Mike Hosking: Why has Jacinda Ardern gone overseas yet again?

Opinion

I don't want to be unkind to the Prime Minister.

However, this is a woman who came onto the programme when I was deeply affronted by her lack of interest in D-Day, as were many thousands of New Zealanders.

Remember, she could have done one of two things for D-Day: she could have gone to Europe or she could have done something locally, and she choose to do neither.

After I asked her why not, her defence in part was this 'people don't like it when I'm out of the country and I've got a lot of things to do here' line, which only really excused her from going to Europe. Which is a long way away – though Scott Morrison managed it.

But, in the ensuing weeks, she has been in Rarotonga for a week, she dipped over to Melbourne for a speech on governance, and now she has skivved off to Samoa and Tokelau for another week.

With some of the pressing issues in this country, wouldn't it be better attended to by the Prime Minister then her wandering around the Pacific yet again?

I don't know what's going on with the Pacific. I understand their broad issue with it, which is driven largely by Winston, which is that they are worried about the Chinese.

They seem to think by hanging around the Pacific a lot and handing out $20 million there and $5 million here, somehow the Chinese are going to pack up and go home.

But there are a few things going on right here in New Zealand right now. The cancer story might be a good one.

And did you see her on the news on Friday night, when she made the announcement about the Ihumtao protest? She seems stressed, she seems like she didn't quite know how to say or how to handle it. What she did eventually say was we'll sit down and have a talk. Talk talk talk.

And then she went off to Samoa. So, yet again, she's not in the country.