The Union's focus was human rights and equal opportunities for the world's children. We are sitting on sofas in her office on the ninth floor of the Beehive, the circular building that houses the New Zealand government in Wellington. (I acknowledge amongst us today our distinguished leaders, speakers and those who bear authority. And then, within 15 minutes, I can be back in the hotel room having Neve spit pumpkin on my shoe. Appointed as New Zealand's Prime Minister in 2017, Jacinda Ardern has been described as an iron fist in a velvet glove. The case that Labours budget last week avenges these misdeeds is based on its $3.3 billion boost to welfare, set to incrementally rise over the next year, first in July, then in April 2022. On the contrary, gun crimes rose to a 10-year high after the law went into effect, according to Radio New Zealand. But the answer to them lies in a simple concept that is not bound by domestic borders, that isnt based on ethnicity, power base or even forms of governance. The worlds are in very close proximity. It still makes me laugh that Vogue came up with that, she said. In 2007 Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. 2. Its not known if she has ever resigned, so if she is still a member today, that would bring it close to 15 or even as much as 20 years. Will she be speaking to him about his xenophobic rhetoric? It felt very deliberate: was it? The very mention prompted a grimace: There are very few international political experiences quite like Brexit. But she wouldnt volunteer any advice for Theresa May, who at the time had narrowly survived a no-confidence motion. In other words, Richardson and her allies aimed not just to tinker with select programs but to transform hearts, minds, and what was politically acceptable. That doesnt necessarily apply to her. And we also ask that the condemnation of violence and terrorism turns now to a collective response. The critical thing has been the inclusive approach. New Zealands top talkback host has been listening to the new leader of the Labour Party. There is evidence of her having said comrade. Ardern was already famous for her youth; the news that she was to become only the second world leader to give birth in office (after Benazir Bhutto 28 years earlier) went round the world. And shes rattling off an answer, and its come straight off the top of her head, and theres one of two explanations for it. This framing has, in turn, largely been rebroadcast by the press, which has painted a picture of a budget dyed the deepest red.. At age 28, she was its youngest member. Given Ardern and her comrades had progressive answers to the financial crisis, those answers might now be used to guide us through the turmoil and hardship of post-Covid-19. The elements of that surprised me, says Ardern today. acinda Ardern grew up in the conservative, rural North Island town of Morrinsville. I would like to just do my job and be judged on being the prime minister of New Zealand, said Ardern. Peace be upon you. We are not immune to the viruses of hate, of fear, of other. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered New Zealand's 2021 budget at Parliament on May 20, 2021 in Wellington, New Zealand. At Buckingham Palace with the Queen in April 2017. READ MORE: * Iwi-run coronavirus checkpoints are a nonsense but police aren't stopping them * Prime minister needs to be held to account over coronavirus claims * Anti-virus measures are too late to stop needless sickness and economic pain. Wouldnt it be good if the president of the United States showed greater moral leadership? If anyone out there has a better photo let us know! There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility., This isnt a New Zealand issue, this is a global one, says Ardern today, carefully choosing her words. Read this book, former Member of Parliament Marilyn Waring. I dont know. A year earlier, she had become the first female prime minister to speak at the Waitangi pwhiri, a significant moment in the New Zealand calendar, and the youngest, at 37. She would boot me a lot., Ardern began her speech that day by casting back a year, when she had asked all of you to hold all of us, and myself, to account. Its 10, 11 oclock each night, going through cabinet papers. If you would like a comment on this piece to be considered for inclusion on Weekend magazines letters page in print, please fill in the form below. I wonder then what is the exact point whereby "inequality"becomes acceptable? But I am pragmatic about how much time that sometimes takes. The optimism tends to win out. She was elected uncontested at IUSY's world congress held in the Dominican Republic yesterday. I have been asking Ardern about her immediate response to the attack, which from the outset put a clear emphasis on inclusivity and solidarity. An assault on the freedom of any one of us who practices their faith or religion, is not welcome here. I look like Im pouting. Act of exraordnry violence. Nau mai, haere mai ki tnei hui. She doesnt need to, she suggests. What words adequately express the pain and suffering of 50 men, women and children lost, and so many injured? On the front are a series of notes, scrawled in Arderns rounded handwriting, growing more hurried and less legible as they cross the page. The New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and most of those who graduated from the Marxist group the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) are actually followers of Leon Trotsky (1879 -1940). Win big with the brand-new novel from the International No 1 Bestselling phenomenon and author ofMe Before YouandThe Giver of Stars. She had just seen her partner return to his spot in the third row of plastic seating with Neve propped up on his knee, having just had a nappy change in the back seat of a car around the corner. The level of detail that she has to absorb, and is able to retain, blows my mind. But she is verbally sharp. She said this morning it doesnt mean anything, its just Im sorry, it does. They are the publisher. Here are a few things you might not have known about the leader of New