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WWhen Jacinda Ardern took over the leadership of the New Zealand Labor Party less than two months before the 2017 elections, she had a firm eye on the country’s social problems, blaming nine years of a National Party-led government for the rates of child poverty and unaffordable housing. Ardern promised a transformative government, pledging to improve the climate crisis, address mental health and suicide rates, and build tens of thousands of new homes.
Its ability to respond in a crisis, such as the Christchurch terror attack in March 2019, the deadly volcanic eruption at Whakaari, and Covid-19, is well documented and has received global praise. But at the national level, he has had a political coalition and a pandemic to manage: Labor has been in power alongside the Greens and New Zealand First.
He promised strong and empathetic government and a “fairer and better New Zealand.” How has your government kept its promises of radical change? The Guardian asked two political experts or commentators in each field for their assessments.
The environment
Kera Sherwood-O’Regan (Kāi Tahu), a climate justice advocate and co-founder of the social impact agency Activate
Grade: C +
His presentation was forceful with Ardern proclaiming climate change the “nuclear-weapon-free moment” of his generation, but unfortunately, putting climate change on the agenda is not the same as getting results. The Green Party appears to be the only diligent student dragging the group across the finish line with a Zero Carbon Law with an ambitious but otherwise mediocre name; and the government as a whole routinely ignores communities currently on the front lines of climate and environmental destruction in favor of keeping up with the agricultural and business sectors. The only thing they have in their favor is that the previous national government did not even come to class.
David Cormack, former chief of policy and communications for the Green Party and co-founder of a public relations firm
Grade B-
Passing the zero carbon law and creating a path for agriculture to be included in the emissions trading scheme are successes to be commended; however, compromises with National, the center-right opposition party, that resulted in a watered-down bill have now been shown to make no sense, and National leader Judith Collins has promised to repeal parts of it. They should have. Emissions from transportation are still a huge work in progress.
accommodation
Shamubeel Eaqub, Housing Economist at Sense Partners
Grade B
Home affordability got worse: Median home prices have risen from 6.3 times median household income in the last election to 6.9 now. During the previous nine years (under National), it went from 5.5 to 6.3. The previous nine years (under Labor) it went from 3.9 to 5.5. The government did some long-term things, like build more state houses and reform rental rules, and some ineffective things like banning foreign buyers. They get an F for not implementing their flagship KiwiBuild policy (which promised 100,000 new homes in 10 years), but it gets a B for really good things in long-term policy.
Morgan Godfery is a writer and political commentator.
Grade: B +
It’s obvious, almost trite, to point out that KiwiBuild was a failure. Very few houses were built, and what was built was mainly middle-class housing in wealthy places like Wānaka. But where the government has distinguished itself is in the slow return of state housing with thousands of new constructions helping to ease pressure on the most vulnerable.
Covid-19 Response
Professor Michael Baker, a prominent epidemiologist at the University of Otago, Wellington, who has researched and advised on the response to the Covid-19 pandemic since January
Grade A
New Zealand adopted a well-communicated elimination goal and took a swift and vigorous response to the first and second Covid-19 outbreaks. This strategy has put New Zealand at the international forefront in effectively managing a pandemic that will benefit public health and support a faster economic recovery than would have been the case if the virus had been allowed to circulate. However, the answer could have been even better (more effective and less expensive) if you had fully involved your scientific community in the research and development effort and made better use of tools like masks.
Ben Thomas, public relations consultant and former national government staff member
Grade A
The results cannot be argued with, as a procession of deposed opposition leaders has found themselves trying to grapple with Ardern’s popularity after the pandemic. They could have gone harder, and sooner, particularly by firing an underperforming health minister, and questions remain about where to go, but Ardern’s personal judgment has left New Zealand in good stead for now.
Poverty
Susan St John CNZM is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland Business School and Researcher at the Child Poverty Action Group
Grade: C +
The basis of the growing problem of poverty is the lack of control of the excessive accumulation of wealth in property. Expensive housing and high-end investments with largely tax-free capital gains skyrocket along with an expanding low-income group that is poorly accommodated in poor-quality, expensive, and often unsafe temporary rental housing. There have been small improvements in low income, but no transformative step change. The government’s promises to prioritize child poverty led to very modest reduction goals that seem less achievable in today’s environments amid the Covid-19 recession.
Andrew Becroft, New Zealand Children’s Commissioner and former Chief Justice of the Juvenile Court
Grade B-
In the past three years, New Zealand has laid more foundations for reducing child poverty than in the previous 30 years combined. However, the income poverty and material hardship statistics are stubborn to change and have not been significantly reduced. The government has set an achievable and appropriate goal of halving child poverty in 10 years; That’s going to take big, bold changes, including increased benefits to account for the 1991 cuts and the provision of more in-kind assistance, such as free school lunches and comprehensive health care for all youth up to age 18.
The economy
Morgan godfery
Grade A-
A friend jokes that Labor finance spokesman Grant Robertson is the most effective national party finance minister since the last. It’s a joke, sure, but true enough: Robertson’s cautious management of the economy has a lot in common with Bill English, opting for large subsidies for businesses, small interventions and increases in welfare, and a social policy that favors “investment ”.
David cormack
Grade: B- (pre-Covid), A- (during Covid), C + (post-Covid)
The economy was doing well until Covid arrived and wiped out everything. The government, however, responded very well, and their wage subsidy was a big reason why we held out as well as we did. That said, with the opportunity to completely reshape the economy in a future post-Covid world, the government has taken the conservative route, all in the name of “stability,” thereby cementing the same problems we already had.
Health
Emma Espiner (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Porou), award-winning writer, medical senior, and host of the RNZ Getting Better podcast series
Grade: A or C, depending on who the patient is
We have a two-tier healthcare system in New Zealand; the upper level is the one that generally works for you if you are capable, Pākehā, of a gender that conforms to a binary model, and you are heterosexual. The system works worse or actively harms you if you don’t fit that profile. In terms of overall performance, the government gets an A for serving the former and a C for serving the latter. This includes the Covid-19 response.
Shaun Robinson is the executive director of the Mental Health Foundation
Grade: B + for mental health
The government has started important work that includes early support services and mental health law reform. However, the lack of a plan on how to implement the recommendations of its mental health research is concerning to many in the industry. The lack of an ongoing program to promote positive mental well-being also remains a concern.
Education
Jack Boyle, President of the Post-Primary Teachers Association
Grade: B + for secondary education
A solid B + supported by a much greater association with the profession than its predecessors and putting the resources to support what has been agreed with the sector. There was a strong response to Covid-19 and a willingness to work together on the agreed challenges through a tripartite agreement with the unions. More work is needed on equity and a more sustainable workforce, but there are some hopeful signs that this could happen, too.
Shaun Hendy, Professor of Physics at the University of Auckland and Director of the Center of Research Excellence for Complex Systems and Networks, Te Pūnaha Matatini
Grade: B- for tertiary education
If the free fee policy, which allows college students to study for free during their freshman year, was meant to be a first step in addressing rising student debt and unequal access to higher education, the government has yet to give a second. Instead, it has been distracted by the struggles of its polytechnics, which it has sought to stabilize through a merger. This has just eliminated the problems of the sector in the future and these will be overshadowed by the challenges now facing universities, who must figure out how to survive after the loss of their international students due to Covid-19.
