Category Archives: Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for more collective action in her address to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, especially on the issues of climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, pandemic response, and opposing wars of aggression such as Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Arderns authoritarian impulses were on display in her call for tighter regulations on Internet speech, although she insisted she values free speech and merely wishes to cleanse disinformation from international discourse.

{snip}

Ardern called for disinformation to be treated like bullets, bombs, or nuclear weapons, conceding that a lie online or from a podium does not immediately kill people like the weapons of old, but in the long run could be more dangerous:

But what if that lie, told repeatedly, and across many platforms, prompts, inspires, or motivates others to take up arms. To threaten the security of others. To turn a blind eye to atrocities, or worse, to become complicit in them. What then?

This is no longer a hypothetical. The weapons of war have changed, they are upon us and require the same level of action and activity that we put into the weapons of old.

We recognized the threats that the old weapons created. We came together as communities to minimize these threats. We created international rules, norms and expectations. We never saw that as a threat to our individual liberties rather, it was a preservation of them. The same must apply now as we take on these new challenges.

Ardern went on to insist that she prizes the free, secure, and open Internet and our right to protest, and tacitly admitted that it would be difficult to build a consensus around her global crusade against disinformation. After all, one of the first world leaders to present a list of falsehoods he wanted to suppress would be Vladimir Putin, assuming he could beat Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to the global disinformation desk.

Ardern suggested that suppressing violent extremism and terrorist content online might be a place to start, citing the horrific March 2019 attack on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand as an example, without offering any others.

The attack was live-streamed on a popular social media platform in an effort to gain notoriety, and to spread hate, she noted.

As leaders, we are rightly concerned that even those most light-touch approaches to disinformation could be misinterpreted as being hostile to the values of free speech we value so highly, Ardern allowed.

But while I cannot tell you today what the answer is to this challenge, I can say with complete certainty that we cannot ignore it. To do so poses an equal threat to the norms we all value, she continued.

After all, how do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble? How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists? How do you ensure the human rights of others are upheld, when they are subjected to hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology? she asked.

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New Zealands Jacinda Ardern at the U.N.: Disinformation Should Be ...

Tyranny has had a makeover. Its no longer a boot stamping on a human face forever. It isnt a gruff cop dragging you into a cell for thinking or expressing a dangerous idea. It isnt a priest strapping you to a breaking wheel. No, authoritarianism is well-dressed now. Its polite. It has a broad smile and speaks in a soft voice. It is delivered not via a soldiers boot to the cranium but with a caring liberal head-tilt. And its name is Jacinda Ardern.

New Zealands PM, every online liberals favourite world leader, has gone viral over the past 24 hours following the circulation of the shocking speech she gave at the UN last Friday. Before the assembled leaders of both the free world and the unfree world, Ms Ardern raised the alarm about a new weapon of war. Its a dangerous one, she said. It poses a grave threat to humankind. It threatens to drag us headlong into chaos. We must act now, she pleaded with the powerful, so that we might disarm this weapon and bring [the world] back to order.

What is this terrible weapon, this menacing munition, that Ms Ardern so passionately wants to decommission? Its freedom of speech.

She was talking about words. Seriously. About ideas, disagreement, dissent. Her speech focused on the alleged scourge of mis- and disinformation online. We must tackle it, she said. She acknowledged that some people are concerned that even the most light-touch approaches to disinformation could come across as being hostile to the values of free speech. Youre damn right we are. But us global elites must nonetheless root out virtual bullshit because it can cause chaos, she said.

Really getting into her stride, she said speech can sometimes be a weapon of war. Some people use actual weapons to inflict harm, others use words: The weapons may be different but the goals of those who perpetuate them is often the same [to] reduce the ability of others to defend themselves. War is peace, said Big Brother. Big Sister Jacinda Ardern sees it a little differently: war is speech. Words wound, ideas kill thats the hot take of this globe-trotting luvvie against liberty.

