate to latter-day Ardern.

  9. PsyclingLeft.Always 9
    5 April 2023 at 7:13 pm

    Jacinda , you were disparaged, undermined, reviled…by people who wouldnt have been able to handle a week of your life. (incl some on the Standard : (

    You led NZ ..through some of our worst crises. And I absolutely rate your Christchurch and Covid leadership…as World standout shining.

    A true Gem…sadly missed, but …all the Best to you and your Family.

    And a great Future for you.

    : )

  10. Corey 10
    5 April 2023 at 7:23 pm

    I wish Jacinda and her family all the best.

    She was a political superstar, who saved the labour party and got labour into government, twice and led NZ well during several crises and in person was a genuinely warm person who for a time, made NZ feel good about itself again on the world stage.

    She does however leave NZ in a much worse state than when she took office and no amount of cherry picked data will erase the amounts of poverty, people living in motels, hardship, housing insecurity.

    In 2020 she was polling in the 60s, that's nation builder polling, she could have made some huge gains for social democracy in NZ but instead opted for mild tweaks to the status quo, bureaucratic reforms and social policy whilst throwing a few crumbs to the peasents.

    Under this labour govt the rich have gotten enormously richer and the poor have gotten poorer.

    She went from saying capitalism had failed to ruling out even mild social democratic reforms. Her legacy is her leadership in a crisis, which is solid but sadly lacking in many major wins for the center left.

    Oh What could have been, had she had the courage to govern day to day with the conviction and strength she showed in times of crisis.

    Still, the Jacinda era was exciting and buzzing with possibility. Oh what could have been if we actually did this….

    All the best to Jacinda and her family, one hopes with her gone the tempo of politics cools a bit and the left can stop obsessing over race, gentitals, skin colour etc for six months and actually address the cost of living and housing crisis that are crushing the poor, working class and middle class in this country.

    • SPC 10.1
      5 April 2023 at 8:08 pm

      Perspective

      Under this labour govt the rich have gotten enormously richer and the poor have gotten poorer.

      Can you name any western nation that this has not occurred in? The amount of world wealth held by the 1% grew worldwide. One cause was the pandemic response – QE increased asset wealth.

      And no, those on benefits have not gotten poorer, and they are the poorest. Their incomes have gone up more than costs. MW have also increased in real terms.

      She does however leave NZ in a much worse state than when she took office and no amount of cherry picked data will erase the amounts of poverty,

      No more than an assertion, that no statement of facts will change your mind.

    • Peter 10.2
      6 April 2023 at 2:22 pm

      "She does however leave NZ in a much worse state than when she took office…"

      One of the prime reasons for that is that she was top dog after two elections. Many would have been merely scarred for life with Peters going with Labour in 2017. Much of the bitterness for that would have been sheeted to him.

      Actually winning an election, not only that, the event being a thrashing, was beyond the pale. The embarrassment, the indignity, the sheer pissed-offness by those who had her a mere upstart girl was extreme. She was an existential threat to (what they saw as) the natural order. Many went feral and Ardern became a forever pariah. She leaves with that large 'anti' mob being clearly identified as being in anarchistic mode. Can't get their way? They're going to go crazy.

      Ardern's governments not being bold, not having courage, not having foresight, not doing anything? She has been labelled a dictator to rival the worst in history when she tried to do anything. Decisions and plans were met with 'the death of democracy' labels. What to do? What to do with a massive majority? Don't do anything. People want change, people want action. But they can't handle change.

      It's like roads – everyone wants better roads but no-one wants roadworks.

      A good thing about the 'worse state' the country has been left in, is some appreciation of the presence, quantity and quality of the feral negatives. If the Nat/Act mob is not in after October their erosive crusade to run the country down will change gear. If Te Pāti Māori is part of the Government bundle it will go into overdrive.

  11. tsmithfield 11
    5 April 2023 at 7:31 pm

    I would like to wish all the best to Jacinda.

    I think she should rightfully be remembered as one of NZ's great prime ministers.

    I saw her as a charismatic style leader. And similar to many such leaders in history, she tended to shine in a crisis. But, I think she suffered the fate of many such leaders who tend to struggle when things start becoming mundane and a bit of a grind.

    But, we tend to remember those leaders for their moments of greatness. For instance, the leadership of Churchill in the second world war, and Zelensky now. Churchill struggled and lost popularity after the war. And, who knows, Zelensky may experience the same once the war ends, and the population gets into the long grind of the rebuild.

    In a similar way, I think Jacinda will be remembered for those times when she united the country when it was facing a crisis, not the later part of her career where she lost a lot of popularity. Also, I thought she was an outstanding ambassador for New Zealand internationally.

  12. adam 12
    5 April 2023 at 8:18 pm

    Like all women in politics, the extra b.s they have to deal with is OTT.

    Far to many external events dragged on her and her government as well.

    As such, she burnt out rather quickly, shame.

    We live in a time when to many are not facing up to the reality of a warmer globe, and the end of a economic system. I think too many are delusional that we can carry on doing what we have been doing. I think Jacinda was caught in the middle of this, and if Ardern had more in the tank, she may have been a good leader for what is to come – we will never know.

  13. Kat 13
    5 April 2023 at 8:21 pm

    Watching Luxon, Willis, Collins et al give Jacinda a Hug at the end of her speech was at the same time illuminating and dimming……very

    No sign of the ‘arrogant prick’ though……

  14. ianmac 14
    6 April 2023 at 9:02 am

    Jacinda exuded sincerity and competence. A genuine person with no artifice.

    Luxon has none of that. He comes across as fake. No media training can create sincerity or trust.

  15. Liberty Belle 15
    6 April 2023 at 2:26 pm

    I wish Jacinda and her family well. However, her legacy as PM is one of failure to deliver on a range of policy commitments from Kiwibuild to transparency to mental health to the school counselling project to Te Pukenga to Te Whatu Ora…shit it's a horrible record. But perhaps the most damning assessment of her time in office is the rate at which her replacement sought to ditch a raft of key policies adopted by Ardern's government in a rear guard attempt to win re-election. He may well succeed.

  16. roblogic 16
    6 April 2023 at 5:34 pm

    Nice sentiment in this tweet too.

    https://twitter.com/Poppenz/status/1643516871214501888?s=20

    And here's a happy memory (via Nick Rockel)

  17. Ad 17
    6 April 2023 at 6:01 pm

    I forgot the 10 year Bright Line Test for taxing real estate. Which is asclose to a Capital Gains Tax as we're ever going to get.

    And raised taxes on income over $180k.

    The trick is to recognize how much Labour redistributed without structural reform. A simple socialism, from back in the day.

  19. M 19
    6 April 2023 at 8:14 pm

    I've never been someone to fawn over celebrities but I can honestly say I love Jacinda Ardern. She is everything I am not or could ever be and I'm incredibly grateful to have experienced her leadership.

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