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I’m American, and I’m shocked that politicians in other countries step down when the people don’t want them anymore.

Asking a Farmer what he thinks of a Labour leader is a bit like asking a Yorkshire miner what he thought of Margaret Thatcher.

A clear parallel could be drawn between Jacinda Ardern and Justin Trudeau up here in Canada. Unaffordable housing, high inflation, identity politics, increased poverty and personal debt and a “green ‘ policy that’s forcing small farms out of business and into the hands of corporate farming.

I think New Zealand is facing issues that a lot of countries are facing - consequences of housing speculation - climate change - global economic issues - cost of living - the aftermath of the covid (not that its really over). All of these issues have no easy solutions and any solution will have losers. I don't envy the politicians who want to be pragmatic and risk their popularity to push policy through to really address these things. People will only look at the top - to pin their hopes but also their anger.

What I've been telling non-Kiwis who are shocked at Ardern's resignation is that NZ domestic political issues simply don't make the news overseas, so what people know about Jacinda Ardern is basically the highlights reel (being elected, having a baby in office, eliminating covid, etc.) Little is known internationally about the housing crisis, cost of living, or how Labour has struggled to pivot away from lofty issues like co-governance and state media mergers towards the bread-and-butter economic issues that your average person is most concerned about. Her government just hasn't been able to articulate well enough why these issues matter at a time when people are struggling to afford the basic necessities. She has been an incredible crisis leader and has been willing to make tough decisions where needed. But constant disruption throughout these past six years has made it difficult for her govt. to grasp governing during 'normal times'. The fact is, the transformational politics she promised simply didn't eventuate.

Never fall in love with a politician or football team. They will just break your heart.

She didn't turn down your request because she is shy of the international news media, she turned it down because she was about to be welcomed onto a very significant site in Māoridom and it was entirely inappropriate for you to have been asking to interview her when this was taking place.

You can admire a political figure without liking them. Never disliked Jacinda myself but I admire that she clocked out when she realised she gave her all to the office. Unlike Berlusconi figures that just won't.go.awaaaaay

As a New Zealander, a couple of interesting observations from this video. The farming community in New Zealand has a strong level of political power in New Zealand. While the farmer is outraged about how much Wellington 'dictates' what they have to do, the solution for taxing emissions was a considerable watering down of what was proposed two years ago, and not enough to meet New Zealand's climate targets. Chris Bishop, opposition spokesperson for the National Party, is incredibly hypocritical given, up until the month of the 2017 election when they lost power to Ardern, they refused to acknowledge New Zealand had a housing crisis. The Ardern government hasn't done enough for this crisis, but the National Party should not be allowed to place the blame completely on this government. Ultimately, her stepping down is the right choice. I think people were tiring of her, but I have also noticed that people are tiring of the Opposition leader. I think New Zealanders will be exhausted and pretty uninspired by the time the October election comes.

As a Kiwi, I found this to be a very Interesting video. I recently left NZ and have moved to Australia like many people within my age group (20-40). I would say that the housing market was one of the biggest driving factors in my decision, yet I would absolutely be lying if I said this was entirely Labour or Jacinda's fault. We have a national problem that's existed for over a decade, and was worsened by the National government. We have a tax law that incentivizes individuals to invest in property over every other form of investment. This is not Jacinda's fault. Even if politicians were to start taxing property like they taxed income or other investments, like stocks or bonds, it would likely trigger an economic nightmare for at least a decade, and this is why no-ones willing to tackle the problem. But without actually tackling the problem head on like we should, we're going to instead lose out on our young adults and innovative thinkers to countries like Australia or abroad. These are often the people that create diverse businesses, innovative businesses, and help to keep NZ economically and socially diverse. This cycle of 20-40 year olds leaving NZ and returning once they're ready to 'settle down' won't ever stop, until we do something about property. Jacinda led us through some very severe storms, and while she definitely made mistakes, I think she'll ultimately be remembered as the kind PM we needed at the time where the world felt like it was falling apart. Laying the housing problem at her feet I think is severely incorrect.

