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Otago Daily Times
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Taylor to Ardern: Not the first letter, by far the most difficult
OPINION: Sir Ian Taylor has penned a letter to Jacinda Ardern. Dear Jacinda, This is not the first open letter I have written to you. You may recall there were many during the covid pandemic. This, however, is by far the most difficult. I recently appeared before the Royal Commission charged with looking into the handling of the covid pandemic in 2021-22. It was an opportunity to revisit all the correspondence I shared with you, and government ministers, at the time. I also re-read the many emails and letters I had received from people who found themselves locked on the wrong side of 'Be Kind', cast adrift from the 'Waka' we were all meant to be on board. The Commission will deliver its report, undoubtedly with the benefit of a lot more evidence than I shared, and that's as it should be. But, as I passed through Auckland airport this week on my way to Europe, your memoir A Different Kind of Power was front and centre. The twenty-two-hour flight seemed the perfect time to address the personal dilemma I am faced with, every time I see the cover of that memoir. In March 2019, when you stood before the world following the Christchurch Mosque attacks, wearing a headscarf and offering the words "They are us," I believed I was witnessing something extraordinary. A leader who not only spoke with compassion, but who seemed to embody it. The world noticed too. In Dubai, your image, projected onto the world's tallest building, went viral. It sent a remarkable message to the world. Here was a woman, a working mum, a world leader, our Prime Minister, being honoured in a way few other world leaders had ever been. It was here that the 'Jacinda' brand was born. 'They are us.' Just three words, but the world took note. I was travelling a lot at the time, covid still lay in wait in a place called Wuhan. I had never been prouder to claim I was a kiwi. Where once the questions were about the All Blacks, Lord of the Rings, or how many sheep we had, now all anyone wanted to know about was our Jacinda. You had become a symbol of enlightened leadership and, I confess, I basked unashamedly in the glow of that recognition. You were us. My belief, my pride, held strong through the early months of the covid pandemic. Your calm demeanour, the repeated calls to "Be Kind" reassured a nation facing the unknown. When you told us we were "a team of five million," and that 'He Waka Eke Noa', we were all in this together, I trusted you. I believed you. And that's how we went into our first lockdown, one of the strictest in the world and, at the time, arguably one of the most effective. For a short period of time we reconnected, not just with each other but with the world around us. The sound of early morning traffic replaced by the sound of tui and bell birds. Strolling down streets, greeting neighbours, a simple act we had forgotten how to do. Now we took the time to notice each other, respectfully distanced of course. We came out of that first lockdown the envy of the world. As pictures of the America's Cup in Auckland were beamed to almost a billion people globally, I was inundated with messages from international colleagues asking if they could have 'Jacinda' come take care of them. My response was always one of pride. 'Nah mate – she's ours.!' But as time passed, the reality began to fray around the edges. The PR slogans 'be kind' and 'we're all in this together', felt increasingly hollow as divisions deepened and the promises faded into spin. My first open letter to you was an urgent plea. We had done incredibly well, but now was the time to move the focus from saving lives to saving lives and livelihoods. It was not a matter of if, but when, the coronavirus would break through our seriously flawed MIQ blockade. We had the skills, we had the knowledge, we had the opportunity to really lead the world when that happened. People put politics aside and tried to help. Offering real solutions, safe, proven ways to save both lives and livelihoods. Business-led initiatives, technology-enabled tracking, controlled pilot programs. These were not abstract ideas. They were tested, they were ready, and they were offered in good faith. But they were dismissed. Not because they didn't work, but because they didn't fit the narrative. That was the moment I realised, this wasn't leadership anymore. It was brand management. The turning point came for me on the day you featured on the cover of the New Zealand Woman's Weekly, in designer clothes, smiling, styled, and celebrated. On that same day I received a heart-wrenching email from a father who had yet to meet his 7-month-old son. He had been brought to New Zealand to contribute his much-needed technical expertise in challenging times for Aotearoa, but the border closed behind him, stranding his pregnant wife overseas. In the same week I had another message from a son trying to leave MIQ to be with his dying father. He had tested clear three times. The system still said no. And these weren't isolated stories. They were everywhere, if you took the time to listen. People reaching out for someone, anyone, to hear their call. Someone to be kind. These were New Zealanders, or people who had made this country their home, asking only for the chance to be with their families. To do what any of us would hope to do in a time of crisis. Their pain was real, and avoidable. But we were no longer all in the waka together. Thousands had been