'Ardern was always highly image-conscious.'
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Welcome to Inside Politics. There are two things every Kiwi should try to do in their lifetime: spend some time at a marae and spend time on a farm. And if you can’t wangle an invitation for those experiences, the next best thing is to make a pilgrimage to Te Matatini kapa haka champs, and to get to the annual farming show that is Fieldays at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton Airport.
Fieldays, running until Saturday, is a deeply cultural experience that celebrates rural New Zealand, its innovation, ingenuity and camaraderie. It has the added bonus this year of being held at a time when the sector should feel particularly buoyed and appreciated for the boost they are adding to the economy.
Fieldays is always a magnet for politicians, and more so these days, given the agriculture portfolio is divided among the three coalition parties. It is a classic case of co-operation between National, Act and NZ First. The press statements haven’t stopped coming and have included measures to reduce large conversions of productive farm land to pine trees, boost the use of solar power on farms, and set up a $4 million contestable rural wellbeing fund. This morning, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson announced that new supply contracts for carpets in state houses will be wool. Act’s Andrew Hoggard, a former Federated Farmers president, has an announcement later today.
Federated Farmers commissioned its own political poll of farmers in the week following the Budget and found the following support levels: National 54%, Act 19%, NZ First 8%, Labour 3%, Greens 2%, Te Pati Māori 1%, other 1%, unsure 12%.
Jacinda Ardern’s memoir A Different Kind of Power is flying off the shelves despite its cost – recommended retail price $59.99. My own local bookshop has run out of copies, but having now read a review copy, I can confirm that while it has a distinctly Pollyanna vibe to it, it is also surprisingly well-written and funny in parts. When her press secretary, Andrew Campbell, told her the microphones in the debating chamber had picked up her muttering to Grant Robertson that David Seymour was “an arrogant prick”, her first reaction was “thank goodness”. She thought she had called him a “f****** prick”.
She describes some scenes in great detail, including herself as a nervous young adviser having her first proper encounter with the fearsome Prime Minister Helen Clark who was preparing for Question Time at her conference table (with an egg sandwich and a cup of tea). Ardern had just come from a controversial hearing involving the head of the education qualifications authority and, in front of Clark and advisers Heather Simpson and Grant Robertson, was required to summarise what had happened. As they were leaving, Clark called back Ardern and asked how she should pronounce the name, to which Ardern replied: “Ja-cinda Ar-dern.” Of course, Ardern was mortified when she realised Clark meant the name of the qualifications authority chief.
Ardern was always highly image-conscious and wanted control of her image. That is reinforced in the detailed description of how the March 15 mosque massacres unfolded for her while she was visiting New Plymouth and preparing a few rough notes before her first press conference. In this case, it is an illustration of empathy, not vanity, but it goes to the sort of detail in the memoir.
“I folded up my piece of paper and looked in the mirror briefly. I was wearing what I put on when I was preparing for a very different day; a burnt orange blouse, a black blazer. An oversized necklace hung around my neck, catching the light. I removed the necklace and stepped out into the hallway...”
The book paints a very vivid picture of the goodness of her family and the support that wrapped around her when she had a baby in office, especially by her partner, now husband, Clarke Gayford. He is three-dimensional and quite special.
Ardern avoids naming quite a few people, especially critics, and giving the sort of details New Zealand readers would appreciate. But some are identifiable anyway. In one part, she describes a woman MP attacking her in Parliament: “She was an incredibly smart woman – self-assured and well-respected by all sides. She wore tailored suits and sounded as if she were private school educated. But here she was, hair bobbing back and forth with a flushed face, pointing her finger in my direction...”
There is only one MP who meets that description – had a bob and was respected by Labour – and it was Amy Adams. Ardern and Adams had had a courteous relationship the previous term when Adams was justice minister and Ardern was Labour’s justice spokesperson. But when Adams was consigned to Opposition and Ardern to Prime Minister, Adams behaved like any Opposition MP would.