With housing/cost-of-living/inflation issues being so rampant across the wealthy parts of the world, I’m finding it harder to blame a party or a single politician for the situation we’re in. It sounds like none of the politicians know what to do about it. Uh oh…

Is she the lady that said:'We are the single source of truth'?

Before Arden NewZealand always had a housing problem that nobody talked about!!!! I live in Fiji and family in NZ always complained about high rent and housing issues way before 2017. Great journalism but dig deeper past Ms. Arden

Indeed, labour has failed to tackle the housing crisis. They deserve criticism for not taking more aggressive action in terms of getting high density housing built. National however ignored the housing crisis for the 8 years before Jacinda took power. They would be the last people I would trust to address it.

The premise of this video is weird because Ardern was still ahead in the polls when it came to the preferred Prime Minister, so her personal ratings were actually pretty good, whereas the issue was more with how Labour in general were doing poorly and have been trailing the Nationals for the past year.

Canada’s PM needs to take notes.

So basically, her fall resembles that of any politician who made promises that couldn't be kept, whether through their own doing or by external forces.

I lived in Sydney in the 80s and there were many New Zealanders who came to Sydney because they couldn't find a job or afford a place to live. This hasn't changed much.

This doco is unfortunately pretty false. Ardern left because she did a giant turd on NZ, and the worst part was, she did it while smiling

The number one thing that makes me upset is jacinda adren promises things then completely failed let's end homeless and fix the housing crisis then she doubled the refugee quota to 1500 a year while the government is spending one million a day on emergency housing that's 365 million dollars a year new Zealand has gone backwards not forwards

As someone in th States, I greatly appreciate the insightful comments left on this video from a lot of New Zealanders. A wealth of important context, which is almost totally absent from this rather shallow coverage. VICE used to have some good reporting, but it is pretty simplistic & superficial these days. A sad decline. What a shame.

No politician can survive the unrealistically rabid expectations of the voters, too many compromises have to be done between the interests of those came before and those that will come later. At the end of the day we get the leaders that best represent both our best and worst aspects.

In short... the opposite of what she said she would bring is what we received.

Her hospital pass to Hipkins , and then subbing herself off was textbook. “OMG they hate me and now the party as well. I’ll give it all to Hipkins and get the hell out of here before it all falls apart. “

Lack of affordable housing is a problem that is created over decades and cannot be resolved in a few years for obvious reasons - policy takes time, rezoning takes time, construction takes time. Like most economic policies, the results only become obvious years later when there's someone else in power to take the credit. Also, providing affordable housing affects the supply side, whereas the increase in demand for the housing is a demand-side problem.

That had to be the most topical "report" I've ever seen from Vice. Why were problems with the housing market unaddressed or exacerbated? Why were there four to five times as many families living in cars? These are the actual reasons for criticism of her policies. What exactly did she do for foreign policy that was unique to her? What part of foreign policy did she improve that another leader could not? These are reasons that would explain why she has supporters. Basically, this video was just a topical summary of the fact that Mary Poppins is stepping down

New Zealand truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Very similar to Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin

There is a housing and homelessness crisis all over the world, it's become horrific in the U.S. Is that occurring in NZ because of Arden's policies or is it things bigger going on, like the pandemic, the world economy, increased violence?