Zealands Labour party: Jacinda was born in Hamilton on 26 July 1980 and her family then moved to Murupara, where Jacindas father Ross worked as a policeman. E papaki t ana ng tai o maumahara ki runga o tautahi. It was shortly after 11am and the speeches, from local elders, from politicians, echoed back and forth across the lawn. The word progressive is a dirty word, to be blunt, in my philosophy. (2) a profit-and-loss system of accounting. Sidebar: Ive never trusted people who talk too fast. So, no, I didnt really think about that, either., Later, it was suggested to her that it was an important symbol of solidarity with Muslim women in New Zealand, who felt unsafe. Following the attacks, she points out, it was Peters who decided to travel to Turkey for a meeting of the international Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, where he met Recep Tayyip Erdoan; the Turkish president had been screening images from the terrorists video at rallies, and declaring that visitors from Australia and New Zealand who expressed anti-Islamic sentiments would be returned in coffins. I am here today to bring with me the grief of all New Zealand, she said. 'For me, it's time,' she added, during her surprise resignation speech this morning. Blair was another Labour leader who came to office on a wave of progressive euphoria. Were deciding whether I can get away with jandal-wear for the latter part of the afternoon, she confided. A crescent moon hangs in the blue sky above. In the reception area, a staffers preschooler son buzzes back and forth on a bike. After returning to New Zealand the 28-year-old entered . Labour had, after all, just come off a stunning landslide election win that gave it a single-handed outright majority, a first since the countrys 1996 electoral reforms. Her opponents sneered that it was all just stardust, but the party surged on a wave of Jacindamania. (3) private property rights. Are You Happy Now manages to be both extremely zeitgeisty but also timeless. It was a tough choice between being a clown (because they have so much fun) or a scientist (like her big sister Louise), but when she realised her passion for helping others, Jacinda chose politics. But New Zealand remains a laggard behind the rest of the globe, still firmly stuck in a decades-old ideological framework that never worked for most people, but that is especially horribly unsuited to meeting the civilizational crises of today. These are my notes for the first press conference, she explains. After completing a communications degree, she worked for a short stint in the Beehive of the last Labour prime minister, Helen Clark, who recalls noticing Arderns promise when she was on a team drafting answers for parliamentary questions. Incoming prime minister Jacinda Ardern says capitalism has been a "blatant failure" in New Zealand when measured by child poverty.. Ardern is the former head of the International Union of Socialist Youth so it is no surprise that our new Prime Minister thinks capitalism is a blatant failure. Already on our list? The sun was beating down and Neve, in a blue bonnet and spotted dress, clucked away happily. Here was a progressive upgrade on Canadas Justin Trudeau: an outward-looking young woman in a global lineup still dominated by greying men. The information was patchy and it was very difficult to decipher exactly what had happened, she recalls. Aged 27, and hailing from Morrinsville, Ms Ardern is just the second female IUSY president in 101 years. Bernie Sanderss two presidential campaigns sparked a series of elections of democratic socialists at every level of US government. We each hold the power, in our words and in our actions, in our daily acts of kindness. he prime minister was deep in conversation with her press secretary when she arrived for the formal part of our interview at Waitangi in February. In the shoe.. The Iraq war. A fortnight after the attack, a national remembrance service is held at Hagley Park in Christchurch, not far from Al Noor Mosque. And, lets be honest, in the lead up, too., Ardern sips from a mug of tea though she confesses that, years after quitting, shes also drinking coffee again. Its policy decisions, particularly around the housing market, have further concentrated wealth at the top while raising housing costs for ordinary Kiwis, in response to which it refuses to implement rent control. If Id been [at home] in Auckland it would have been different, but I didnt have scarves with me. Its very genuine, and people warm to that. Outside, the flags are at half-mast. By then, I had interviewed Ardern twice already: after a breakfast meeting at an Auckland hotel, and a few days earlier at Waitangi, on the northern tip of the North Island. After visiting the USA, Jacinda travelled to England where she worked for British Prime Minister Tony Blair before being chosen as the President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. There is very little time to sit and think in those terms. It was time to torpedo the status quo, he said, and at 72, he opted to become deputy to a thirtysomething prime minister. Cabinet is a massive beast. Of the Blair years more broadly, she said: What you do with policy, it demonstrated to me, can be completely overshadowed by decisions in principle. We will remember the first responders who gave so much of themselves to save others. I am here to stand alongside you We feel grief, we feel injustice, and we feel anger. She said it wearing a headscarf, an expression of solidarity that sprinted around the world. While the 1972 Royal Commission on Social Security defined the aim of welfare as giving those with disadvantages a standard of living much like that of the rest of the community, by the 1990s, the system came to be viewed as simply a safety net, and one that Kiwis had to be discouraged from using as much as possible. Humanity. I think we were musing about this the risk of ambition. Those values represent the very best of us. She was raised a Mormon, but quit the church in her early 20s, principally because of its stance on homosexuality. The reality was that I went down