Jacinda Ardern

ROCKET80 said:
Ultimately she was just okay, she could have been transformative. Her first term was hampered by being in coalition with a dinosaur, but when she won the next election with an overwhelming majority (in an MMP format) I had high hopes.

To be fair to her, she has dealt with a lot; having a baby, a deadly volcanic eruption, a deadly terrorist attack and a global pandemic. Her decision is understandable, the amount of abuse she's been getting from the ever increasing number RW nut jobs over here relentless.

I imagine a successful career at the UN awaits, and for managing the pandemic arguably better than anyone else, she leaves with my thanks and respect.

My fear now is a Right Wing coalition victory at this years election and we see the same type of politics/politicians you are being served up with in the UK.
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Hi mate, good summary I think.

It's hard to know what her 'legacy' - if any - might be. I found it particularly frustrating that, presented with an incredible (unprecedented?) mandate at the last election, there appeared to be few major advances in the areas she'd identified as a priority for her and her Government, although clearly Covid was a giant factor in that.

Peters was obviously a handbrake in the first term, but I also think her Government could have done more to notch quick, more populist wins - and communicate them well. I feel there was a tendency to dive into super-complex policy work that is hard to 'sell' in the current media landscape.

I remain particularly frustrated about mental health - it was a key promise in the 2017 campaign and there was widespread public and political support for action. But despite huge funding commitments (something Peters didn't block), there appear to have been no significant improvements in access to treatment for the vast majority of people.

We'll never know what she and her Government could have done without Covid, of course. But I suspect she would have been a three-term PM thought of as fondly as Key (in terms of mass-market popularity) on her departure.

Regardless, despite her errors - and all politicians make them - I think she's a decent person who always tried to behave with compassion and dignity. And maybe that's her legacy. And maybe that's enough given the wider, international picture.
 
creed said:
Hi mate, good summary I think.

It's hard to know what her 'legacy' - if any - might be. I found it particularly frustrating that, presented with an incredible (unprecedented?) mandate at the last election, there appeared to be few major advances in the areas she'd identified as a priority for her and her Government, although clearly Covid was a giant factor in that.

Peters was obviously a handbrake in the first term, but I also think her Government could have done more to notch quick, more populist wins - and communicate them well. I feel there was a tendency to dive into super-complex policy work that is hard to 'sell' in the current media landscape.

I remain particularly frustrated about mental health - it was a key promise in the 2017 campaign and there was widespread public and political support for action. But despite huge funding commitments (something Peters didn't block), there appear to have been no significant improvements in access to treatment for the vast majority of people.

We'll never know what she and her Government could have done without Covid, of course. But I suspect she would have been a three-term PM thought of as fondly as Key (in terms of mass-market popularity) on her departure.

Regardless, despite her errors - and all politicians make them - I think she's a decent person who always tried to behave with compassion and dignity. And maybe that's her legacy. And maybe that's enough given the wider, international picture.
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Agree with everything you stated there.

I remember being very happy with the landslide win but upon hearing her victory speech I felt a bit disappointed about what was to come.

For all the appalling campaigns against her (and from some of the mainstream) and the promotion of Luxon, she still polled as the preferred PM.

I think their handling of and then the subsequent media coverage of Three Waters and anything Mahuta is involved in hasn't helped.

I listened to Rest Is Politics podcast interview with Julia Gillard and she stated any incumbent Government dealing with an global inflation/cost of living crises is going to suffer badly in the polls as the general public assume that they are not doing enough and the opposition may be able to sort it out. I think that is where middle NZ is at the moment.

I'm disappointed Robertson has ruled himself out, as I see him as the natural successor, who Business and middle NZ respect when it comes to the economy and who would walk all over Luxon in the debates.
 
fascinating how the likes of Melville - J Heartless-Bitchface and all the GMB crowd are out in force on twitter criticizing her for her Covid 19 response that resulted in fewer than 2.5k deaths yet are presumably happy with the UK death toll and have no comment on the admission from China this week that lifting their travel restrictions has led to a further 60k deaths - they are mental

www.abc.net.au

China's COVID-19 cases may have hit 900 million — and a new challenge is about to hit

