Jacinda Ardern may be the darling of political progressives in Australia and beyond, but as the New Zealand Prime Minister prepares to get into election mode at home, she finds herself under fire for failing to deliver on her promises.
As New Zealand prepares to take to the polls on September 19, many locals are upset at her for failing to keep her promises in a number of key policy areas.
During her stint as prime minister, Ms Ardern developed a prominent and sympathetic international profile, both as a young mother in the country’s top job, and for her response to the Christchurch massacre and the White Island volcano tragedy.
Political allies in Australia were even calling for her to take over as PM across the Tasman Sea.
And now, more New Zealanders than ever would be more than happy for her to oblige.
Jacinda Ardern won hearts across the globe for her support of victims of the mosque terror attacks in Christchurch. Pictured with a mosque-goer after the attack wearing a hijab
Australian National University professor John Wanna said the PM is ‘regarded as a bit of a show pony who is not delivering,’ among her constituents.
‘They [NZ Labour] did not expect to win at all, so they made all these promises and then they fell into government. Now, in government, Ardern can’t get a lot of things through.
Daily Mail Australia takes a look at some of Ms Ardern’s key policies, and whether she’s delivered on them.
She has been praised internationally for being respectful and a great role model for women (pictured during a trip to Fiji)
Failed KiwiBuild Project
While campaigning for the last election in 2017, an idealistic Ms Ardern vowed to build 100,000 new homes solely for first home buyers to help them get a foothold on the property ladder.
The policy was in response to New Zealand’s homelessness and housing crisis, but the PM’s detractors believe it has offered little reprieve.
Ms Ardern said the 100,000 homes goal would take a decade to complete but that target was ‘reset’ in September 2019 after shortfalls in new buildings and a lack of interest from buyers.
While campaigning for the last election, an idealistic Ms Ardern vowed to build 100,000 new homes solely for first home buyers to help them access the market (stock image of housing development in New Zealand)
Instead, the government introduced lower deposit requirements and allowed people to pool their $10,000 first home owner grants into one to cover the cost of a deposit.
Social housing waiting lists are also at an all time high, but the Labour Party claims since coming to power they have reversed the previous National government’s sell-off of state housing.
They have also added an additional 3,600 social housing properties for low-income and in-need families.
A further 2,400 homes are being built with another 13,000 scheduled to be built.
Ms Ardern said: ‘If the National government had built state houses at the pace of our targeted 1,600 per year, we’d have an additional 14,000 state houses – that’s the entire waiting list gone.’
Climate change policies and planting one billion trees
Ms Ardern has been a strong advocate for policies to alleviate climate change, both before and during her tenure.
During her election campaign, she vowed to plant one billion trees to help the environment and plan for the future.
‘We’ve already set an aspiration that as a nation, we will plant one billion trees and 140 million are already in the ground,’ she said in November 2019 during a parliamentary sitting.
She described climate change as ‘the biggest challenge of our time’.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern plants a tree gifted to her daughter Neve during a ‘Trees That Count’ Matariki tree planting event
While Ms Ardern is yet to reach the target of one billion trees, she’s well on her way to reaching it and would continue to work toward the goal if reelected.
‘We have done more in 24 months than any Government in New Zealand has ever done on climate action,’ she said.
Ms Ardern said not only are her policies on the climate strong to support her own nation – but she wants to offer support to their neighbours in the Pacific Islands.
Further supporting her climate policies, the government banned single use plastic bags.
During her early days as leader, Ms Ardern claims she often received letters from children and young people urging her to get rid of single use plastics.
Ms Ardern vowed to plant one billion trees to help the future of the planet during her leadership
Reducing Child Poverty
The prime minister also vowed to reduce child poverty in New Zealand as part of her policy reform.
The issue is one close to Ms Ardern’s heart; she is also the current Minister for Child Poverty Reduction.
However, statistics released on Tuesday showed there hadn’t been any significant reduction in child poverty between 2017 and 2019.
But Ms Ardern said the results are not a reflection of the current environment, and that some of her key improvements are yet to filter into the results.
She said the government remains on track to meet the child poverty reduction targets.
Material hardship includes households which cannot afford items others would deem essential – like fruits and vegetables.
Other examples include putting off a doctors visit because it is not affordable or going without electricity because they can’t pay the bill.
‘Policies already in place that will help to reduce material hardship – like free lunches in schools, cheaper visits to the doctors, nurses in schools – are yet to show through in the numbers,’ Ms Ardern said.
The latest report noted that the 2021-2022 data would be the best time to understand the full effects of the policy.
Ms Ardern designated $5.3billion to the Families Package to cut child poverty by 50 per cent over a four year period.
She said her government ‘has already taken action on lifting between 42,000 and 73,000 children out of poverty through the $5.5 billion Families Package.’
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (L) and her daughter Neve Gayford. Ms Ardern is passionate about childhood poverty and is working to reduce the rates
Offering Free GP Visits
During the election, Ms Ardern vowed to reduce the cost of visits to the local general practitioner by $10.
But after she was elected she changed her tune, saying instead these figures would be achieved gradually over multiple budgets during her tenure.
Since her election, Ms Ardern has successfully reduced the cost of visiting a doctor for most Kiwis.
For more than half a million New Zealand citizens, the cost of a trip to the doctor was reduced in late 2018.
Kids under 13 also benefited from the policy with free visits.
‘In a country like New Zealand cost should not put people off going to see the doctor when they’re sick. I’m proud that the Government has made cost much less of a barrier to hundreds of thousands of Kiwis,’ Jacinda Ardern said at the time.
‘The Coalition Government has set out improve the wellbeing of all New Zealanders and we’re committed to making our country the best place in the world to be a child.
‘Extending free doctors’ visits to every child under 14, is a big step towards that goal.’
Ms Ardern was commended for having her baby with her in parliament and committing to both being prime minister and being a mum. She has offered free doctors trips to people under 14
Backtracking on Capital Gains Tax
Since 2011, Ms Ardern has been advocating for a capital gains tax in New Zealand.
Capital gains tax is an additional payment that people and businesses must make on any profit they make through selling their assets, including but not limited to real estate and property.
After finally leading her party to victory during the 2017 elections, one of her priorities was to proceed with that policy.
She had campaigned with it during the election and had to announce in April of 2019 that the policy did not make it through parliament.
‘Here we were finally in government, we had political parties that represented the majority of New Zealanders and I still couldn’t get it across the line,’ she said at the time.
‘I just couldn’t get the numbers, and it wasn’t for lack of trying.’
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern speaks at the Climate Action Summit at the United Nations