She is very vocal. (Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images). Already on our list? If you would like a comment on this piece to be considered for inclusion on Weekend magazines letters page in print, please fill in the form below. (2) a profit-and-loss system of accounting. Limited though this announcement is, not even Helen Clarks Labour government in the 2000s dared to try and wholly undo Richardsons welfare cuts, a sign that things really are slowly shifting. Bernie Sanderss two presidential campaigns sparked a series of elections of democratic socialists at every level of US government. At Buckingham Palace with the Queen in April 2017. Who had sought refuge, or sought a better life for themselves or their families. If you could see the amount of reading that is required in that role. I said, Can you please call 111. Are You Happy Now manages to be both extremely zeitgeisty but also timeless. That, very quickly, was clear to me, when I heard that a mosque had been targeted. Get our print magazine for just $20 a year. E papaki t ana ng tai o maumahara ki runga o tautahi. For me, its implicit now, she says. Let our Puffin Ambassadors tell you why you should pick up Coastwatcher, a thrilling adventure novel for 9+ readers. CPAG estimates that families on welfare would need an extra $100$230 a week to stay above poverty, and that the Treasurys own forecasts only see child poverty dropping a mere 1.4 points to 17 percent by 2023, leaving at least 180,000 kids in poverty. Team play is more important than ever in politics. Sometimes I think we tend to think about our own actions in confined ways, and we underestimate the impact that we have. Up on the ninth floor, the early morning sun scythes in through panoramic windows, the harbour just visible in the distance. Sometimes, what youre promoting isnt tangible. That was his instinct and it was the right one. Opinion. But we can be the nation that discovers the cure. You know, the Muslim community was so obviously targeted, and they wear their faith so openly., There was no need to deliberate on her decision not to use the name of the terrorist, either: It just seemed obvious to me. She had received no report, no advice reflecting the wealth of research that urges political leaders and the media to deny terrorists the notoriety they crave. Its policy decisions, particularly around the housing market, have further concentrated wealth at the top while raising housing costs for ordinary Kiwis, in response to which it refuses to implement rent control. Were trying to do it ourselves and with our family, said Ardern. Labours guarded but seemingly genuine attempt to try on the socialist label could be a positive step if it helps further demystify the word, particularly in a country still stumbling around in the hungover haze of a decades-old neoliberal binge. [Peters] said I think we need to be there, says Ardern. It was half a lifetime ago, she guesses. In other words, Richardson and her allies aimed not just to tinker with select programs but to transform hearts, minds, and what was politically acceptable. She had just seen her partner return to his spot in the third row of plastic seating with Neve propped up on his knee, having just had a nappy change in the back seat of a car around the corner. Jacinda was President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Nau mai, haere mai ki tnei hui. Ardern returned to New Zealand and entered the House of Representatives in 2008. What words express the grief of a city that has already known so much pain? The reality was that I went down into the shed, pulled out my fishing box and took out some hooks, Gayford told me earlier this year. Does that mean that the clock needs to be reset so everyone is equal again? It had just gone 2pm, and a wall of the meeting room was lit in horizontal lines, stencilled through Venetian blinds. In 2008, Ardern was elected President of the International Union of Socialist Youth, visiting Jordan, Israel, Algeria and China. She was first elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 2008. . We would be fools to believe political decisions are primarily evidence based. I was in a hotel room. If you value what we do and believe in the importance of independent and freely accessible journalism tautoko mai,donate today. I stand here as a very proud member of the great socialist democratic Labour Party, proclaimed New Lynn MP Deborah Russell. Its just the way I feel about people that talk like machine guns. The occasion for this supposed reverse metamorphosis was the highly anticipated budget day, with suggestions that, after three years of treading water, the government was gearing up to announce something major. That 1991 document had aimed to complete the neoliberal revolution started by Labour itself in the mid-1980s. By then, I had interviewed Ardern twice already: after a breakfast meeting at an Auckland hotel, and a few days earlier at Waitangi, on the northern tip of the North Island. It does feel as if the passage of time has extended. When I ask her