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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended her decision not to share her position on the cannabis referendum during the elections, saying she wanted New Zealanders to form their own views.
Ardern voted in favor of legalizing cannabis, but only revealed his position after the preliminary results of the referendum were released.
“I reject that allowing New Zealanders to make their own decisions is more than allowing people … freedom of their point of view,” Ardern said during a news conference on Saturday.
“It is also important to note that the Labor Party does not have a position on this issue. I am the Labor leader, I took my vote as a personal vote in a way that many other New Zealanders did. I think that ultimately New Zealanders made their own decisions. “
READ MORE:
* Election 2020: One referendum passes, another fails
* Cannabis referendum: what it means for New Zealand’s businesses and economy
* I don’t want other teens to end up with a cannabis conviction like me.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she has taken strong positions on “quite personal” issues in the past (file photo).
Green Party drug reform spokeswoman Chloe Swarbrick had previously hinted that Ardern’s earlier refusal to reveal her vote showed that she was unwilling to stand up for her convictions.
“I’m in the Greens because I have the courage of my convictions,” Swarbrick said at the time, when asked if Ardern did not share his voting intentions Friday afternoon.
“I am really proud to have stuck my neck in and stood for something that I believe in, something that is evidence-based, something that disproportionately criminalizes and harms our most marginalized communities.
“Any politician who wants to talk about that kind of thing needs to say those things when it matters.”
Ardern said there have been problems in the past where he has taken “very strong positions,” such as euthanasia and the abortion law.
“The abortion law, I not only took a position, I persecuted it and changed the law in Parliament. This time [cannabis referendum] I wanted New Zealanders to decide. “
