OPINION
The King’s Birthday Honours List shows there is something that needs to be said and, as a result, addressed. Who DIDN’T expect Jacinda Ardern’s name to appear? It seems it’s obligatory to give ex-Prime Ministers the highest honour whether they’re deserving of it or not. How does this come about? The answer is in the Herald. Who gets what is decided by three people in the Cabinet Office. What a joke!
There are questions that need to be asked here. Why are these decisions made in the Cabinet Office? That is just asking for trouble. How can favouritism possibly be avoided no matter which party is in power? The answer is it can’t. What is needed is an independent panel of suitably qualified people to decide. Otherwise, we risk, as in this case, the whole raison d’être of the awards being ridiculed.
Jacinda Ardern does not deserve to be on the list. Here is a woman who has carved out a career believing in hard-left socialism, is a confirmed republican and has single-handedly brought the country to its knees. That is her achievement and that is what we and history will remember her for.
If she is to be believed, and that’s a big call, she must have had some doubts herself. She said she was in two minds over whether to accept the award. She again failed to do the right thing.
Sir John Key said the award is a rite of passage for former Prime Ministers and couldn’t understand the amount of vitriol all over social media. Translation: – it doesn’t matter how bad or useless you are at the job; this is your reward.
Ardern has utterly failed at making this country the economic powerhouse it should be. She’s piled red tape on the farmers and, as a blogger said, invented child poverty rather than cured it. We’re still looking for the house that Jacinda built, ram raiding is rampant, the Maori Caucus is in control, bringing co-governance and racial division, the gangs have been rewarded with cash, homelessness is at an all-time high, huge numbers live on welfare and printing money is now an incurable disease. Thanks to her ‘Captain’s Call’ we’re in an energy crisis and told to take short showers. Not to mention Covid control and the accompanying lies.
All that and more, and yet she is evidently deserving of being a Dame. This brings the whole process into disrepute. No doubt some more deserving person has missed out as a result. No one, not even Sir John Key, should be surprised at the reaction on social media.
We, the plebs, live in the real world and actually have a voice. With October 14 just around the corner, it’s high time the politicians sat up and started listening. We are not impressed when we see the system hijacked for blatant political purposes. I always thought awards were based on merit or valued contributions to society. Ardern fails both those tests. Demonstrably. Hugging, kissing and dressing up don’t cut it.
If in fact, it is a ‘rite of passage’ then that needs to change.