Editorial: Ardern changes the game

Jacinda Ardern speaking in Whanganui earlier this year. Photo/Bevan Conley

Labour began this election campaign touting a "fresh approach" but only now is that true.

The party's eleventh hour switch at the top was carried out on Tuesday in the most un-Labour way - quickly, decisively and bloodless.

It remains to be seen whether Jacinda Ardern and new deputy leader Kelvin Davis can do enough in the short time they have to be in Government after September.

But there's no doubt this election has changed markedly overnight. Not in policy or the polls (yet) but in mood.

And a good feeling around Labour is what the party has been unable to manufacture for years as they've cycled through a series of well-intentioned but ultimately uninspiring leaders.

The early signs are that this is where Ardern can make ground.

The first days of her leadership have been met with the kind of comprehensive and largely positive coverage Labour has spent a decade searching for all while asking, "How did John Key do it?"

Key and National swept to power on the back of a mood and perhaps fatigue with the status quo. Ardern is the best shot Labour has of doing the same.

There is some agreement across the political board that she is the person to sell Labour's vision.

There isn't the same scepticism.

There isn't the feeling that this is just another Labour leader.

Ardern's appointment also changes the overall dynamic of the election for the better. It all of a sudden seems a lot more diverse.

A female front and centre of the campaign and a new generation represented at the top will bring a different perceptive to debates while having Davis in the deputy leader's chair means the five top polling political parties now have Maori in a leadership or deputy position.

Ardern's rise is more than a "fresh approach" for the Labour Party but for the election as a whole. Voters now have something which seemed lacking until this week.

They have choice.