Making it all look natural

Whether you’re red, blue, green, yellow, or black, you have to hand it to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She’s a natural. Politics and governing come easy to her. Not necessarily because she’s the most experienced party leader – that honour must go to deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters – but because she’s such an outstanding communicator, standing before the country last Sunday and outlining this government’s priority areas in a language everyone could understand.

The usual style, at least for New Zealand prime ministers, is to stand behind a lectern and read from a set of talking points.

This is all well and good, but sometimes it can come across as a bit dry, and most times what was said in that speech never reaches the ears of most New Zealanders. But Ardern is different.

On Sunday she didn’t hide behind a lectern, and she didn’t carry speech notes around the stage. Instead she stood on an open platform and spoke in a way that it sometimes seems only she can. Open, connected, and fiercely and genuinely aspirational.

This Coalition government is set on delivering in 12 priority areas, the prime minister said.

We’re going to grow and share New Zealand’s prosperity more fairly.

You see that in our policy of lifting the minimum wage, a policy that’ll lift thousands of people out of poverty and make their lives more secure.

We’ll support thriving and sustainable regions. You see that in our policy to plant 1 billion trees over 10 years and the $1 billion per year Provincial Growth Fund. We’re also going to transition to a green, carbon-neutral economy to ensure we’re doing our bit to preserve the environment for future generations.

The Coalition government is also, as Ardern said on Sunday, going to ‘‘build closer partnerships with Ma¯ ori’’.

This is particularly close to my heart as the MP for Te Tai Tonga.

I hold a seat in Parliament – a Ma¯ ori seat – that embodies that close partnership with Ma¯ ori, and a couple of weeks ago my Bill to give the Ma¯ ori seats the same protection as the general seats passed with the support of Labour, the Greens, and New Zealand First. If my Bill passes its third reading that partnership is only going to strengthen.

The Coalition government is also working to settle on the final contours of the new CrownMa¯ ori partnership portfolio and agency. The minister and the agency will help oversee the Crown’s obligations to Ma¯ ori.

It’s going to become a New Zealand first (maybe even a world first for indigenous people). It demonstrates just how serious our Coalition government is and it comes just as Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little is working to settle the final set of historic Treaty settlement claims.

‘‘We are a government of change and this plan shows our new thinking on how we’ll tackle the big challenges facing our country,’’ the prime minister said. In that sentence she captured what’s special about this Coalition government.

We’re not going to shy away from the challenges. We’re going to meet them, and we’re going to overcome them. New Zealanders expect no less.

Mauri ora!