into the shed, pulled out my fishing box and took out some hooks, Gayford told me earlier this year. New Zealand's third female PM, and at 37 our youngest leader since Edward Stafford in 1856, Jacinda Ardern had the most meteoric rise to power of any New Zealand PM - three months prior to being sworn in, . I suppose that is exactly what Ardern and her comrades mean because they further stated: Todays dominating economical system of Western capitalism has contributed to the unequal distribution of wealth worldwide.. He took our minister for ethnic communities with him, and made a powerful statement. I think people dont want us to be perfect, she said. And you dont pick that sort of thing up because youre not a Marxist. I thought, yeah, that looks all right, thatll do.. To be the nation we believe ourselves to be. Sometimes I think we tend to think about our own actions in confined ways, and we underestimate the impact that we have. We never have been. To the global community who have joined us today, who reached out to embrace New Zealand, and our Muslim community, to all of those who have gathered here today, we say thank you. She had, though, seen the shooters manifesto, the 74-page screed he posted online. ), Ardern says she has been taken aback by the volume of press coverage over the past weeks, the scrutiny of her every word. The whole thing has already prompted a predictable counterresponse from the New Zealand right, replete with hammer and sickle and Soviet-style lettering. It also prompted Ardern herself to weigh in. They will remain with us forever. Maybe with your sincerity, not your smile, suggested the photographer. Christchurch was under attack. Thenprime minister Jim Bolger aimed to arrest New Zealands drift from work to welfare, end what he believed was permanent dependency on the state, and achieve a permanent and substantial reduction in the financial and human cost of welfarism.. No friend of free speech, she had little regard for public opinion and no respect for those with a contrary view. I am a pragmatic idealist, she told me. Thats all.. She is sharp mentally. The revival of socialism in mainstream politics has been one of the bigger developments of the last five years. So I asked if she had something I could borrow, because for me it was just a mark of respect. Looking for your kid's next great read? This means Ardern must negotiate with both NZ First and the Green party to advance any legislation. She put it frankly to me: I didnt know if I was going to be able to have kids., Then it all happened at once. Im only in government because two parties decided to work with us., Ardern alighted on the benefits of New Zealands system when I asked for her take on Brexit. Not just the postman. This is a huge achievement. The Guardians photographer asked Ardern to stand in the stripes, a film-noirish sort of pose. Optimism is baked into Arderns character. So for me, that means always having a mind on, yes, the policy work, yes, the domestic work but actually what legacy do you leave through some of those bigger, overarching decisions as well? Theres something very grounding about that. Comrades means something. Limited though this announcement is, not even Helen Clarks Labour government in the 2000s dared to try and wholly undo Richardsons welfare cuts, a sign that things really are slowly shifting. The piece that Larry [Williams] referred to this morning, Ive watched a couple of times, showed it to some other people over the weekend and they were aghast. 1:30 PM 'I don't have enough in the tank,' complained 42-year-old Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand. If so, this must be the most unusual socialist party in the world. (So let us gather with love, in peace, for this family, so that they may truly live again, so that we all may truly live again.). All the talk of a budget returning Labour to its roots starts to ring hollow when even one of the countrys leading business advocacy groups thinks the government was a mite stingy on helping the poor. That was his instinct and it was the right one. And so we say to those who have lost the most, we may not have always had the words. Tn koutou katoa. Does that mean that the clock needs to be reset so everyone is equal again? Later, Ardern was due to officially open a music festival, but at that moment she was on her way to visit the site of a new school. By then, I had interviewed Ardern twice already: after a breakfast meeting at an Auckland hotel, and a few days earlier at Waitangi, on the northern tip of the North Island. We know we need to act, she had told them. After graduating from a Bachelor of Communications at the University of Waikato, Jacinda took some time to travel overseas. That may not always be the case, but for now were making it work., As for being pronounced a game changer for women, Ardern welcomed the idea she might inspire others, but was eager to present a truthful picture. Half a lifetime and seven weeks ago, I watched Ardern as she sat on the porch of Te Whare Rnanga, the Maori meeting house at Waitangi. It was half a lifetime ago, she guesses. Thats it. Lets do this, went the slogan. Jacinda was President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Following the Christchurch attacks, Ardern was asked at a press conference if she agreed with Trumps downplaying of the rise of white supremacy. Most controversially, when it came to the superannuation surcharge a claw-back tax on high-earner pensioners that dented the programs universality the budget both raised the rate and expanded the number of people who had to pay it. Contact for complaints and communications under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015, Constructive Criticism and Team Work In Politics. Ardern became a list MP in 2008, a position she held for almost ten years until her election to the Mount Albert electorate in the . Simple, she says, nodding her head. and served as president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Socialism is based on the theory that incentives don't matter! 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