In another part, Ardern describes watching Parliament TV shortly after she had been made Labour’s deputy leader and seeing a young woman talking about her in terms of a “superficial cosmetic facelift” for Labour and for photo ops. That unnamed MP, Hansard shows, was the late Nikki Kaye, who beat Ardern twice in Auckland Central.
There will be another Ardern book soon; journalist and author David Cohen is working on one that he says will draw on reflections about her from all sides of the political spectrum and should be out by the end of the year.
And Ardern’s political soulmate Grant Robertson has his own memoir, Anything Could Happen, due out in August. No doubt they compared notes.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has had an eventful recess, joining Australia, Canada, Norway and Britain in applying travel bans to two Israeli Ministers, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Peters described them as “extremist” and undermining a two-state solution. He said the ministers had deliberately undermined the two-state solution “by personally advocating for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlement, while inciting violence and forced displacement”.
The travel ban has been met with outrage by the Israeli Government and the United States, both of which are considering counter-moves.
Earlier, Peters travelled to Nice, France for the UN Ocean Conference and a France-Pacific Summit, then to Rome, and is now on his way to Indonesia. In Nice, he met French President Emmanuel Macron and Overseas Territories minister Manuel Valls, whom he met recently in New Caledonia.
In Nice, Peters also shook hands with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, with whom he is embroiled in a diplomatic dispute. While officials are working on a truce, it is their first point of contact since Brown signed up the Cooks, a realm country of New Zealand responsible for its foreign affairs, to a co-operation deal with China.
Peters referred to China indirectly in his statement to the summit: “As we face external pushes into our region to coerce, cajole and constrain, we must stand together as a region – always remembering that we are strongest when we act collectively to confront security and strategic challenges.”
• Speaker Gerry Brownlee is leading the annual Speaker’s Tour this week to Japan. On the trip with him are assistant speakers Greg O’Connor (Labour), Maureen Pugh (National), and Teanau Tuiono (Green Party), and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Te Pāti Māori’s whip.
• Resources Minister Shane Jones has been in Singapore for an energy conference.
“Every government department chief executive in Wellington has had to cope with budget cuts in the last 18 months... but they acted like adults. They didn’t toss their toys and walk out without notice. Adrian has behaved more like a moody teenager over inevitable fiscal restraint” – former Reserve Bank economist Michael Reddell to Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan.
Who is the Minister of Tourism and what is his/her electorate? (Answer below.)
Goes to Professor Neil Quigley, the chair of the Reserve Bank board. The bank took four long months to confirm (through the Official Information Act) that Adrian Orr’s resignation in March as Reserve Bank Governor was over a disagreement with the board about funding cuts. “The matter was distressing for Mr Orr,” the bank said in a statement. More like an understatement.
Goes to Attorney-General Judith Collins for her speech to the Law Association: “When the public see judges and politicians criticising each other, confidence in both groups can be lost...”
Israel MP ban: New Zealand has placed a travel ban on two “extremist” Israeli politicians over their comments about the war in Gaza.
Orr resignation: The Reserve Bank has confirmed Adrian Orr resigned as Governor after a disagreement over funding.
Auckland housing: The Government and Auckland Council have reached an agreement to allow the upzoning of land close to City Rail Link stations.
Anti-stalking laws: Anti-stalking legislation is being strengthened after amendments recommended by MPs during the Select Committee process, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says.
Ardern biography: About 120 people – including politicians, public servants and prominent broadcasters – have been interviewed for a new, unauthorised Jacinda Ardern biography.
ANALYSIS – targeted funding: What did Act’s David Seymour mean when he said there’s “no such thing as Māori funding” – and is he right? Audrey Young looks at the coalition Government’s targeting policy.
Tourism funding: The Government has announced another multimillion-dollar funding boost for Tourism New Zealand in a bid to attract 72,000 more visitors to our shores.
Quiz answer: Louise Upston, MP for Taupō.
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Resources Minister Shane Jones is offering up "all acreage" across New Zealand.