New Zealand’s search for wellbeing could get lost in a long white cloud of pot smoke

Labor is toying with an idea from New Zealand. Geoff Chambers, The Australian, February 20:

(Opposition Treasury spokesman) Jim Chalmers has declared Australia should consider adopting a version of (New Zealand PM) Jacinda Ardern’s “wellbeing budget”.

Gangsta Ardern! Dan Satherley, Newshub website, February 20:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is a “G”, according to man whose beer she helped open at an airport lounge recently. Twitter user Javed … said on Wednesday night he “grabbed a beer at the airport”, but had nothing to open it with. “A lady’s pouring herself a wine, I wait cause the bottle opener’s front of her. Mid-pour, without even looking, she hands me the opener,” he said. “I say thanks, crack my beer, look up. Turns out that lady was our whole ass Prime Minister. What a G.” (G is slang for gangsta which can be used in place of mate or bro.)

Banana with that beer? Toby Manhire, The Spinoff, February 20:

Fresh on the heels of this morning’s news about the Prime Minister handing someone a bottle opener, The Spinoff can reveal that Jacinda Ardern once offered an Auckland man a banana, according to a tweet viewed by The Spinoff.

Josh has a scoff. AAP, February 20:

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has scoffed at Labor’s move towards a “wellbeing budget” similar to Jacinda Ardern’s approach in New Zealand … Mr Frydenberg dismissed the idea as a thought bubble. “It’s laughable,” he told Sky News. “Labor hasn’t delivered a surplus since 1989 so it should surprise no one they’re going to look around for some other way to measure economic output.”

Eleanor Ainge Roy, The Guardian Australia, February 15:

Denis Pfahlert, 92, has voted Labour all his life and says the NZ government has made the mistake of politicians the world over — it has over-promised and underdelivered. With the next election seven months away, some members of Labour’s loyal base are questioning the government’s ability to improve the status quo.

Marathon ahead. ABC, January 28:

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called an election for September 19, a contest that will test her popularity which soared after her response to a terror attack last year but has since taken a hit due to economic issues … Ardern’s coalition … is looking forward to what will be a 235-day campaign.

A “liberal icon”? Nick Perry, Associated Press, January 28:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern may be lauded around the world as a liberal icon but whether she can translate that into a re-election victory in September remains uncertain … Ardern promised to run “a positive, a factual and a robust” election campaign … but her international acclaim has sometimes been regarded with suspicion at home.

Jason Walls, New Zealand Herald, February 16:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed she met Sir Elton John before his Auckland show last night and told the superstar how much her daughter, Neve, loves to dance to his music.

Sitting on the fence. Vita Molyneux, Newshub, February 19:

(Radio host) Duncan Garner says the Prime Minister’s refusal to reveal how she will vote in the cannabis referendum is a “pathetic cop-out” … Ardern has remained tight-lipped on cannabis reform, not confirming if she personally supports it or not.