As a kiwi I would like to point out a few things 1. National ignored and underplayed alot of issue that New Zealand had between 2008-2017 and Labour recognised a lot of the issues. E.g If you lived in a car, garage or tent then according to National you weren’t homeless or in poverty. 2. Between 2017-2020 she was in coalition with New Zealand First (NZF) who brought a lot of experience to the table and a lot of labours achievements between 2020-2023 were NZF policies that were implemented. They were successful because they were realistic (defence replacements, provincial growth funding, foreign affairs reset ect) 3. Motels were used due to the COVID crisis and the border closure. Tourism was gutted and lots of tourist heavy towns were teething on bankruptcy and housing homeless people in motels was essentially a bailout of the tourism industry in all but name. 4. Internationally - she is loved. She’s been compared to Obama - loved overseas, disliked at home. 5. A really good article from VUW talked about the hatred that she went through and discussed that Jacinda was THE minister of ministers - she was front and centre for everything and when you make yourself the magnet for positivity and praise, you also, like it or not, intentionally or unintentionally, make yourself the magnet for hatred even if you move away from the podium and push another minister up there when things take a turn. 6. Between 2017-2020 she had her coalition partner and the Greens in a supply and confidence agreement who she could level blame on whenever something got put on hold or stopped (like capital gains tax) so when she won a outright majority in 2020 - lots of people expected big things to happen because she no longer had a coalition partner or supply and confidence partner to run things by or negotiate with. A lot of the things that were “stopped” due to “disagreements with our coalition partner” weren’t implemented and still haven’t been. 7. Recent policies in New Zealand - such as Three Waters - have been heavily criticised due to them being mandatory and the decision to make them mandatory was made BEFORE consultation was done - in other words - this is what’s going to happen, we’ve already made the choice, it’s not going to change, but we want to hear your thoughts. That type of attitude INSTANTLY makes your opponents think that the only way to be heard is to become a agitator.

Good to cover this. Her perception domestically and internationally were poles apart. Not many people see inside New Zealand or hear what she did.

Most hated prime minister in nz history. Hands down. Anyone who actually lives in NZ knows that.

Without really knowing much about her internal policy successes/failures I do kinda respect a politician who knows when to walk away. That instead of fighting a probably pretty brutal campaign to stay in power they realize it's better to step away both for them, their party and the country.

I’d say NZ’s housing crisis is a very serious and difficult problem. Winning popularity contests isn’t going to make you qualified to deal with it

After watching all the political leaders debates, the country is only going in one direction - down. The question is, who will ruin the country the least... Both Labour and National have proven themselves to be useless.

So, basically, the female Justin Trudeau.

Anyone who's in love with a politician a) doesn't know what love is b) doesn't know the nature of politicians or c) is incredibly naive or stupid or d) all of the above

It appears she was more loved in other countries than she was at home.

I’m kiwi and I still love her

I left NZ in the late 90's. Although I had always been a good earner, it had become impossible for a single person to buy even the most modest of houses. What ten years before sold for 50,000 NZD was now up for sale at 200,000 NZD. There was no accounting for it, apart from pure greed on the part of property speculators but inflation was starting to rear it's ugly head already. Nowadays, people find it hard to feed their families. Nobody slept in their cars in the 90's. There simply weren't homeless people. Renting wasn't difficult and the welfare system wasn't the hateful mess it is now. Now as I look at the state of affairs in that country, I'm satisfied that my decision to leave permanently was the right one. I doubt that the mess is all Adhern's fault, as the rot set in 20 years ago, but she didn't deliver on any of her promises. All talk and no substance.

Sign of a strong democracy is when a person can relinquish power and not fall into turmoil.

Good luck, New Zealand, you'll need it.

how the hell did they fall in love with her in the 1st place ?

I feel like this could've been a longer video and more in-depth. It sort of gives a brief overview of what's happening and a couple reasons why, but I think the "why" part could be further elaborated on.

She didn't step down just to preserve her legacy but also for the labour party's benefit.

As someone who immigrated to New Zealand since there is such a high demand for plumbers and welders I'll never understand the whole tax your economy into producing less emissions. I came here from Canada and I think this country is beautiful and the people are amazing but both Canadian and New Zealand governments seem so out of touch with the people and just want to appear as environmentalist to the rest of the world even if it means destroying domestic food and energy production.

When the big protests happened in Wellington on Parliment grounds, Jacinda didn't have the nerve to speak to them or engage them in dialogue, instead she waited for the police to kick them all out

No mention of Three Waters?

The only policy Farmers can point to is the "proposed" (ie not implemented) regulation on Farming emissions. And for that, they'll play victim non-stop. Its infuriating.

the people that they reference were some of the most controversial leaders in the world

Politicians know extremely well that they only have to sell their image. who cares about if they have a plan. They know this very well. The people only deserve what they get. Who the hell even knows anything about plans ? Nobody is bothered to read one even if it was handed to them. Politicians know this extremely well.

