Despite our geographical and cultural proximity, it’s always instructive to realise just how little most Australians really know about New Zealand politics. I must include myself in this: prior to becoming part of the BFD family, I knew barely anything beyond the names of a few prime ministers and that there was some bloke called Winston Peters who seemed to grab a lot of headlines.
Even those Australians whom it might be thought have a professional obligation to cultivate an in-depth understanding of New Zealand politics often seem to have a curious facile grasp. But, while The Project’s fawning over Jacinda Ardern was uninformed and nauseating, even the supposedly conservative newspaper of record, The Australian, looks across the Tasman through a rose-tinted Telescope of Superficiality. Nowhere is this better shown than by its analysis of what it supposes are the key issues in New Zealand’s forthcoming election.
In Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand has a modern, likeable, capable prime minister. Her effort to soothe a hurting nation following the March 15 terrorist attack was authentic and appreciated by the nation […]The alternative prime minister, Simon Bridges, regularly paints Ardern as a ditherer, as all compassion and no action, and incapable of landing major policies. So far it isn’t working…
While the above is mostly accurate, insofar as it goes, it almost completely ignores the most glaring issue: not Ardern, but Bridges himself. Ardern is a paper princess: the slightest puff of wind from a determined opposition leader with an ounce of political mongrel would see her vanish in a puff of fairy dust. But Bridges is neither.
Julia Gillard was as beloved by the media-elite class as Ardern, but Tony Abbott ruthlessly demolished her prime ministership.
National’s most effective line of attack on Labour has been on infrastructure. Ardern’s government has abandoned a pledge to build 100,000 homes in 10 years – known as Kiwbuild – after falling embarrassingly short of targets. Roads and transport links, particularly in Auckland, fall well below expectations […] Labour’s counter, a trite “nine years of neglect” referring to the previous government, doesn’t bite, but a $NZ12 billion ($A11.6 billion) infrastructure announcement in January aims to address this.
Again, while kinda-sorta correct, this fails to convey just how embarrassingly bad Labour in government have been. Kiwibuild was not just “embarrassing”, it was farcical. Auckland’s roads are choked car-parks. Labour’s performance has been so abysmal that even the starry-eyed legacy media couldn’t avoid pointing out the lie of Ardern’s “Year of Delivery”. Does anyone seriously believe that the new infrastructure announcement will be any different?
Fiscally and economically, New Zealand is in rude health […] but many Kiwis are being left behind […]The government has tinkered with family support and tax settings rather than increasing welfare despite calls to do so.
As with infrastructure, this completely ignores just how big an issue this is – or at least, should be – for Labour, and Ardern especially. Ardern owns this problem: she specifically appointed herself “Minister for Child Poverty Reduction”. She has conspicuously failed. There is simply no excuse for the media, even in Australia, not to take notice and hang that millstone around her neck for all to see.
At least The Australian is informed enough to mention Winston Peters. Most Australian media barely even seem to know that he exists, let alone what he could mean to the election.
Peters loves to take centrestage and antagonise […] But polling isn’t good for Peters’ populists; they need to poll above five per cent to retain their numbers in parliament and they are skirting dangerously close to that figure. So expect some vintage Winston this year.
Now we come to the truly ridiculous, though:
The level-headedness of New Zealand’s climate politics is quite apart from Australia.
Clearly, this journalist has never paid attention to the witterings of Ardern, or the shrill hysterics of her coalition partners, the Greens.
This analysis also completely ignores what will surely be an issue for many New Zealanders: the gun buyback and its associated failures of police, government and the rule of law.
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