And she really is talking about ideas. Modern politicians who wring their hands over misinformation or disinformation are usually just talking about beliefs they dont like. So at the UN, Ms Ardern gave climate-change scepticism as an example of one of those weapons of war that can cause chaos. How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists?, she asked. Critiquing climate-change alarmism, calling into question the eco-lobbys hysterical claims that billions will die and Earth will burn if we dont drastically cut our carbon emissions, is an entirely legitimate political endeavour. In treating it as a species of Flat Earthism, as disinformation, the new elites seek to demonise dissenters, to treat people whose views differ to their own as the intellectual equivalent of warmongers. Barack Obama also claims that misinformation about climate change which, in his view, includes painting the environmentalist movement in a wildly negative light is a threat to the safety of humanity. Be mean about greens and people will die.

Call me a weapon of war, but I believe freedom of speech must include the freedom to be negative even wildly so about eco-activists. Activists, by the way, whose hype about the end of the world could genuinely be labelled misinformation. But they are never branded with that shaming m-word. Thats because misinformation doesnt really mean misinformation anymore. It means dissent. Deviate from the woke consensus on anything from climate change to Covid and you run the risk of being labelled an evil disinformant.

Indeed, one of the most striking things about Arderns speech was her claim that if the elites ignore misinformation, then the norms we all value will be in danger. This is the most common cry of the 21st-century authoritarian that speech can have a destabilising and even life-threatening impact, especially if it concerns big crises like climate change or Covid-19. So climate deniers are a threat to the future of the human race and thus may be legitimately silenced. Lockdown deniers threaten to encourage the spread of viral infection and thus may be legitimately gagged. The spectre of crisis is cynically used to clamp down on anyone who dissents from the new global consensus. Images of Armageddon are marshalled to justify censorship of troublemakers. Chaos, as Ardern calls it thats what will unfold if your reckless, dangerous ideas are given free rein.

To see how authoritarian the desire to clamp down on misinformation can be, just consider some of the other world leaders who likewise used the platform of the UN to call for tougher controls on speech. Muhammadu Buhari, the brutal ruler of Nigeria, focused on his nations many unsavoury experiences with hate speech and divisive disinformation and joined the calls for a clampdown on the scourge of disinformation and misinformation. Russias foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, bemoaned the disinformation against his nation. The chattering classes cheering Ms Ardern for standing up to fake news are implicitly cheering Buhari and Lavrov, too. They are as one with that woke kween when it comes to chasing misinformation from the public sphere.

Freedom of speech is in peril. And it isnt only threatened by obvious strongmen like the corrupt rulers of Nigeria or the theocratic tyrants of Iran but also by a smiling PC woman who is feverishly fawned over by virtue-signallers the world over. Ms Arderns UN speech exposed the iron fist of authoritarianism that lurks within the velvet glove of wokeness. From her brutal lockdown, which forbade even New Zealands own citizens from returning to their home country, to her longstanding war on extremist speech, this is a woman who poses as liberal but cant even spell the word. If you want a picture of the future, dont imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever imagine Jacinda Ardern putting her arm around your shoulder and telling you with a toothy smile that youre going to have to sacrifice your liberty to save the world from chaos.

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Jacinda Ardern and the woke war on free speech - spiked

1. Jacinda Ardern urges Musk to stick to transparency amid extremism fears  The Guardian
2. Jacinda Ardern responds to Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter after report labels disinformation as one of NZ's top concerns  Newshub
3. 'Unknown territory': Jacinda Ardern on Elon Musk and Twitter  The Spinoff
4. 'Twitter has a huge responsibility': New Zealand's Ardern to Elon Musk  South China Morning Post
5. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Jacinda Ardern urges Musk to stick to transparency amid extremism fears - The Guardian

Colin Todhunter

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealands prime minister, grabbed the global limelight a few years ago, making headlines by stating she wanted to put kindness into politics. In 2019, Foreign Policy, a publication closely associated with the Atlantic Council and the US State Department, published the article The Kindness Quotient, a glowing promotion of Ardern.

The strategic marketing of Ardern in various publications has focused on her likeability, pro-environment stance, compassionate values and collaborative nature. To further appeal to liberal sentiments, she was said to represent everything Trump is not.

Ardern belongs to a set of global leaders who were groomed for their positions through the World Economic Forum (WEF) Young Global Leaders programme. Yes, that WEF the elitist organisation where hard-nose billionaires and their handmaidens gather to set out policies aligned with powerful business interests.

The charm offensive that Arderns promoters undertook was an investment. She delivered on COVID and is now expected to sell more questionable policies to the public.