She's a major big time unt. The only thing missing is the special "K"

Genuinely surprised by the fact that her leadership and time as prime minister is actually tact as faulty. Coming from an outsider who's country leader stepped down after regaining confidence during his second time as prime minister, his incompetent successor that nearly bankrupt the country (and still recovering from), his successor after being an absolute joke, and now a diminished hope for an elected leader who all believed was our answer forward. Though, as an outsider, I had not kept a close eye to NZ sadly. To learn this is quite disheartening really.

A couple of things to consider: 1. Not every achievement shows up on paper or in a nice graph. For instance international reputation is something all countries care hugely about, having a good international reputation is everything in a globalized world, and Jacinda Ardern has probably done more for NZ's international reputation than any leader in their history. But you can't measure it, and it can take a long time for the benefits to materialize, so the average voter doesn't understand it. 2. Poor results does not necessarily mean that the leader has done a poor job, todays global inflation is a perfect example, it's impossible for any one leader to stop that. So, was she really a bad leader or was it just bad times? 3. Doing the popular thing and doing the right thing is not always the same, some times a leader needs to make some hard decisions that are necessary, even though they are unpopular. Perfect examples of this is pandemic response measures and fighting climate change, both of these issues needs to be addressed, and a strong leader would do them even if it cost them their job. 4. This world needs warm compassionate leaders more than ever, this has a huge signal effect because leaders are role models, they set the course for how we should conduct ourselves. She showed us that you don't have to be a rude cutthroat bully, it's possible to rule with warmth and compassion. Sadly, this too is impossible to measure, but it actually matters to people to have a kind leader with integrity. I'm not here to say whether or not Jacinda Ardern did a good or poor job, I'm not even from New Zealand. All I can say is that she has definitely put NZ on the map in the most positive way, and I can tell you for a fact that you will benefit from her leadership in many years to come, even if it can't be directly measured.

The fascinating thing about this report is that no one articulated a single policy that they disagreed with besides the emissions tax (arguably a necessity if we're planning on living on planet earth). The idea that citizens care more about perception than reality is slightly terrifying.

There were alot of promises she couldn't keep!! The housing crisis here in NZ is ridiculous, she definitely made herself look good to the world but here back in NZ she wasn't really liked at all but that's it the world saw her as a good leader cause of the pandemic ect..not knowing what's really going on

I'm from New Zealand and yes we are fucked atm

Easy summation as to why. Huge promises no delivery.

Thanks for creating an open and fair discussion on that matter

She finally saw the writing on the wall. Evil is that evil does. 😮

Why do journalists think talking to random people on the street(or farm) gives them a good picture of what a nations politics is like?

As someone who voted for her and her party, she was genuinely liked for the first few years in office. However, things took a turn at the beginning of last year. Currently, I work in a laboratory that is part of the hospital, I saw many people fired after not wanting/couldn't take the booster. Many nurses, doctors, healthcare assistants, and medical laboratory workers couldn't stay. We never managed to hire more people to fill the gaps. We are always short-staffed and overworked. To make it worse, the private sector is not matching the constant minimum wage increases. While next door in Australia, we are being offered more money and moving costs included in the new employment package. Many hospital workers don't want to stay if they will be obligated to get another booster this year. This happened on top of food shortages, house prices/rents increased, and more taxes. She tried her best to please everyone, but she moved too fast with her policies. In a country that could be self-sustainable, milk and meat prices are outrageous. And now we don't have many eggs available because many farmers couldn't accommodate the cage-free policies. Yes protecting the environment is necessary, but Labour was too aggressive with its policies and didn't take into consideration the population's needs.

it was 3 am when i watch this Video and i thought Freddie mercury become NZ prime minister.

She was popular on Twitter and world economic forum that’s it .. delusional as Trudeau

they didn't even interview her real critics

I trust farmers more than politicians. Farmers live a life based in reality.

