Low key arrival as NZ PM Jacinda Ardernarrives in Melbourne
VIPs in high-vis vests and a cuppa with the Victorian Governor welcomed Jacinda Ardern to Australia.
She may be an “"It" girl” of global politics but New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern has begun a decidedly low-key visit to Melbourne.
Occupational Health and Safety requirements trumped formalities this morning as New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia Dame Annette King and Melbourne consul-General Vanessa O’Neil, decked out in lime green high-vis vests, greeted Ms Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford on the Melbourne Airport tarmac.
From there, a waiting BMW SUV escorted the PM and her travelling party up a deserted Government House Drive to morning tea with Victorian Governor Linda Dessau, the first woman to hold the post.
It is not known what was discussed during their half-hour meeting but both Ms Ardern and Ms Dessau, a former Family Court judge, share a strong interest in reducing family violence and child abuse.
The Ardern government’s “wellbeing Budget” handed down earlier this year prioritised reducing family violence and child poverty and improving mental health alongside the usual economic goals.
Ms Ardern’s next stop is a meet and greet with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. She then gets to the primary purpose of her visit; tonight’s address at Melbourne Town Hall organised by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.
The New Zealand PM will tomorrow meet her Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, in Melbourne before returning home.
Despite their political leanings the two prime ministers have plenty in common; they each saw their cricket teams beaten by the Poms in the World Cup and the economic fortunes of their respective countries are both hostage to unpredictable trade hostilities between China and the US.
NZ ‘open for business’
China is New Zealand’s largest trading partner, with Australia second. Ms Ardern will speak tonight on the theme of good government but while in Melbourne, she is eager to promote Zealand as “open for business.”
Ms Ardern, a Labor leader who rose to power in unlikely partnership with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and the Greens, turns 39 next week and has already passed the midpoint of her first term of government.
She rose to international prominence for having a baby in office and her response to the Christchurch massacre, when 51 Muslim worshippers were gunned down by an Australian white supremacist, Brenton Tarrant.
More recently, she was lauded for her denunciation of US President Donald’s Trump racially-tinged invitation to four progressive congresswomen to go back to where they came from.
Three of the four Democrat women, were born the in US.
Ms Ardern declared she “completely and utterly” disagreed with Mr Trump’s public comments.
The popular PM
“I’m quite proud that in New Zealand we take the opposite view … that our parliament should be a representative place, it should look and feel like New Zealand, it should have a range of different cultures and ethnicities and never should a judgment be made about the origin of anyone,” she said.
The Ardern government is pursuing an ambitious policy agency; the introduction of a “Zero Carbon Bill” which aims to halve biological methane emissions over the next 30 years, significant new funding for programs to address mental health, family violence and child poverty and, in response to the Christchurch massacre, a prohibition on military style and most semi-automatic weapons.
The proposed emissions targets and legislated gun restrictions have provoked resentment among New Zealand farmers, particularly beef and lamb producers.
For now, these objections are doing little to dampen enthusiasm for Ms Ardern at home and abroad. According to the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll, the New Zealand PM has an approval rating of 72.5 per cent; a figure all but unknown this side of the ditch.
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