Govt in show of solidarity
NZ First and Greens leaders join Ardern as Prime Minister lays out ‘Cabinet-mandated’ plan
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Greens co-leader James Shaw presented a united front at an event in which Ardern outlined the next steps in the Government’s plans for the country.
With the first anniversary of the formation of the coalition Government next month, and with some public division recently on policy, Ardern yesterday delivered what, she said, was the “Cabinet-mandated, coalition Government work plan”.
“This plan represents our shared vision and priorities; Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens,” Ardern told an audience at the AUT campus in Auckland yesterday afternoon.
Peters made opening remarks ahead of Ardern’s speech, and the trio appeared at a media conference afterwards.
Ardern outlined 12 priority areas in the economy, wellbeing and government leadership in her speech. She said they reflected contributions from each of the parties and reiterated the commitments set out in documents such as the coalition and confidence in supply agreements created after the election last year. “This plan represents our shared vision and priorities; Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens. It establishes the foundation for the Government’s work and includes issues of particular importance to each of the parties which are supported by all of them,” Ardern said. Through the 12 priority areas, New Zealanders could clearly see what the Government was doing and what its priorities were, and provided certainty on its direction and the issues it was focused on.
The plan will be reviewed every six months, to see how it is tracking, with the first review due in February 2019.
Ardern addressed the recent differences of opinion between the coalition partners, saying “perhaps it’s because we have never had a Government quite like ours that we cause a little bit of chat”.
“It should come as no surprise though, that as three distinct parties, we will have different opinions and ideas. Those didn’t begin and nor did they end at the negotiating table.”
Ardern said the three parties “genuinely” worked together.
“People will already know and accept that we are three different parties. We’re three different parties because actually we do have different ideas and different opinions. What the public is seeing is simply that we work through those together.”
But National and Act both wrote off yesterday’s speech as offering little substance.
National leader Simon Bridges said Ardern was “desperate to show a united Government after the shambles of the past few weeks”.
“It is barely 10 months since the Speech from the Throne, which along with the coalition agreements was meant to be the riding instructions for this Government. They weren’t prepared for Government and are barely any further ahead now than they were a year ago.”
Act leader David Seymour called it an “underwhelming announcement”.
“In a speech reminiscent of an ‘all style, no new substance’ TEDx talk, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spouted the same tax and spend policy approach we came to expect from National,” Seymour said.