Arden recently stated at the UN:

As leaders, we are rightly concerned that even the most light-touch approaches to disinformation could be misinterpreted as hostile to values of free speech that we value so highly.

She went on to state:

How do you tackle climate change if people believe it does not exist? How do you ensure the human rights of others are upheld as they are subjected to hateful and dangerous ideology.

She continued by saying speech (that the authorities disagree with) can be a weapon of war.

During COVID, Ardern urged citizens to trust the government and its agencies for all information and stated:

Otherwise, dismiss anything else. We will continue to be your single source of truth.

Throughout that period, in the US, Fauci presented himself as the science. In New Zealand, Arderns government was the truth. It was similar in countries across the world different figures but the same approach.

When anyone in power or any institution lays claim to the truth, history shows we are on a slippery slope to silencing thought and dissent that we disagree with.

Like other political leaders, during COVID, Ardern clamped down on civil liberties with the full force of state violence on hand to ensure compliance with the truth.

Clearly, Ardern is not alone here. Trudeau, Biden and others display Orwellian undertones as they talk of the need to challenge misinformation and those who question the truth. The thin end of a very wide authoritarian wedge.

It seems critical analysis and open debate are fine as long as those involved keep within the framework of what is deemed supportive of the narrative. Chomsky was correct on that.

We are often urged to trust the science and accept that the science is decided on various issues. We heard this on the COVID issue, when we were told governments are following the science, while they and the big tech companies censored world-renowned scientists and opposing views and opinions. In following the science, conflicts of interest were rife and notions of objectivity, open disclosure and organised scepticism core values of scientific endeavour were trampled on.

Those who questioned the COVID narrative were smeared, shut down and censored the playbook of Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Ag and authoritarian governments down the years.

Is anyone who questions and wants a more open debate on climate change or whether such change is occurring as stated or will lead to extinction to be charged with disseminating misinformation?

Is questioning the orthodoxy of the zero-carbon policy agenda to be shut down and those who challenge it to be labelled extremists.

Ardern asks: How do you tackle climate change if people believe it does not exist?

But it is also pertinent to ask: How do you tackle it if you accept it exists?

Even if we accept humanity is in trouble and facing a genuine climate emergency, people should at least be able to question the current green agenda based on a stakeholder capitalism strategy (governments and others facilitating the needs of private capital) that has co-opted genuine concerns about the environment to pursue new multi-billion-dollar global investment opportunities described in the 2020 report Nature for Sale by Friends of the Earth.

If you read that report, you might conclude that we are witnessing a type of green imperialism that is using genuine concerns about the environment to pursue a familiar agenda of extractivism, colonisation and commodification the same old mindset, greenwashed and rolled out for public consumption.

For some, things seem set to remain the same business as usual.

But in March 2022, BlackRocks Rob Kapito warned that a very entitled generation of people would soon have to face shortages for the first time in their lives as some goods grow scarce because of rising inflation.

Kapito said:

We have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice.

He, of course, was referring to ordinary people, not the high-flying class of the mega-carbon-footprint multi-millionaires and billionaires who will continue to live life to the max and cash in on their various investments and ventures.

Kapito talked about the situation in Ukraine and COVID being responsible for the current crisis, conveniently ignoring the inflationary impact of the trillions pumped into imploding financial markets in 2019 and 2020 (dwarfing the crisis of 2008) and a moribund economic system his ilk have milked dry to the point of collapse.

Kapito is a co-founder of Blackrock, the worlds largest asset manager which exerts enormous influence on monetary policy in the US and Europe. According to Salary.com, Kapito, as the president of BlackRock, made$26,750,780in total compensation in 2021. Of this, $1,250,000was received as a salary,$9,700,000was received as a bonus,$15,125,180was awarded as stock and$675,600came from other types of compensation.

Neither Kapito nor any of the hegemonic, unimaginably entitled and unelected billionaire class will have to experience any hardships in the coming years. No, they will be responsible for inflicting it on you. The same class of people who designed and profited from a strident neoliberalism based on deregulation and privatisation a system now in collapse and responsible for the current crisis and the immiseration of hundreds of millions.

