Greg Clydesdale: Why Jacinda Ardern’s Poverty drive failed

Jacinda Ardern came to power with the stated goal of reducing poverty. At the end of her tenure, we could comfortably state her achievements were under-whelming. In fact, when we compare her goals to what she achieved, we can say it more explicitly – she failed! This represents a long list of failures to reduce poverty including the ‘Working for Families’ program and ‘Closing the Gaps’.

I had the opportunity to speak to Ardern’s Child Poverty Unit (CPU) in 2020 and recognised at the time that they would fail. They were driven by the same ideologies behind other failed programs, that is the poverty cycle.