Great legacy piece on Jacinda today from Kevin Norquay…
On Thursday, Jacinda Ardern gives her valedictory speech and leaves Parliament, likely forever. How will history rate her turbulent period as prime minister? Kevin Norquay reports.
Jacinda Ardern was a political shooting star who lit up politics both here and overseas, but her leadership became increasingly shadowed by mistrust, misogyny and social media mayhem.
Judging her legacy is complicated. Life in politics rarely ends well. Elections simply move you one step closer to the misery of rejection at the ballot booth, or enforced retirement.
In both cases, there will be more who celebrate your demise than say thanks.
As a politician, Ardern was a populist success; the most popular PM in recent history, both in the polls and at the ballot box. And yet, she was also very unpopular, a target of online hate and virulent protest, which followed the arrival of an invisible and insidious enemy, Covid.
Her “be kind” front-and-centre handling of Covid won plaudits, allowing her in 2020 to form the first majority government since the first MMP election in 1996.
As the pandemic dragged frustration, anxiety and division grew, with turbulence and public anger that academics maintain has not been seen since the 1981 Springbok tour.
Unlike 1981, the enemy was invisible, not touring the country to play rugby. For those who had lost their jobs to vaccine mandates, suffered anxiety, seen their businesses fold, Ardern was a visible target.
…who was kind enough to ask my opinion…
The left-wing commentator, Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury, editor of The Daily Blog, says Ardern’s greatest strength – empathy and kindness – was also a political Achilles heel.
“To my mind, there are two Jacindas – the one with superhuman emotional intelligence in moments of crisis that had us bonded in solidarity to one another, and the super cautious domestic policy Jacinda who, despite having our hearts soar from the rhetoric of transformation, always managed to disappoint in delivery,” he says.
“There are only so many ‘good first steps’ before you accept you are jogging on the spot. In the end her kindness exacerbated anger because when you are hurting, having someone smile at you makes you angrier.”
Bradbury called it “neo-kindness”.
“The level of toxic social media hate algorithms spewed against her demeaned us all as a people. She saved us from a mass death event, yet we turned on her,” he says.
“The day she stood down, we gasped as a country at how we ended up breaking her.
“When China tries to tell the history books that their authoritarian model and state coercion was the best way to defeat Covid compared to the weak democracies of the west, New Zealand can proudly hold its head up and point to our results based on being open and frank with our citizens and trusting in them to act in the common good.
“We could only do that because we had Jacinda as our leader. History will remember her boldness and we won’t forget it either. We will just wish she did so much more.”
…she really was an extraordinary Prime Minister…
Bradbury says it is important to properly farewell and thank Ardern, hailing her for her ability to inspire women.
“Her legacy is that she made every woman I respect and love stand two inches taller. Her leadership as a woman was authentic female power at its most humanly powerful. Kindness was a strength, not a weakness,” he says.
“When international visitors ask if I know Jacinda, I laugh and admit she babysat my daughter once and that I worked with her partner as a Radio DJ,” he says.
..even managed to get a shout out to Clarke into it!
She was a remarkable Prime Minister and we are a lesser people for the way she was driven out in the end.
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A big plus for covid and jointly managing the Ch massacre with the Muslim leaders other than that I see her time a big failure to be instrumental in any change of direction for those at the bottom. Now the wheels are really falling of the Labours lies of a open and trustworthy government . She quit before she was pushed but she does deserve a thank you and our best wishes in her future married life.
Trevor Indeed. Remember kneecapping the Commissioner for Vulnerable Children, against all advice. Remember Te Puapua, a lengthy agenda developed in secret and required reading for supporters of democratic government.
I voted for John Key in 2014 as the circus created by Kim Dot Com all of a sudden made the election about foreign control and influence etc. It was a policy-free election. Then in 2017 I lost faith in National as they denied we had a housing crisis. Seeing the video of a dad with his daughter living in their station wagon swung me to vote for Labour. Then, almost within weeks of being announced as PM, Ardern granted an exclusive interview with Mediaworks (her partner’s employer) announcing her plans to become the second ever world leader to give birth. This interview would have been set up well in advance, and it was a major exclusive for Mediaworks. That was the first time I thought something was a bit off. Then NZ suffered its worst international terrorism attack since the Rainbow Warrior bombing. Same scenario repeated – a devious foreign national plans out a detailed attack on a soft target with next to no security. (This attack would have not been possible in most other Western countries.) Ardern’s reaction was to lay blame with all the gun owners of NZ. (Bear in mind the terrorist also considered using bombs and/or setting Mosques on fire.) That’s when I lost faith in Arden’s judgement. Lastly, I remember Ardern going live on TV and telling Kiwis that even though we had Covid cases down to single figures per day, she was a ‘perfectionist’ and just another fortnight in Level 3 lockdown would be what the doctor ordered. This decision is probably what broke the will of many Auckland small business owners. In summary, I’m at fault for voting for Arden because I lost faith in John Key’s National. However, I will never vote Labour again in my lifetime.
