Tag: Jacinda Ardern

Any Moment: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers updated information to the press on the massacre that saw 49 killed and dozens more injured at two different mosques. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering…

Ministers were ill-prepared for government or ill-suited to it. She has managed a coalition with the Greens and New Zealand First. But the biggest challenge for Labour? The same challenge it always has: tax. National has had significant challenges this year. The Greens looked swamped by New Zealand First at times but can also be happy with 2018. It wasn't a big bang approach, more of a big ban approach. Well it's only in Parliament because National lets David Seymour win Epsom. In 2020 National lets Act wither. You'd be back to an FPP style, two party Parliament of National and Labour.

It’s fashionable to claim that progressive politics has been in decline across the western world since the global financial crash of 2008, that progressive politicians don’t know what they stand for anymore, and that parties of the far right and far left have been insurgent. At the core of our beliefs is the value of work – yet we acknowledge there is more to life than work. The centre-left administrations of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown lost power in 2010, having won three general elections in a row since 1997. In elections last year, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) got 20.5 per cent of the vote, and the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) got just 5.7 per cent of the vote. These politicians respect the achievements of the wave of “third way” leaders of the Nineties and Noughties, but also recognise times have changed, which means different, modern solutions to today’s problems. New Zealand Labour’s 38-year-old Jacinda Ardern – who describes herself as a “progressive” and a “social democrat” – became leader of her party just three months before their general election in October 2017. She went on to become prime minister of a coalition government after substantially increasing Labour’s vote share. But the debate could be about so much more than this if we could lift our sights beyond the domestic to the international, drawing on fresh ideas and initiatives shown to work by progressives in power. This month, The Progressive Centre UK, a new think tank and network of progressives – to which I have been appointed chair – launches with the explicit aim of connecting progressives from across the UK with the latest ideas and experience from across the globe. As it happens, Ardern, Trudeau and Sanchez were all involved in the gathering the centre co-sponsored in Canada last month, organised by the Global Progress network.

National has been ramping up its attack ads ahead of the Government's first budget next week, its latest meme claiming the Government would spend $1 billion funding foreign diplomats, at the expense of cheaper GP visits. However, some of the ads are more than just the opposite political stance - they're factually incorrect. Ardern said the Government had to put that much money towards MFAT and aid. During the election campaign, National put out two versions of a tax attack ad, to hit Labour in one of its weakest spots. Labour has also used social media as a way of attacking National. But Labour targeted National's tax cuts, and Family Tax Credit boost from its last budget. In a Facebook ad from July last year, Labour posted a meme saying National would give $400m in tax cuts to the top 10 per cent of the country, at the expense of homes schools and hospitals. The ad came after National gave tax cuts, and boosted the Family Tax Credit, which it estimated would help about 2.2 million, from all income brackets. The Government has also said its $76.2m boost to frontline family violence services is the first funding increase in 10 years. National might not have poured that money directly into frontline services, but to say it did not fund services and programmes focused on family violence was incorrect.

It's a question many New Zealanders genuinely don't know the answer to. * Ardern takes her place among Commonwealth leaders * Russia dominates PM Jacinda Ardern's talks in London * Ardern to join May, Turnbull at security meeting We live in the age of personality politics, and Bridges and Ardern both have problems, just not the same ones. Bridges, however, is sat in Opposition, with his party of 56 MPs in first place in the polls on 44 per cent, but voters aren't too sure about him leading the country. Bridges followed Joyce's steps into communications, transport and economic development ministerial roles but, because Joyce had so much influence and power as both John Key and Bill English's right-hand man, Bridges was only ever a behind-the-scenes man. The 1 News/Colmar Brunton poll this week saw Labour fall to 43 per cent, the Greens and NZ First rose to 6 and 5 per cent, respectively. On the surface the coalition Government will be happy, and in the most preferred prime minister poll, Ardern is on 37 per cent compared to Bridges' 10. The results showed 35 per cent thought Ardern was doing a good job, 50 per cent said it was OK, and 11 per cent said it was bad. That's 85 per cent of those polled who think she's handling problems well, which means a chunk of National voters are happy with her political management. Picking away at Labour has been pretty easy for the new leader so far – not least because its policy announcements that have hit the regions in recent weeks have fallen into portfolios Bridges used to be the minister of, namely transport and energy. Bridges didn't need to call for her resignation, in fact he barely needed to lift a finger.

She was invited to join high profile names including Ellie Goulding, Helen Hunt and Shawn Mendes for the 24 Hours of Reality campaign, aimed at uniting the globe to find solutions to the climate crisis. Mr Gore was full of praise for the Prime Minister, and gave her a glowing introduction over the satellite link. "I gotta say at the outset, I'm really excited to meet you by means of this video hook-up cause I watched your election and I was cheering for you," he told her. US President Donald Trump has removed America from the Paris Agreement, but Mr Gore is part of a wide movement to keep climate change on the agenda. In the live interview, Ms Ardern said climate change is about more than politics and it's already hurting New Zealand. "We're seeing a decrease in our glaciers, we're seeing increased dryness in our soil. This is an issue that affects our wildlife, it affects our crops, it affects our lives." Unusually warm conditions in Fiordland were cited as a contributing factor to the recent death of a Kakapo named Blake, the first heat stress death of the species in 20 years. Other native birds, such as the Yellow-eyed penguin, are also suffering as sea temperatures affect their feeding patterns Chile President Michelle Bachelet will also be speaking at 24 Hours of Reality about her country's bold policies to ditch fossils fuels and use wind, solar and geothermal energy. Newshub.

That changed six weeks ago when Jacinda Ardern, the 37-year-old female deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, was gifted the party leadership and a mission to lift its vote share. Opinion polls showed a surge in support for Labour and for Ardern as preferred prime minister. Labour under Ardern appeared to ignite a belief, amongst Labour voters at least, that a change of government was not only desirable but achievable. Price too high? Income tax cuts offset an increase in the goods and services tax for middle- and high-income earners but did little to relieve the economic pressures on low-income earners experiencing high food prices and increased rents. A week out from the election, National regained its lead in the polls. Although the results remain provisional, with more than 380,000 special votes (15% of the total) still to be counted, it is apparent that with 46% of the vote, National is in a strong position to form a government with support from the center-populist party, New Zealand First. What is different this time is that the vote for Labour and the Greens is close to 42%, meaning a change of government would require a three-party coalition unlike any New Zealand has seen before. It is not yet known who New Zealand First will support.