In the 1980s, to legitimise the neoliberal agenda, governments rolled out an ideological onslaught, pressing home the notion of individual rights and the primacy of the market. Now, there is a new ideological shift towards a great reset again being driven by neoliberalism; this time, its collapse.

Ardens utterances on the dangers of free speech, the singularity of truth and the implicit shift towards authoritarianism must be viewed within the context of managing the economic crisis. What she says reveals how the financial and political elites based on Wall Street, in Washington and in the City of London are thinking.

The authorities fear blowback in terms of mass dissent and uprisings. Liz Truss, the UK prime minister wants to place legal curbs on striking trade unions as many of them take action to counter the cost of living crisis. There is also the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act which came into force in June and threatens citizens rights, not least the right to protest.

It therefore comes as no surprise that, today, individual rights and free speech are under threat. The ultimate control mechanism would be linking central bank digital currencies to personal carbon footprints, spending and dissent in an age of economic turmoil. Trudeau gave the game away on that when he hit protesting truckers where it hurt most denying access to their bank accounts.

How long before misinformation and challenging the truth becomes thought crime and as Jacinda Arden might put it cruel to be kind actions are taken against those who challenge dominant state-corporate narratives?

Well, not long because we have already witnessed it during the last few years.

Tyranny is the type of kindness we dont need.

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Free Speech, Jacinda Ardern and the Tyranny of Kindness

1. Woman arrested after attack on Jacinda Arderns office in Auckland  The Guardian
2. New Zealand: 1 held for attack on PM Jacinda Ardern's office in Auckland  The Indian Express
3. New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern's office attacked  Peoples Gazette
4. Woman arrested after attack on Jacinda Ardern's office  The Independent
5. Police make arrest after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Auckland office attacked, sword left lying on pavement  Newshub
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Woman arrested after attack on Jacinda Arderns office in Auckland - The Guardian

Leaders both in New Zealand and across the world are paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. Video / NZ Herald / AP

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expects King Charles III will stay politically neutral, despite making his opinions known on several issues in the past.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan this evening, Ardern also said a time for an official moment of silence to commemorate the death of Queen Elizabeth II would be organised and released within the next two days.

She said it would be at a time when "New Zealanders will have the opportunity to really pause and join in nationally".

Ardern said she intended to go to the Queen's funeral and was waiting for the following days' official events in the UK to be organised.

Logistics would need to be worked out, Ardern said, as it would clash with her trip to the United Nations General Assembly.

Ardern spoke of the Queen's interest in New Zealand's current affairs and said King Charles had a similar interest.

"Over the years, [Charles' involvement in politics] has always been at the level of where you would expect a future king to be interested," Ardern told du Plessis-Allan.

As a prince, King Charles expressed his opinions publicly on climate change and a number of other issues, which was at times controversial due to a precedent for royals to remain politically neutral.

"[Royals] do have an interest in what's happening; current events and issues that are top of mind for New Zealand," Ardern said.

She said she had met King Charles on a "number" of opportunities, as recent as this year in Europe, where he had shown a "genuine affinity" for New Zealand.

Ardern said he was particularly connected to the country through his work with The Prince's Trust, a charity for vulnerable young people.

"I think about the times when I spoke to the Queen, it was during things like lockdown. Of course, when we've had members of the royal family, such as Prince William, it was in the aftermath of March 15."

Ardern said she was unsure of when she would speak to the country's new king, as he would be currently involved in establishing the UK's new government.

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Ardern expects King Charles to remain politically neutral - New Zealand Herald

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on a previous visit to New York. Photo / Supplied

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will fly to New York City later this month for an annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations, the UN General Assembly leaders' week.

The meeting was previously an annual fixture for New Zealand prime ministers, but Ardern has not attended in person since 2019.

This is not her first visit to New York since the pandemic, however - she visited earlier this year as part of her US trade mission.

Ardern will fly to the United States on Air New Zealand's inaugural direct flight between Auckland and New York's JFK Airport.

"I look forward to visiting the United States to meet with counterparts, and taking the opportunity to further promote New Zealand's reconnecting plan," Ardern said.

"It's an important opportunity to set out New Zealand's continued commitment to the multilateral system and international rules-based order. As the world continues to grapple with Covid-19, climate change, the Ukraine and geopolitical tensions, international co-operation is more important than ever," Ardern said.