Its wrong to say men are misogynists because men idolise woman it’s just the dating market is so fractured that more and more men are passing away as virgins. So 70 years ago something happened to relationships. Woman are having sex with a shrinking pool of males.
Incels, the involuntary celibate are told that they’re scum. They don’t know how to talk to woman, they don’t know how to date or the logistics of having sex and get rejected every time so when they see a woman who is reasonably happy in a relationship it hurts them.
I’m not trying to minimise the abuse Jacinda copped rather there are very good reasons why it happened that isn’t touched on except by super brains like Jordan Peterson who saw the crises of masculinity coming.
I don’t know what the answers are but I know banning hate speech isn’t one of them. Neither is pressuring all males are guilty.
Man hating is so structural no one can really see it not even a super brain like Jordan Peterson can see it when he says marxists are the devil for trying to bring down capitalism. I actually like the wonders of the culinary world so I’m not trying to bring it down rather regulate the excesses.
Dead beat dad’s are boo’d constantly and the mothers cheered but when it comes out (and this is just a general example of the treatment of men) that the man isn’t even the biological parent they’re still boo’d anyway because they don’t want to support the child after fing out they’ve been con’d. About 30% of DNA testing shows that the male isn’t the father. Yet incels and dead beat fathers are the ones being blamed for cutting Jacinda’s career as PM short.
I think if Jacinda really wanted to she could come back for another crack at being Prime Minister. I just think that her resignation let a lot of scummy people off the hook like as if National are going to reform welfare or oranga tamariki there stated policy is to make it worse.
Jacinda’s legacy is leaving the country in economic ruin from pointless covid measures, shocking mental health statistics, appalling poverty for many, and, the Coup de grâce, woke ideology that has mentally damaged a generation of New Zealanders. Well done!
‘mental health’ — the new code word for people who are just going through a rough patch and are a bit down. Just the worried well if you ask me. Who is the ‘woke’ person now.
Speaking of ‘woke’, the ideology you bag is actually just treating LGBT people with a semblance of respect and dignity. Do you really want to go back to the days where people were sacked from their jobs if they were gay?
The poverty would have been a lot worse under National. They dont want people having more money. Simple as as that.
No different to being sacked from your job for being old male or white because diversity (talkback radio being a great case study) there is always bigotry it’s just the lunatic rainbow branch of the left pushing it at the moment.
You really hate those gays don’t you.
No Millsy treating LGBT people with respect was what gay activism was about before it went woke (the arrival of queer theory ideologues and corporate virtue signallers).
If you think woke ideology supports LGBT people ask why homosexual has been redefined as same ‘gender’ attracted leading to the common case of lesbians being shamed for not wanting to sleep with Transwomen. It’s akin to 1980s jocks telling gay women that lesbians weren’t real and they hadn’t met the ‘right man’.
Reality check, most actual Transwomen are not trying to sleep with or shame lesbians but the ideology and the activists certainly are. This is one example of many, woke queer theory is a deeply homophobic ideology.
Jacinda gave me hope for the first time in my life that politics could be managed without an ego.
Unfortunatly the beurocracy had her hands tied preventing the change she hoped for.
Utmost respect for her valiant attempt to change how governance can be done with integrity. Turns out ….. impossible.
Jacinda was great. Wound a lot of crybabies up. Loved it. Shame there won’t be a third term.
“Wound a lot of crybabies up”? Wasn’t her (stated) excuse for leaving that she was bullied on social media, thus making her a “crybaby”? Lol.
Fidel the cry baby, frightened by a young woman.
Where in her resignation did she state that she quit due to online abuse?
Hint: She didn’t.
She said she had “nothing left in the tank”.
Personally I wish she went harder on the power companies.
COVID gave Jacinda a once in a life time oppurtunity to really transform this country, but she bottled it.
Brilliant response after the Christchurch mosque mass murder. Every New Zealander in the Middle East at the time owes her a debt of gratitude for that.
At the commencement of Jacinda Ardern’s valedictory speech there will be a standing ovation in the House.
Keep an eye out for those MPs whose seats are empty during Ardern’s valedictory speech, or who remain seated during the standing ovation. These are the MPs courting the Far Right vote. The MPs who make themselves scarce at this historic moment will have left the house because they don’t want to be caught by the cameras honouring the departing Prime Minister in case it offends their far right supporters.
Who will be the MPs to watch to see if they remain seated during the standing ovation? Who will be the MPs to watch who purposely stay away?
Number 1 to watch will be Christopher Luxon. Christopher Luxon won’t want to be seen sitting during the standing ovation. Luxon also won’t want to be seen standing to honour Ardern. I expect the parliamentary cameras to film his seat empty.
Number 2 The Act caucus in its entirety will not want to be seen honouring Jacinda Ardern. Keep an eye out for their empty seats. And possibly even one brave Act MP prepared to attend to openly dis the ex PM by sitting through the standing ovation to garner far right voter support. That MP will be the MP most closest to the far right.
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