which day last week a particular foreign dignitary spoke to her, she says, Times a bit of a blur for me, with a sardonic laugh. Jacinda Ardern, former Young Labour president and political advisor, has just been elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth - a group encompassing socialist, social democratic and Labour Party youth organisations from more than 100 countries. Learn more about Jacinda in Taking the Lead: How Jacinda Ardern Wowed the World, out now in your local bookstore. So I actually think that, in New Zealand, we do things our own way.. But she is verbally sharp. She would boot me a lot., Ardern began her speech that day by casting back a year, when she had asked all of you to hold all of us, and myself, to account. A year earlier, she had become the first female prime minister to speak at the Waitangi pwhiri, a significant moment in the New Zealand calendar, and the youngest, at 37. I would like to just do my job and be judged on being the prime minister of New Zealand, said Ardern. New Zealand's third female PM, and at 37 our youngest leader since Edward Stafford in 1856, Jacinda Ardern had the most meteoric rise to power of any New Zealand PM - three months prior to being sworn in, . Labour refuses to implement a wealth tax or otherwise raise taxes on the rich, while continually placing more and more of the burden on consumers through regressive consumption taxes. And there is little sign that, beyond emergency measures necessitated by the pandemic, the party is planning to permanently re-expand the size and scope of government. It is just 10 days since. The critical thing has been the inclusive approach. To the global community who have joined us today, who reached out to embrace New Zealand, and our Muslim community, to all of those who have gathered here today, we say thank you. Ill just leave it there., But she didnt leave it there, picking up on a thread from our conversation in Waitangi earlier in the week. And so to each of us as we go from here, we have work to do, but do not leave the job of combatting hate to the government alone. The government very cannily framed its budget as a reversal of 1991s Mother of all Budgets, one that would right the wrongs put in place by its author, the National Partys thenfinance minister Ruth Richardson, who designed maybe the most extreme case of welfare state retrenchment in the Western world. We didnt even know a confirmed toll. In early 2009, just two months after becoming an MP, Ardern presided over the union's World Council annual meeting in her capacity as president. He may have had in mind Arderns deputy Peters, whose NZ First has delivered dog whistles about immigrants and New Zealand values for decades. Twice a minute. But New Zealand remains a laggard behind the rest of the globe, still firmly stuck in a decades-old ideological framework that never worked for most people, but that is especially horribly unsuited to meeting the civilizational crises of today. Outside, the flags are at half-mast. It's intuitive, ll show you something, says Jacinda Ardern. Ardern became a list MP in 2008, a position she held for almost ten years until her election to the Mount Albert electorate in the . Jacinda was more surprised than anyone when she was handed the leadership aft. READ MORE: * Iwi-run coronavirus checkpoints are a nonsense but police aren't stopping them * Prime minister needs to be held to account over coronavirus claims * Anti-virus measures are too late to stop needless sickness and economic pain. Later, Ardern was due to officially open a music festival, but at that moment she was on her way to visit the site of a new school. Our new issue on nationalism is out now. And its good to see them, albeit slowly, adopting the commonsense point that putting money in the pockets of the least well-off is actually good for the economy. (I acknowledge amongst us today our distinguished leaders, speakers and those who bear authority. To be the nation we believe ourselves to be. That may not always be the case, but for now were making it work., As for being pronounced a game changer for women, Ardern welcomed the idea she might inspire others, but was eager to present a truthful picture. People tend to know what that means.. The Herald reports:. Really, upholding the community standards that theyve set themselves, I think, is what people are asking for Were asking for them to invest in ways to prevent the kind of harm we saw in the aftermath. And one of the first high-profile fights it picked with its newly gained political capital was with public-sector workers and the union that represents them, whom it tried to hit with a pay freeze. My belief in the humanity of New Zealanders has strengthened. Towards the end of her Waitangi speech, she had quoted Michael Savage, the venerated Labour statesman who led the party to government for the first time in 1935: We dont claim perfection, but what we do claim is a considerable advance on the past. Its a line that Ardern had rolled out in at least three big recent speeches, and felt, in part, like a plea to dial down the Jacindamania a call to pragmatism. Lets do this, went the slogan. Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern completed a Bachelor of Communication Studies in Public Relations and Political Science at Waikato Management School from 1999 to 2001. . Just a few months later it was revealed that the prime minister was pregnant. Yeah there you go. It looks like a pout every time.. And have people say, Wheres your ambition?, Under New Zealands proportional system in which people get two votes, one for their local politician and one for a party, as in Germany a single-party majority is near impossible. Needless to say, Labours budget has nothing approaching this ambition, nor does it even try to reverse all this. Her opponents sneered that it was all just stardust, but the party surged on a wave of Jacindamania. But personally, Id prefer a lineup of self-described liberals governing like socialists, rather than a group of proud socialists governing like neoliberals. Wouldnt it be good if the president of the United States showed greater moral leadership? Jacinda swapped her after school job at the local fish and chip shop to work for New Zealands Labour Party in the 1999 General Election. This framing has, in turn, largely been rebroadcast by the press, which has painted a picture of a budget dyed the deepest red.. Not just the postman. Thats all.. Richardson likewise complained about the excessive size of government spending, and she saw the cuts as a statement about the types of lives people should be encouraged to lead, she would later say: ones of independence and self-reliance. The fact that welfare rolls were only as full as they were because of the economic misery created by the preceding round of neoliberal reforms didnt seem to matter. And over the last two weeks we have shown that, you have shown that, in your actions. That article told the story of a leader who was pledging to work harder to address the inequities still faced by New Zealands indigenous people. The elements of that surprised me, says Ardern today. Maybe with your sincerity, not your smile, suggested the photographer. Richardsons budget radically overhauled housing policy, scrapping programs that supported homeownership, replacing income-based rents with market-based ones for state housing, and sold off the governments $2.4 billion worth of mortgages that had helped struggling families buy their first homes. The New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and most of those who graduated from the Marxist group the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) are actually followers of Leon Trotsky (1879 -1940). 17 April 2021 9:00 AM There she goes, New Zealand's Wonder Woman, striking a model's pose on the cover of yet another women's magazine, Thrive, dedicated to the wellness mantras Ardern herself spouts. Simple, she says, nodding her head. That doesnt necessarily apply to her. Her partner, Clarke Gayford, she smiles, is not impressed. he prime minister was deep in conversation with her press secretary when she arrived for the formal part of our interview at Waitangi in February. The information was patchy and it was very difficult to decipher exactly what had happened, she recalls. Its very genuine, and people warm to that. What did it mean? I look forward to hearing about the success of socialism in curing child poverty. But even when we had no words, we still heard yours, and they have left us humbled and they have left us united. 3. I thought there were none. Do you liken yourself to Jacinda Ardern? And my bet is that no one would. The sun was beating down and Neve, in a blue bonnet and spotted dress, clucked away happily. A fortnight after the attack, a national remembrance service is held at Hagley Park in Christchurch, not far from Al Noor Mosque. And so I see that there was a weight of expectation there. The system makes the sort of deadlocks witnessed in the Commons this year much less likely. Last week I went half a day with my shirt inside out., For Ardern, Neve helps keep things in perspective. She is sharp. You think of Tony Blairs period, now, and what do people talk about? By then, I had interviewed Ardern twice already: after a breakfast meeting at an Auckland hotel, and a few days earlier at Waitangi, on the northern tip of the North Island. I am here to stand alongside you We feel grief, we feel injustice, and we feel anger. She said it wearing a headscarf, an expression of solidarity that sprinted around the world. The definition of "comrade" from An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Marxism, Socialism and Communism is as follows: Originally, one who shares the same chamber. New Zealands top talkback host has been listening to the new leader of the Labour Party. The couples mothers are the main backup unit, especially when Gayford is away shooting Fish Of The Day, his fishing-travel-cooking hybrid show for the National Geographic channel. She keeps talking and she talks fast. One Christchurch-based broadcaster issued an apology for an earlier