I never knew we had a “bayhaive”😂

She was anything but compassionate, she talked about it a lot but literally did nothing compassionate in the whole time. Child poverty, housing, endless consultation at enormous cost, restriction of personal freedoms, crime policies backfiring etc etc etc. Just a great PR team and big smile.

5:18 Bishop has been called out on this claim numerous times as the reports specifically mention they do not calculate children.

We all had a big beer when we heard she was jumping ship! She caused a lot of pain for people and talked down to them as if they were children😕

I can see why she decided not to run for re-elected. Half of her words seem to comprise of "empathy" or other synonyms. While that's all and good, what really matter are results, which she hasn't bragged about in this video.

At 2:50 the way his head lines up with the contour of the headliner, I know I'm not the only one who found that oddly safisfying 👌😅

There are a lot of factors that go amiss here. One that I learned coming out of the pandemic was from an older colleague, I was explaining to him that I was considering growing my business in NZ or moving overseas to which he replied - "I'll tell you the same thing I told my daughter - leave. Roger Douglas installed his economic system in 1980 and the country never recovered." From there I did a bit more research and realized the country has been broken since neoliberalism, all the pandemic did was unmask the issues. Ardern and Labour have done a good enough job of holding the country together, but sadly the problems stem way back and won't be resolved under National leadership.

She always said 'be kind' but ironically she made NZ the worst divided and racially separated it has ever been in its history. Not to mention she gave the media 50 million to only promote her point of view.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in 2021 made numerous grants to medical associations, consumer groups and civil rights organizations for the purpose of creating the appearance of widespread support for COVID-19 vaccine mandates, investigative journalist Lee Fang reported. By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.

yeh, "balanced" but not a lot of analysis. doesn't seem you can discuss the perception of her in New Zealand without connecting to the larger state of political polarization. she was merely a lightning rod for that difference. outside of that, and unique with respect to her, was her personalistic manner. discussion of that and its potential to "cross the political divide" may have been a good focus for a story about her

Unfortunately showing will always be more important than doing in Politics. Everyone kept saying "she cared about people" but that doesn't really mean much without actions to back it up. I am not saying I agree or disagree with the views expressed on the video, which by the way felt kind of superficial and one-sided.

She threw New Zealand citizens under the bus to make her look good on the world stage (probably trying to get in UN)

All you really need to know is that she was a young global leader and is in the WEF... If you can put 2 x 2 together all of the answers will be easy to understand.... She was not acting on behalf of NZ she was acting on behalf of her overlords.

I think I can safely say the majority, or close to, of Wellingtonians never went off her. Lots of regional people and small business owners have been turned off her, but she still has many, many supporters in the capital.

You can do a similar report on Justin Trudeau in Canada.

No matter the reason, a captain never abandons his ship......NEVER!

National is far from being a great option, but was way better than Jacinda's Labour in so many important ways. During the last stage with National government, John/Bill governments, NZ was doing great in economy, employment and low crime rates. Under National government NZ resisted quite well the 2008 world's financial crisis and keep growing about 3.5% GDP yearly, the only downside was the realstate market rising prices, but Jacinda did it way worst anyway. Please don't forget that at the end was Bill who won the elections, not Jacinda. Nonetheless was Winston who gave her the win. (What was he thinking?! ). For those who do not remember Jacinda promised during her political campaign to build one hundred thousands new affordable homes and to reduce the realstate market prices rise (Kiwi Build) , also to reduce child poverty, within others promises that she failed to deliver. The only thing that Jacinda delivered is giving heaps of new multiple types of benefits and financial help, plus increasing the existing ones. The problem is that she did this by getting massive money loans that the NZ working class, our kids and grandkids will need to pay off. It doesn't surprise me that she once said that Pedro Sánchez was a politician she admires. (one of the worst presidents in Spain's hystory). If you can remember at the beginning of 2020 Jacinda was behind Judith in the polls. Then COVID-19 came and gave Jacinda the win through the most powerful tool for a politician, voters' fear. Thank God she is gone now. More time under her ruling would only have caused economical disaster, a broader separation of the New Zealanders by race, more debt, the increase of people and kids living in poverty and the continuous punishment of the working class.

