While Dame Jacinda enjoyed a near-saintly international reputation, at home, her legacy was more contested.
She was loathed by anti-vaxxers for her government’s Covid-19 mandates, and was blamed by many on the right for New Zealand’s post-pandemic economic downturn. . .
That blame is justified. The country’s wouldn’t be facing the dire economic mess it is now, had she and her government achieved more and spent less.
There is no doubt that her response to the Mosque massacres was praiseworthy but any other of our recent PMs would have done as well.
At least some of the international adulation for her was based on sexism – because she was a young woman – and little if any knowledge of her performance – or lack of it – at home.
She is now not as young and if her achievements on the international circuit are anything like those in New Zealand, the stardust will quickly dull.
There is no doubt that her response to the Mosque massacres was praiseworthy but any other of our recent PMs would have done as well.
At least some of the international adulation for her was based on sexism – because she was a young woman – and little if any knowledge of her performance – or lack of it – at home.
She is now not as young and if her achievements on the international circuit are anything like those in New Zealand, the stardust will quickly dull.
Hipkins said the New Zealand Government needed to bring her back into the fold, advocating for Aotearoa.
“I think the current Government are mad, to be honest, in the sense that Jacinda has this enormous international following, and why would they not embrace that as an asset to the country?” he said.
“We’re a small trading nation, our international reputation is really important to us, and Jacinda has got the best international reputation of any New Zealand political leader potentially ever.
“Why would we not try and find ways to use that?”
She wasted opportunities to advocate for policies such as free trade that mattered to New Zealand when she was PM.
Could she be trusted to actually work for what we need rather than carry on with the word-salad-feel-good-achieve-nothing advocacy she specialised in when she was in office?
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
6 comments:
The return of Comrade Ardern, leader of the World Junior Communist Party; the worst, most divisive Prime Minister this nation has ever had ?
Why on earth should the taxpayer fund Ardern to in effect be another propaganda arm of the Labour party and all causes socialist ?
We all ready have TV One and RNZ National in that role already.
Quite right Ele, truly a leopard totally incapable of changing her spots. With regard to her overseas reputation I suspect that if anyone was asked the response would be "Jacinda who?".
Of course not. The woman is ac fraud, & a dangerous one too.
No surprise to hear of Prince William’s adoration of her either. They have a lot in common - both have made a living off taking other people’s hard earned money to do so-called good in the world (the Monarchy really is just a more palatable & opulent form of socialism) & claim to be making a difference in the lives of those they steal off. I have seen comments online praising Jacinda’s quite obviously hypocritical acceptance of the Damehood, most probably by the same people who are now really struggling because of her incompetence & inhumanity.
It’s like Stockholm syndrome, but only worse as people willingly pay for them to screw them over.
I just don’t get it; a working royal is as much of an oxymoron as an economically literate socialist.
Whislt her past pandering to maori shoud render her safe from maori nutters, she is so reviled by many other NZers, and so recognisabe, that life in NZ would not be pleasant and probably not safe. I do not expect to see her back for a long time.
Jacinda’s regime took NZ from a top 20 country to a bottom 20 country economically. There may have already been rot setting in, but her zero covid isolationist policy destroyed the lives and businesses of many. All of the parties in parliament are partially responsible for the failures of the regime from NZ First who brought them to power to the opposition parties that failed to oppose them.
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