column about Islam, saying, I look back at my comments ashamed. And in a powerful speech a week after the attack, Gamal Fouda, the imam of Al Noor mosque, where 42 worshippers were killed, said the murders did not come overnight, but were the result of the anti-Muslim rhetoric of some political leaders, media agencies and others. I will always strive for better. I've had the pleasure of meeting her socially on a couple of occasions and I imagine she'd be a huge asset. The revival of socialism in mainstream politics has been one of the bigger developments of the last five years. watched as international politics has continued to change while serving as the president of the International Union of Socialist Youthan umbrella organisation of over 150 progressive youth movements from . For example, the meeting documents state the aim of the union is to defend and spread our core socialist principles. No friend of free speech, she had little regard for public opinion and no respect for those with a contrary view. Cabinet is a massive beast. Of the Blair years more broadly, she said: What you do with policy, it demonstrated to me, can be completely overshadowed by decisions in principle. You may know her as the youngest and third female Prime Minister of New Zealand, the first head of government to take maternity leave and the powerfully empathetic responder in times of crisis. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Mount Albert since 2017.. Born in Hamilton, Ardern grew up in Morrinsville . The alternative option is that we come out and say, for instance, on child poverty, that weve got these really minimalist targets. If anyone out there has a better photo let us know! But, no, I didnt think about particular words. But what I do know is Ardern and her comrades provided the above answers in 2009and now she is leading us into the economic recovery of post-Covid-19. They were stories of those who were born here, grew up here, or who had made New Zealand their home. A place that is diverse, that is welcoming, that is kind and compassionate. [Applause] Thank you very much. I look like Im pouting. Politics is changing in Aotearoa, as it is all over the world. The critical thing has been the inclusive approach. Jacinda Ardern served as the prime minister of New Zealand from 2017-2023. I think its just the nature of an event like this. Not today. The fact is that she is talking the second the question is finished, if not before. I occasionally go to events which may have quite a bit of profile and pressure around them. Ardern stares out the question for several seconds, grimacing. Use the key to unlock the secret message! Now, the New Zealand Labour Party is getting in on the act, too. And how often should the reset occur? Its decision to stagger the boost means families in need will now be pointlessly deprived of much-needed funds until next year. In the past weeks, New Zealand has reckoned with its own history. New Zealand PM addressed a crowd of thousands who had gathered for a memorial service at Hagley Park two weeks after the mosque attacks. Earlier that decade, she lived for two and a half years in London, where she worked in Tony Blairs Cabinet Office. The case that Labours budget last week avenges these misdeeds is based on its $3.3 billion boost to welfare, set to incrementally rise over the next year, first in July, then in April 2022. People have remarked upon the way weve responded, but to me there was no question. (Later in the day I contact Gayford, host of a television fishing show and father of the couples nine-month-old daughter, Neve, asking for his official position on the prime minister having returned to coffee. 'For me, it's time,' she added, during her surprise resignation speech this morning. And, lets be honest, in the lead up, too., Ardern sips from a mug of tea though she confesses that, years after quitting, shes also drinking coffee again. Pressure was mounting over a failure to meet targets on a flagship house-building scheme. Also of note, rumour also has it that Jacinda may be running as a candidate for the Labour Party. We are sitting on sofas in her office on the ninth floor of the Beehive, the circular building that houses the New Zealand government in Wellington. Its intuitive. And so we say to those who have lost the most, we may not have always had the words. At age 28, she was its youngest member. Richardsons debt-and-surplus obsession lives on in this current government, which has consistently justified its resistance to more public investment by pointing to debt fears, and even took care to frame this budget as keeping a lid on debt and tracking a responsible return towards surplus through targeted investments. Labours continued refusal to get rid of benefit sanctions reflects a fundamental acceptance of Bolger and Richardsons moralistic distaste for welfare, as does its plan for a separate unemployment insurance scheme. Tony Blairs period, now, the New Zealand, we feel grief, we do and believe in mid-1980s... 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