Jacinda Ardern strikes trouble over Covid-unsafe selfie on campaign trail

New Zealand’s PM accused of double standards for blatantly disregarding Covid regulations on the campaign trail.

Jacinda Ardern and the selfie that landed her in hot water.

We believe it was Marcus Aurelius who said “What we post online in this life, echoes in eternity” — a lesson currently being learnt by Jacinda Ardern.

Could the photogenic Prime Minister across the ditch be brought down in New Zealand’s biggest political scandal — a selfie?

A mass selfie actually, taken on the delayed campaign trail as the Labour leader toured Massey University in Palmerston North last Thursday.

Ardern was flooded by students as she left the campus and, apparently after calling for space, decided to embrace the mob for a cheek to cheek, not socially distanced snap.

Under current coronavirus restrictions, Kiwis are asked keep 2m apart in public.

“All the way through on the campaign trail and even before during alert level settings, I work really hard not to shake people’s hands,” Ardern explained on Monday.

“I sanitise. I wear my mask in Auckland, and I work hard to try and keep my social distance.”

She eventually apologised for the selfish selfie.

“In that particular photo, I did make a mistake. I should have stepped further forward. I should have asked them to step apart from each other, and I acknowledge that.”

So not only is Jacinda Ardern not following her own social distancing rules, she’s also handling strangers phones to take selfies. #COVID19nz #nzpol pic.twitter.com/pjiuR4XW1y

— The Orwellian 🇳🇿 (@TheOrwellianNZ) September 20, 2020

Age of reason

John Farnham wants to take the pressure down.

After anti-lockdown protesters belted an impromptu rendition of “You’re The Voice” outside Chadstone Coles on Sunday, Farnham’s longtime manager was quick to point out that’s not freedom.

“I’m personally concerned people will hear the song and think John Farnham is personally endorsing these protests, and in this case it’s not right,” Glenn Wheatley said.

Farnham, in fact, burns for you.

“It’s something that John and I do not condone, the use of that song, particularly in a time in Melbourne where we are in stage-four lockdown.”

Wheatley wants locals to have a little faith in Premier Daniel Andrews’s ability to restore a touch of paradise.

“Really, the last thing we should be doing is protesting, no one should be hitting the streets en masse, endangering people’s lives and livelihoods.”

And remember, every time you cry — save up all your tears.

Coles Chadstone has become the target of today’s anti-lockdown protest. A few dozen here singing John Farnham @Joe_Hildebrand pic.twitter.com/iWpVVx92dZ

— Aneeka Simonis (@AneekaSimonis) September 20, 2020

Inside jokes

The writers of Yes Minister, Veep and Utopia would be in awe of the champagne comedy coming out of the inquiry into Victoria’s bungled hotel quarantine.

Chris Eccles, the Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary, was quizzed on Monday over an alleged deal to use private security instead of Defence Force officers.

Question: “Are you able to say why you don’t seem to have thought it appropriate to have drawn to the attention of those who were running the program that there was this source of support available from the ADF?”

Eccles: “I’m not saying that I didn’t. I’m saying that I’m not aware that I did or I didn’t.”

Divide and rule

Eccles’s clear-as-mud answers reminded us of two salient quotes from Sir Humphrey Appleby himself.

“Clarification is not to clarify things. It is to put one’s self in the clear.”

And: “Civil servants have an extraordinary genius for wrapping up a simple idea to make it sound extremely complicated.” Timeless.

Til death do us art

Scott Morrison may have received the brush off from drop cloth critics at the Archibald but finalist Anthony Albanese’s odds to win are as watered down as his preferred prime minister rating in the latest Newspoll.

Julie Fragar is at $3 to take Australia’s top portrait prize for her painting of friend and artist Richard Bell, according to Sportsbet.

Followed by Vincent Namatjira’sselfie with Adam Goodes, Stand Strong For Who You Are, on $4.50 and Katherine Edney on$5.50.

Angus McDonald’s take on refugee Behrouz Boochani is $7; Craig Ruddy’s Dark emu (of Bruce Pascoe), $7.50; Charlene Carrington and her dad Churchill Cann, $8; Blak Douglas’s self-portrait, $9; and Kim Leutwyler’s sketch of American singer-songwriter Brian Firkus is $10.

James Powditch’s portrait of Opposition Leader Albo — entitled Once Upon A Time In Marrickville — started as a roughie at $71, but has come back to $12.

The $100,000 winner is announced by the Art Gallery of NSW on Friday.

Can he fix it?

Here’s a sartorial tip from Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek, after hearing apprenticeships are at a 20-year low.

“The Prime Minister is not going to fix it the way he’s going.

“This isn’t going to be fixed by the Prime Minister dressing up like Bob the Builder in his tradie fluoros.”

If you have a go, you get a high vis.

Mate against mate

“States have been overstepping their mark and not thinking of themselves as part of a nation,” Gladys Berejiklian declared on border closures.

Making a surprisingly strong argument to abolish the states, the NSW Liberal Premier continued: “You can’t take the GST revenue on the one hand, all the tax benefits and say, ‘I’ll take that but I won’t give you anything back’.”

But she hasn’t convinced South Australian Liberal Premier Steven Marshall.

“We’re not going to rush it,” he said, re: opening the gates to NSW travellers.

“We’ve got to make sure we don’t have a second wave here in South Australia. We don’t make political decisions, we don’t make ideological decisions.

“We make decisions here in our state based upon the expert health advice.”

Deja brew

Parliament’s next top influencer Tim Wilson is back!

The Liberal MP has once again turned to Instagram to document his redux 14 days alone in the ACT.

Wilson informed his dedicated 4074 followers that he’s turning vegetarian for the duration of iso.

“Except on Saturday nights when I am allowed to have fish and a drink,” he said. Balcony gardening is also on the agenda in his Canberra apartment bunker.

“I went to Bunnings in Wodonga before I crossed the border, so no rule breaking, and got some Osmocote and got some rosemary and I got a planter box as well,” he said, showing off the fresh herbs.

But there was one thing mocha him crazy (and it wasn’t that he forgot a watering can and had to fashion one from a carafe and colander).

“Last time I was here, I also tweeted out to ACT Health: ‘Hey, if you come by and visit to check in on me and make sure I’m here, to bring along a double espresso’. They sent the federal police instead.”

Yet the Melbourne-based MP isn’t giving up on the brew-tiful possibility.

“Just a tip to the AFP and ACT Health — if you pop by, maybe a double espresso wouldn’t go astray. I’ll give you the money, that’s not the issue. It would just be appreciated.”

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