Jacinda Ardern is resigning!

[MrsMarkRonson]

Didn't see that coming?! I know her popularity has dipped somewhat, but I didn't think she'd leave before the election? wondering if she was being pushed out?

Nothing, it’s just obviously someone with a bee in their bonnet about progressive, left-leaning politicians.

Nothing.

It's just another economy doing better than the UK.

No, nothing to do with economies, just a politician with a similar habit of using authoritarian tactics to achieve their “progressive” agenda 😊

From what I know of NZ I can't imagine that it's the Maori people who enjoy any favouritism.

The bit she wrote to her daughter about being there for her when she goes to school and to her partner about getting married made me cry.

I don't know all the ins and outs of NZ politics, but her initial hardline stance on Covid was completely ridiculous, and presumably there has been some push back.

The ‘ins and outs’ of NZ politics includes Te Tiriti o Waitangi and taking into consideration vulnerable populations, including Māori and Pasifika who do a lot worse on every single health outcome you can think of. So at a time when a brand new virus was ravaging the rest of the world, she did what she thought was needed.

Smell business owner here. I think it’s generally accepted the initial stance on keeping covid out of nz was the right thing to do and all political parties would have done the same, however a lot of hurt, unnecessary grief and pain was caused to families and individuals with the set up and management of the managed isolation programme for home bound New Zealanders, and the govt just would not listen to remedy the immature faults with the system.

NZ media/reporters also got a serve for not “asking the hard questions” to the PM at the daily media updates and it’s noted even this morning yesterdays food price increases for November of over 11% have been largely ignored. (Not an inflation figure).

It still beggars belief that the police were charged with driving through supermarket car parks to ensure everyone stood the required distance apart, but for crime, it’s near impossible to get police in attendance…

Small not smell…🙄

I think she seems like a pretty incredible woman and a strong one who knows to quit when she's ahead. Can't imagine many leaders doing that!

Well I felt pleased the covid didn't obliterate my friends and family like it did in the UK (sadly).

No obliteration here, for those who lost people I agree it’s sad though.

I remember people were very happy with her approach at the time - why has her popularity fallen since?

(if it has as per pp)

A lot of people outside NZ (still!) seem very annoyed that we spent the best of 2020 (other than six weeks of hard (as in, genuine, effective) lockdown living normally, while COVID ravaged the world, and a vaccine was yet to created.

New Zealanders were overwhelmingly in support of the measures taken at the time, and I say this as one half of a couple with family and friends on the other side of the world, who for the first time ever, couldn’t get to them.

And yes, it’s ‘easy’ to lockdown an island nation (except the UK, of course! 😉) … until it isn’t. COVID got us eventually, in spite of all of our so-called advantages.

People have short memories though, and the aftermath of COVID combined with the cost of living has taken its toll. Politics is also pretty brutal, especially to women.

Jacinda looks different these days - tired and very thin. As I said upthread, I knew she would resign before the election. But I do think what she said yesterday is right - she doesn’t have anything left in the tank. I can’t imagine many people would, while also giving birth to and raising a small child, while all of this was also going on.

Her critics could never have done what she has done - never in a million years.

I'm sure if you could turn the clock back to 2019 and offered most British people the choice of Jacinda Ardern or Boris Johnson, or indeed or Jeremy Corbyn, I know what the response would be from the majority of people.

New Zealand has had 2,437 Covid deaths, less than 0.1% of cases led to death.
Uk has had 214,000 deaths, about 0.8% of all cases led to a death.

Uk population is about 15 times that of New Zealand, yet has had 87 times as many deaths.

This is a time travel thread but you have to consider borders

Honestly I would not have wanted a leader who thought we could lockdown to same extent as NZ in U.K. as we have road freight and other border issues

We’d have been stuck in almost permanent lockdown. The damage was too great anyway,

JA had a different set of variables. Anyone who was leading here would have to see that.

Although it is interesting if her popularity has fallen. It seems whoever was in during pandemic gets hit politically after in votes.

Of course she had a different set of variables.

Every country did.

But the measures she took enabled us to live almost normally (except for leaving the country) for almost of 2020, while waiting for a vaccine. Thousands of (tens of 1000s) lives were saved.

Yes that’s great but it wasn’t possible here.

You’d think she’d do well from that and not lose favour

That was 3 years ago though. Labour was handed a majority government and had not used the advantage to push through policies that effect the day to day stuff that people living here actually care about, ie housing issues.

You’d think she’d do well from that and not lose favour

A week is a long time in politics, let alone three years.

She was never going to be able to ride solely on that!

The ‘ins and outs’ of NZ politics includes Te Tiriti o Waitangi and taking into consideration vulnerable populations, including Māori and Pasifika who do a lot worse on every single health outcome you can think of. So at a time when a brand new virus was ravaging the rest of the world, she did what she thought was needed.

Well said. The armchair critics in the UK have no idea about this sort of thing - they appear to see NZ as a smaller version of the UK on the other side of the world and don't have an actual clue how different it is.

Same goes when people talk about U.K. being an island without difference

Of course there are

"Divided NZ" = "my privileges are threatened"

Maybe ask the Maori, 4th gen Chinese (as my sister in law) or Pasifika peoples if they remember these golden past times of "united" NZ.

Interesting comment and assumption that posters are not of Maori or PI descent…

Yes I do assume that most posters who write here about division are not Pasifika or Maori. Of course it's never 100% and VoF supporters are a different group demographically from Groundswell but the leadership of both is pretty ethnically homogeneous.