You need more than warmth and kindness to run a country

Who knew people in a democratic society wouldn’t like being told by a politician that they themselves should be the only source for truth and that other opinions should be regulated by the government?

If anyone fell in love ...... they fell in love with her lies and one day when they wake up a find out they will feel the same as those who woke up to it a lot earlier. Its going to hurt even more.

I think the personal attacks on her, in social media channels, was uncalled for. The level of hate mail she received was hardly what was expected from New Zealanders. I guess the influence if Australia is effecting traditional New Zealand norms.

New Zealanders are pretty tolerant people and believe in giving others a chance. If things dont go to plan, its usually ok that didnt go to well lets fix it up. The patience and tolerance runs out fast when you can see & be affected by stuff ups, things going backwards along with a whole hidden agenda of policy/projects never mentioned or hinted when running for election. Every family in NZ has been affect by "her Labour Govt" policies and not for the better - from the inferior fuel we now import, the mandate issue, our health and education systems..... facts speak for them selves & more are affected by it.

Real estate price is a world problem, developed countries will suffer escalating prices as compare to 3rd world countries

I was cruising in my work truck through Ponsonby, said wassup to Aunty Cindy and she ain't said nothing back. Just looked at me like wtf.

I have one question to people who live in high cost-of-living areas like NZ and CA: Why are you willing to pay so much in taxes if you don't see that return in your quality of life? The whole point of pooling funds to redistribute them is that it should be easier for you to live, not harder.

Interesting video but the title oversells it a bit. I think if you asked people about virtually any other leader in the world you'd have no problem finding tons of people who despise them and are willing to say so on camera. By contrast Ahern seems to apparently still enjoy an impressive level of respect and admiration.

"She brought hope to people who felt not listened to and included." what world is Woods living in . She admitted to creating and two class society based on medical choices and thought it was funny and refused to come and speak to people who were literally physically injured from her orders that everyone has to get the treatment or lose their jobs. She is not kind. She did not bring hope. So glad she is gone.

As a Kiwi I am incredibly grateful that Helen Clark holds the title of first female Prime Minister.

Yep ,as soon as the interview with the farmer occurred I’m like ok , this is bad journalism

Farmers will never, ever vote for Labour - no matter what their policies. Farming and rural communities are safe National regions / seats, but sometimes these folk have their head in the clouds, about the need to clean up their act and impact on the environment (particularly waterways.) It does however remain that Ardern lost control of the narrative around some of her policies, but in fairness was dealing with a pretty challenge in COVID at the time. NZ remains one of the lower countries for inflation in OECD, despite the rhetoric....

The problem is that many in NZ are very much still in love with her. Did her popularity take a hit in the aftermath of covid? Yes, but it was already high and as preferred PM she still polled top. The issue is that her party took a significant hit almost certainly because of the same thing. Those headwinds combined with the stressors compounding because of what happened in the job probably led her to make the choice to seek more accommodating employment. Too bad she didn't put her notice in sooner but then again it's not as if we wouldn't have just got another stooge who would've toed the same line.

Head of the most incompetent government I saw in my long life. Ardern evidently knew nothing of life, she was just an actress playing a part and that is why it ended as it did. Just look at her CV to understand the problem.

Maori from Aotearoa here.. Look i've never been one of those people that fell out of love with Jacinda.. I respected what she had done and she had to make some hard calls.. People that didn't like her maybe a bit harsh on her in my view but their entitled to think that... I don't know how many other prime ministers in New Zealand had to deal with a Pandemic, White Island Disaster, Christchurch Mosque shootings and deal with having a baby to me she's done a great job and to the best of her ability... The thing that annoys me the most are the people that are unhappy and think they can do a better job when they know they can't... I'm glad she did step down in the end we didn't deserve her.. now she can be left alone..