While in the United States, she will co-host a Christchurch Call to Action Leaders' Summit, with French President Emmanuel Macron and participate in events to promote trade, investment, and tourism.

"I look forward to meeting with heads of state and global tech leaders to continue our important work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online," Ardern said.

Leaders typically use UN General Assembly as an opportunity to meet one-on-one on the sidelines of the main event.

Ardern has a number of these planned, although she has not announced with whom she will be meeting.

She will also deliver New Zealand's national statement at the General Assembly.

Ardern will also meet with the Motion Picture Association of America, a trade body representing the film industry, to promote New Zealand as a film destination.

She will also attend the launch of the Invest New Zealand campaign "Do Good, Do Well" alongside major US investment funds.

Ardern said Air New Zealand's new direct flight to New York was "an exciting step in reconnecting New Zealand with the world, and will bring a welcome boost for our tourism and other businesses".

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Jacinda Ardern to travel to New York for UN meeting later this month - New Zealand Herald

Jacinda Ardern is polling at her lowest level since becoming Prime Minister as cost-of-living pressures squeeze New Zealand households and the shine of her COVID-19response wears off.

New Zealand's last election was at the end of 2020 when Ms Ardern and the Labour Party won a clear majority something that had not happened since the country changed its voting system.

That election was undoubtedly the "COVID election", but analysts say next year's vote will be about the economy and Ms Ardern now has a challenger who is positioning himself as "the business guy".

In the most recent 1News/Kantar poll, support for New Zealand's Labour government had dropped to 33 per cent, which is behind the opposition National Party, which is sitting on 37 per cent.

Oneparty that gained ground was the right-leaning ACT, which grew its support by4 per cent.

That is a significant change because in New Zealand governments are usually coalitions and, according to this poll, the National Party and ACT have enough support to form government.

It is a huge shift from the last election when Labour won in a landslide, securing 50 per cent of the vote.

"On current polling, the left block, so Labour and Greens, and the right block, [which is] National and ACT, are pretty close," University of Auckland political analyst Lara Greaves said.

"It depends on the poll and depends on the day, so really our 2023 election is looking to be a very close election."

As always, polls are not perfect and some deflation of support for Labour could have always been expected.

The question now is whether Ms Ardern a leader who enjoys immensepopularity around the world can do enough to stay in good favour at home.

It might be surprising that a leader who has beeninvited to Harvard and onto late-night television in New York City could be losing ground, but Dr Greaves said New Zealanders had a different view.

"I would definitely say there's a discrepancy between brand Ardern on the international stage and what New Zealanders think," shesaid.

"We're proud of her being an international superstar wherever Ardern goes next, I'm sure New Zealanders will be proud, but currently looking at the government landscape there are questions if she would be the best person to lead us after 2023."

When Labour retained office with a sweeping victory in 2020, analysts noted Ms Ardern had picked up National voters who were in favour of the "fortress New Zealand" COVID strategy and who were "rallying around the flag".

In that election, New Zealanders who had never before voted for Labour swung to support Ms Ardern.

But there was always apolitical risk in moving away from eliminating the virus. And now the electorate is facing new issues and looking at what progress the government has made on old ones.

"[The election in] 2020 was all about COVID [but]2023 is not going to be 2023 is going to be about the economy, it's going to be about inflation and it's going to be about inequality," Dr Greaves said.

"In the case of Ardern, she's really staked a lot of her reputation on being anti-poverty and anti-inequality, and so it's really hard to have that moralauthority in 2023 when you're standing on the debate stage and actually inequality has gotten worse.

"We know from various indicators that inequality got worse under COVID and that it's continuing to get worse."

Like every government, New Zealand's is now dealing with the fallout of the pandemic and surging inflation.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has been lifting the official cash rate since October, but at the last update inflation was still above 7 per cent.

Wages are rising too, but not at the pace of inflation.

"Over the last year to June 2022, the average Kiwi household is spending between $70 and $250 a week extra on just the essentials, so food, rent, power, fuel, and a mortgage if they have it instead of rent," chief economist from Infometrics Brad Olsen said.

"At the same time, the average worker on the average wage, working a 40-hour week has earned an extra $92 a week before tax.

"People are definitely, in general, still having to pay out more than they are getting in their pay packet."