China's massive COVID-19 surge and expected Lunar New Year travel could raise risks for other countries, and Australia needs to be prepared for another shift in the dynamics of the pandemic, writes Michael Toole.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
bluethrunthru said:
fascinating how the likes of Melville - J Heartless-Bitchface and all the GMB crowd are out in force on twitter criticizing her for her Covid 19 response that resulted in fewer than 2.5k deaths yet are presumably happy with the UK death toll and have no comment on the admission from China this week that lifting their travel restrictions has led to a further 60k deaths - they are mental

www.abc.net.au

China's COVID-19 cases may have hit 900 million — and a new challenge is about to hit

China's massive COVID-19 surge and expected Lunar New Year travel could raise risks for other countries, and Australia needs to be prepared for another shift in the dynamics of the pandemic, writes Michael Toole.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
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It's always interesting how these gammony angry right wing types instinctively don't like someone because they are first and foremost decent and caring. It's because it represents everything they aren't.
 
bluethrunthru said:
fascinating how the likes of Melville - J Heartless-Bitchface and all the GMB crowd are out in force on twitter criticizing her for her Covid 19 response that resulted in fewer than 2.5k deaths yet are presumably happy with the UK death toll and have no comment on the admission from China this week that lifting their travel restrictions has led to a further 60k deaths - they are mental

www.abc.net.au

China's COVID-19 cases may have hit 900 million — and a new challenge is about to hit

China's massive COVID-19 surge and expected Lunar New Year travel could raise risks for other countries, and Australia needs to be prepared for another shift in the dynamics of the pandemic, writes Michael Toole.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
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What's Melville's background? I know he's from Scotland, and started off banging on about mRNA vaccines. Recently he seems to have branched out into all the other right wing conspiracies.
 
MillionMilesAway said:
What's Melville's background? I know he's from Scotland, and started off banging on about mRNA vaccines. Recently he seems to have branched out into all the other right wing conspiracies.
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I think like the guy off Coast he has found that the grift pays well so has allowed his brain to go off grid and stoke up hate
 
ROCKET80 said:
Agree with everything you stated there.

I remember being very happy with the landslide win but upon hearing her victory speech I felt a bit disappointed about what was to come.

For all the appalling campaigns against her (and from some of the mainstream) and the promotion of Luxon, she still polled as the preferred PM.

I think their handling of and then the subsequent media coverage of Three Waters and anything Mahuta is involved in hasn't helped.

I listened to Rest Is Politics podcast interview with Julia Gillard and she stated any incumbent Government dealing with an global inflation/cost of living crises is going to suffer badly in the polls as the general public assume that they are not doing enough and the opposition may be able to sort it out. I think that is where middle NZ is at the moment.

I'm disappointed Robertson has ruled himself out, as I see him as the natural successor, who Business and middle NZ respect when it comes to the economy and who would walk all over Luxon in the debates.
Click to expand...
I think that's bang on about middle NZ. Elections always come down to the economy right? Few people are truly altruistic.

And I think that's right about Three Waters, but I think she'd got herself tied up with the TVNZ/RNZ merger too, plus the health reforms are not exactly going smoothly. All big picture stuff that's hard to get middle NZ excited about.

I like Robertson too. I wonder - and really hope it's not the case - whether he feared his sexuality would be weaponised, as Ardern's gender was? I do quite like Hipkins though and reckon he was probably the only chance of electoral success this year - I think it's telling that he's been kept away from all the gnarly, controversial policy stuff for a month or two, almost like this was a bit more planned than perceived?
 
creed said:
I think that's bang on about middle NZ. Elections always come down to the economy right? Few people are truly altruistic.

And I think that's right about Three Waters, but I think she'd got herself tied up with the TVNZ/RNZ merger too, plus the health reforms are not exactly going smoothly. All big picture stuff that's hard to get middle NZ excited about.

I like Robertson too. I wonder - and really hope it's not the case - whether he feared his sexuality would be weaponised, as Ardern's gender was? I do quite like Hipkins though and reckon he was probably the only chance of electoral success this year - I think it's telling that he's been kept away from all the gnarly, controversial policy stuff for a month or two, almost like this was a bit more planned than perceived?
Click to expand...
That was my feeling about Robertson too.

With Robertson ruling himself out it was only ever going to be Hipkins. I'm still not confident of a Labour win, Luxon has far too many friends in high places and the mainstream media on his side.

Hipkins was seen as Labour's Mr Fix It, so we might start to see more action and positive coverage over the next 6-9 months..
 
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