cast adrift. Fathers kept from the birth of their children. Dying loved ones left without final goodbyes. Families cruelly separated by a system that, even when shown better ways to operate, refused to budge. The brand that was so carefully nurtured at those 1pm 'single source of truth' press conferences, reinforced internationally by features like your Vogue cover story, had matured into a global product, ready for sale. Reports say you received over a million dollars in advance for your memoir, A Different Kind of Power . It's a striking figure, especially for someone who once made child poverty her personal mission. You didn't just speak about it, you took on the portfolio yourself, armed with the unprecedented power of a parliamentary majority and the goodwill of a nation ready for change. You had the platform. You had the mandate. And yet today, child poverty remains largely unchanged. The Capital Gains Tax was another moment you could have seized with that majority. But the brand shifted and, somewhere along the way, so too had the ideals that once gave me hope. Children are still suffering from poverty, guns remain in the hands of those who used them to cause the most harm. The Christchurch Call has failed to limit on-line violence and hate, and Brian Tamaki and his Destiny Church still feel free to march in Aotearoa spewing their anti-immigrant vitriol. 'They are us' has disappeared down the same dark hole as 'be kind', 'the team of 5 million' and 'he wake eke noa – we are all in the waka together.' Now only brand Jacinda remains, and you are back on the cover of those lifestyle magazines, interviews on radio and tv, and there - that image that has weighed on me over the past few weeks. The cover of A Different Kind of Power . 'He waka mō Ko tahi'. The journey is complete. The waka is now the waka for one.
NZ Herald
09-06-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Labour leader Chris Hipkins says farming emissions policy ‘under review'
'We are looking at the science as well, we're not just talking to farmers we are talking to the researchers who are doing the work in this area too,' he said. Hipkins made the remarks ahead of the agriculture trade show, Fieldays, which is this week. Hipkins said he remained committed to the overall goal of reducing emissions but Labour was 'not committed to a particular way of doing that at this point'. He said there were 'technological solutions as well' to fixing the agricultural emissions problem. 'There is fantastic science happening in New Zealand funded by the last Labour Government about how we can... reduce methane emissions through more sustainable farming practice,' he said. Labour has supported agriculture going into the ETS, or some form of agriculture being in the ETS, since it created the scheme in 2008. What is currently unclear is the extent to which the policy is under review. Labour, since being turfed out of government, has put its entire policy platform under review. Some policies may re-emerge from the review in a similar form to the 2023 manifesto, while others may be very different. The only guide is the party's policy platform, which acts as a constraint on what the party's candidates can campaign on. The Fifth Labour Government created the ETS in 2008. The responsible Minister David Parker, who retired from politics this year, structured the scheme so sectors of the economy entered it gradually. Agriculture was set to enter the scheme in 2013, but the Fifth National Government amended the legislation, keeping agriculture out. At the time, Prime Minister John Key cited concerns New Zealand's trading partners were not taking climate change seriously and putting agriculture in the ETS would make New Zealand farmers less competitive. Labour consistently tried to bring agriculture into the scheme, forcing the sector to pay a price for its emissions, although Labour only ever proposed a heavily discounted price. In 2017, Labour campaigned on slowly bringing the sector into the ETS, at a discounted rate of 90%, meaning farmers would only pay 10% of the prevailing emissions price. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with, from left, ministers James Shaw, Damien O'Connor and Kieran McAnulty, announcing the new farm emissions plan. Photo / Mark Mitchell In coalition negotiations with NZ First this discount was lifted to 95% along with other caveats. Later, the He Waka Eke Noa process was launched to work out a separate emissions pricing solution for agriculture to begin in 2025. If that work fell apart, agriculture would have entered the ETS as a backstop. The proposal the government decided on, accepted most of He Waka Eke Noa, but rejected some significant ideas, like giving the sector a large say in its own emissions price. National initially backed He Waka Eke Noa, but later pulled away. In 2023 National promised not to put agriculture in the ETS and no emissions price until 2030. The current coalition government ended He Waka Eke Noa and removed the backstop. The latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory, published by the Ministry for the Environment using StatsNZ figures showed agriculture was responsible for 53% of New Zealand's gross greenhouse gas emissions. The bulk of these are from methane, which is a short-lived gas. The fact it is short-lived has seen an argument mounted by the Government that it should be treated differently to long-lived gasses. The challenge for policymakers is that lifting the burden for emissions reduction from agriculture generally means pushing down more heavily on other sectors.