New Zealand Minister for Housing and Minister for Energy and Resources Megan Woods told the ABC the government had taken steps to reduce the impact on households.

"Earlier this year, we raised main benefit rates. We've introduced a cost-of-living payment for people earning less than $70,000 a year we've taken 25 cents off the fuel excise duty to lower the cost of petrol because we know that was impacting people, and we've also made public transport half price," she said.

Inflation might be a force Ms Ardern is unable to control, but Massey University professor of politics Richard Shaw said the cost of living would be "the single most compelling issue" impacting support for her.

"I think it's the thing that's really biting people," he said.

"If she's no longer prime minister after next year's election, at this stage, I would think that virtually everybody in this country would say it's because of the cost-of-living pressures that people are under."

Until recently, the opposition in New Zealand appearedineffective and plagued by infighting, but with Christopher Luxon at the helm, the National Party has been enjoying a period of relative stability andincreasingsupport.

"National has gone through a bit of a renewal," Dr Greaves said.

"National has framed inflation as the 'cost-of-living crisis' so they've managed to frame it not as an issue that's about inequality, but an issue about economic management.

"If Christopher Luxon manages to score points with the economics there and the crisis gets worse, I think that's a real risk for Labour."

Mr Luxon might be able to win points on economic messaging, but Dr Shaw said there was scepticism about his personal brand among New Zealandvoters.

"There is a lot about the National Party that we just don't know at the moment," he said.

"There's nothing substantive in a policy stance that's come out and there are a few signs of concern."

The Opposition Leader, who is a fundamentalist Catholic, suffered a drop in support in July when the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe vWade decision and Mr Luxon reiterated his personal position on abortion, telling the New Zealand press: "I have a pro-life stance."

Mr Luxon, with hisinexperience and limited recognition among the voting public, will be going up against someone with global star power and a strong track record of leading the country through events such as the Christchurch attack, the Whakaari White Island disaster and the pandemic.

Despite the polls, analysts say Labour will not be "hitting the panic button" yet, knowing Ms Ardern is a formidable communicator and campaigner.

The unprecedented result of the 2020 election was a signal New Zealanders were, at that point, happy with the Ardern government's management of the pandemic.

And the low number of COVID-19 deaths and the speed at which the country's workforce has recovered aretestament to the success of New Zealand's approach.

But to achieve those results, the government brought in some of the strictest infection-control measures in the world, including effectively closing the border to New Zealand citizens, mask and vaccine mandates, and level four lockdowns.

While a large portion of the population was happy to follow the rules for the greater good, Dr Shaw said that unity was now gone.

"Everybody felt wonderful about being part of the team of 5 million and that is gone, that's completely gone.Now, the team is just shattered and fragmented," he said.

"And now the far-right faction of New Zealand's political and social spectrum is much more visible and much more open about their dislike for Prime Minister Ardern.

"It seems as though there is a pocket of people who really hate her, like vehemently dislike her," Dr Greaves said.

"A lot of them are really into misinformation and disinformation."

Dr Shaw said these forces could impact the election next year.

"That will be the thing, I think, that will mark next year's election campaign. It won't be a blowout, it'll be close, and it'll be really, really nasty," he said.

New Zealand's next election is still about a year away.

As is the custom, the Prime Minister will announce the date for the vote sometime at the start of next year. The word is another Kiwi custom means polling day will usually not coincide with an All Blacks game.

Looking at history, it would be highly unlikely for a two-term incumbent government to lose, but Dr Greaves said there was an interesting series of factors at play this time around.

"In this case, given all those external forces, given inflation, given Labour's failings around housing, given all of their different failures, there is a potential argument there for National being able to take the government out from Labour," Dr Greaves said.

At this point, the only safe prediction is that it will be very close.

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Jacinda Ardern is losing support in NZ, but can the PM's international star power save her? - ABC News

By Lucy Craymer and Jill Gralow

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the death of Queen Elizabeth as the end of a chapter in history, as leaders across the Pacific mourned the death of the 96-year-old monarch.

Following Elizabeth's death on Thursday, her eldest son Charles became monarch of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms including Australia, New Zealand, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

"Young or old, there is no doubt that a chapter is closing today, and with that we share our thanks for an incredible woman who we were lucky enough to call our Queen," Ardern said in a news conference. "She was extraordinary."

