Ardern’s year of international delivery
My successor as Stuff’s political editor, Luke Malpass, called me before leaving for New York with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last week and asked if I had any advice. After many years covering the United Nations general assembly, the best I had to offer was wear running shoes.
UNGA is a chaotic, logistical nightmare, even more so for journalists, who don’t get to ride around in an escorted motorcade. Gridlock rules as world leaders shuttle between events and whole city blocks go into security lockdown. The best way to get around is on foot, while lugging a laptop and filing on your cellphone on the move.
When I accompanied Ardern last year she was a new prime minister and her advisers said they probably should have said no to more invitations than they did. Looks like that lesson was forgotten; her schedule this year was just as punishing.
Ardern was in high demand last year as the face of progressive left-wing politics – an antidote to the wave of rightwing populism sweeping the world at that time. Her international cache has only risen since then; her response to the Christchurch terror attacks, and the Christchurch Call, have given her unprecedented profile for a New Zealand leader. Her leadership on climate change also elevated her international stardom; even with the arrival of Swedish phenomenon Greta Thunberg in New York, Ardern was still the headline act at many climate change events around town.
But the international plaudits may give way to more critical assessment this time next year. Back home, reality is starting to bite as Labour’s three-way governing arrangement makes any truly transformative measures fraught. Nowhere is that more starkly expressed than by Labour’s failure to offer Climate Change Minister and Green Party co-leader James Shaw not just a seat, but an equal voice, around the Cabinet table.
Till that day comes, Ardern’s achievements on climate change may not just struggle to live up to her own ambitions, but those of her international admirers as well.