“We believe capitalism must regain its human face, and that conviction deeply influenced our decision.”
So said Winston Peters, the kingmaker politician who lent his support a year ago to Labour’s rising star, Jacinda Ardern, after a decade of conservative National party government. “For too many New Zealanders capitalism has not been their friend but their foe,” he said.
Peters’ choice thrust the then 37-year-old into the spotlight, sparked the “Jacindamania” phenomenon, and set the clock ticking as voters awaited the dramatic change her party had promised.
Ending child poverty. Bringing kindness and empathy to politics. Tackling climate change and improving the lives of New Zealand’s most vulnerable people. The ambitious pledges kept coming.
“Today is a new beginning” said Ardern in her first speech as prime minister to parliament. “The status quo is not good enough and we will not settle for it.”
Concrete action has included increases to paid parental leave, boosting the accommodation allowance for welfare recipients, and an increase in the refugee quota. And Ardern has consistently remained New Zealand’s preferred leader in the polls since being sworn in, but solutions to some of the nation’s problems remain elusive. As the months have slipped by it has become hard for New Zealanders to see evidence of transformative change in their day-to-day lives.
Petrol prices are at a record high, synthetic cannabis deaths are soaring and tens of thousands of teachers and nurses have gone on strike for the first time in decades. A plethora of working groups and reviews have prompted the catch-cry: “less hui [meetings] more do-ey”.
Joe Carolan, an organiser at Unite Union which represents many low-paid workers, says there is “huge anger” about the high cost of housing and transport, and many workers feel betrayed that a Labour-led government is not doing enough, fast enough to improve their everyday lives.
“We’re gearing up a for a big round of strikes in 2019 that is coming with the new mood … there seems to be a hundred working groups about everything, and any change seems to be token,” says Carolan.
“It’s been nearly a year since we had the government, and most people would say the housing and transport situation has got worse.”
While Ardern continues to win plaudits on the global stage, her star power has also started to wane in the domestic media, with commentators calling the prime minister out for lacking control of her ministers after two were fired in quick succession, for failing to unite her coalition partners, and for allowing Peters – her foreign affairs minister and deputy PM – to run rogue.
Headlines expressing concern about Ardern’s leadership style have started to emerge, accusing the prime minister of weakness.
Dr Claire Timperley, a political scientist at Victoria University, describes Ardern’s first year in office as a “magical year” full of firsts and freshness, but also challenges: “At this point there has been more promise than action.”
Professor Jennifer Curtin, director of the public policy institute and a professor of politics at Auckland university, argues that the slow pace is proof that Ardern’s government is aiming for true transformational change, and isn’t interested in “tinkering” with the status quo.
But if there aren’t more short-term wins voters could start to feel let down, that their lives aren’t materially improving, she said.
“People aren’t going to be convinced by a wellbeing budget if the wellbeing budget only delivers for a generation in 10 years’ time,” says Curtin.
‘They are actually engaging with people’
A number of public inquiries – including a mental health inquiry and the justice advisory group – are travelling to regional centres around the country for public consultations, a method that Curtin says shows a departure from previous government’s heavy reliance on management consultants.
But the working groups and reviews are slow, expensive and time-consuming, and make it difficult for voters to measure quantifiable outcomes, or pinpoint concrete improvements.
“These reviews are giving opportunity to groups that traditionally don’t have privileged access to government. They are trying to talk to a lot of those communities that are directly affected by policy changes. And I am not sure we have seen it done in that way for quite a long time,” says Curtin.
“They are also seeking different avenues and channels of expertise. They see experts in different places. If you are going to do transformation, you have to know what is actually going to transform people’s lives.”
Dr Ang Jury, chief executive of Women’s Refuge New Zealand says there is such increased activity in the sector “it just about makes your head spin”. She cites an overhaul of the welfare system and the progression of the child poverty reduction bill as significant wins.
“There is a lot of talk, but it is consultative talk, rather than just the ministry going blah blah blah, or a minister going blah blah blah. They are actually engaging with people,” says Ang. “And after a year we’re starting to see some promising signs.”
Timperley says although Ardern’s rhetoric is “soaringly aspirational” it needs to be to create the level of societal change she is aiming for, and there is strong evidence her government is walking the talk.
Ardern’s commitment to making politics kinder and more empathetic is shown by her refusal to capitalise on mistakes made by opposition leader Simon Bridges, Timperley says, her candid Facebook Live videos, and her willingness to nail her colours to the mast and be held to account.
“She is putting her neck out by saying ‘I want to claim kindness’ – kindnesses can also be interpreted as weaknesses,” says Timperley. “I think she is being very intentional in trying to change the language around leadership, and saying actually you can be kind and you can also be strong.”
Political observers agree Ardern’s rejection of traditional leadership styles has seen her subjected to a range of gendered criticism, including the recurrent refrain that she is “inexperienced” – despite having three more years in parliament than former PM John Key – and insinuations that she is overloaded and “struggling to keep up with her job.”
The plethora of firsts under this government – youngest leader, first PM to have a baby, first pregnant leader to speak on tribal grounds – is also proving unsettling for conservatives, says Curtin, and Ardern has unwittingly become caught up with the growing backlash against strong feminist voices and the MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
“There is a core element inside New Zealand that is still struggling with the fact that she’s had a baby,” says Curtin. “There is a multitude of newness that everybody is still going … woah.”
In the social justice arena, the government has definitely “changed the tone”, says Dr Emily Keddell, a senior lecturer in social work at the University of Otago, and ushered in a new phase of respect and empathy towards those receiving welfare help and the country’s most vulnerable people.
An entire overhaul of the welfare system is also underway, but the immediate, superficial changes introduced are indicative of a shift away from shame to one of possibility, Keddell says.
“They are certainly responding to poverty in a more humane way then we have seen with previous governments. In the area of child poverty they are trying very hard to respond to the issue in a meaningful way,” says Keddell.
In Northland new mother Jaime Faulkner, 36, is adamant her life has improved in the past year. Extended paid-parental leave, and a new best start payment of NZ$60 (£30) a week for her baby’s first year have made “a serious difference”, she says, and allowed her to spend more time with her daughter, and buy necessities such as nappies and clothes.
Faulkner says MPs in her region attend more community events, speak more te reo Māori and have shifted the focus to telling stories of Māori successes, rather than struggles.
Asked to sum up the new government in one word Faulkner doesn’t skip a beat while her daughter squeals for attention in the background.
“Supportive,” she says.