Ardern said she was woken early to be given the news.

"I had a police officer shine a torch into my room at about 4.50am this morning. When that torch light came into my room I knew immediately what it meant," Ardern said.

In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Queen's death was a loss felt deeply in Australia.

"Through the noise and turbulence of the years she embodied and exhibited a timeless decency and an enduring calm," he said.

Condolences were shared from across the Pacific.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape said she was fondly known as "Mama Queen because she was the matriarch of our country as much as she was to her family and Sovereign realms."

The Queen visited many of the Pacific nations she governed in the Pacific during her 70-year reign.

"We were fortunate to have the Queen visit us ... and we recognise her incredible commitment to service," said Tuvalu's Acting Prime Minister Simon Kofe.

The Royal Family's official website describes how on visiting Tuvalu in 1982 they were taken ashore in a fleet of local canoes and then borne aloft and carried ashore.

MOURNING

Flags were lowered across both New Zealand and Australia. Australia suspended parliament, while in New Zealand politicians were expected to gather next week to pay their respects.

Story continues

Both countries are constitutional monarchies, with the British monarch as head of state, although the role is largely ceremonial.

But there has been debate in both countries for some time on whether to become a republic, with a citizen as the head of state. A 1999 referendum in Australia on becoming a republic was narrowly defeated.

The accession of King Charles stirred calls in the Caribbean for the removal of the monarch as head of state, which were echoed in some quarters in Australia.

"Now Australia must move forward. We need Treaty with First Nations people, and we need to become a Republic," Australian Greens Party leader Adam Bandt said on Twitter, although he was accused by some supporters of being disrespectful.

The Australian Republic Movement noted the Queen had backed Australia's right to become a fully independent nation during the 1999 referendum, adding that it was "an issue for the Australian people and them alone to decide."

Commenting on the accession of King Charles, Sydney resident Katherine said: "He's been bred to do this his entire life."

"I think he'll do fine. I am a big fan of his son, William and his wife Catherine and their children ... I think that they have a place in our world, I really do."

Asked in a radio interview if the Queen's death takes Australia closer to being a republic, Australian Premier Albanese said it was not the time to talk about it.

"Today's a day for one issue and one issue only, which is to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II."

(Additional reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney, writing by Praveen Menon; editing by Lincoln Feast and Richard Pullin)

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'She was extraordinary,' says New Zealand PM Ardern as the world mourns the Queen - Yahoo News

The Prime Minister and Chris Hipkins should just apologise to the people of Northland.

Of course they owe them an apology.They let three women cross the border from Auckland to Northland. They gave them permission. And those women took Covid with themand Covid - back then - equalled a government lockdown.

Yes, it wasnt Jacinda and it wasnt Chris who signed off on the permission for those women to go over the border. It was some faceless bureaucrat in MSD. But it was the system that Jacinda and Chris designedand they are more than happy to take the credit for all the times they think their system worked, but they are not happy to take the blame when their system didnt work.

That region went into an 11 day lockdown. And that was on top of being cut off from the rest of the country by Aucklands border for months. Chris and Jacindas refusal to apologise to Northlanders for what they had to go through says to me these two have no idea what Auckland and Northland and parts of Wakiato went through. They sat comfy in Wellington for the entire duration of that Delta lockdown and border closure that went on for months, going to cafes and restaurants and being normal. They dont know how hard that was.

And they clearly dont know also how shady this looks.They knew at the time of the lockdown that it was a government problemand they said nothing.In that press conference at the very starttheyblamed the womenfor using "false information" to get travel permits.But they knew it was actually their fault. Chris Hipkins let it slip in an interview that "There was a degree of error in the approval in the first place".That was on day 5 of the lockdown.But that was all he said, in one interview that most of us wouldnt' have heard.So they let us all believe for 11 months that those women were to blame andnever corrected the record form what we can see. Thats shady.

So yes, they should apologise for the sake of the Northlanders who were put through that lockdown by a Government stuff up.And for their own sake, because if they dont, theyll just keep on being untrustworthy and act like they dont really care what happened to the people of Northland because their system stuffed up.

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Heather du Plessis-Allan: Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins owe the people of Northland an apology - Newstalk ZB