Labour leader Jacinda Ardern won't reveal how she would vote in the upcoming referendum to legalise cannabis for recreational use. Video / Mark Mitchell
Policy is coming, Labour leader Jacinda Ardern says, so the general public will have a clear idea of what a Labour government would do if it had the luxury of a parliamentary majority after the election.
Ardern has called this the Covid-19 election - out of necessity, not choice -and that seemed to resonate as she hit the streets of Whanganui today.
Besides a few comments about babies and conspiracy theories - 5G, fascism, tyranny - the vast majority of comments from passersby were gratitude for the Government's Covid response.
Nor was Ardern about to share the limelight. She didn't feel the need - perhaps justifiably so - to give a nod to her governing partners in any of her responses.
Nor did she mention NZ First after Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall thanked her for her focus on the regions.
The local Sarjeant Gallery has been the recipient of two $12m packages, one from the Provincial Growth Fund - which is part of the Labour-NZ First coalition agreement - and one from the $3b Covid recovery infrastructure fund for shovel-ready projects.
Work on the new wing for the Sarjeant Gallery - not much more than a giant pit next to the existing heritage building at the moment - started a while ago and was more truck and digger-ravaged than shovel-ready.
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern meeting 80-year-old Muriel Scott during her walkabout in Whanganui. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Despite the relative barrenness of the main street, local interactions were aplenty as Ardern, with Labour's local candidates Steph Lewis and Adrian Rurawhe, visited a number of local businesses that had used the Government's wage subsidy scheme.
"You don't know me, you're wonderful" said a woman who threw herself at Ardern in an unbridled hug, prompting her embarrassed daughter to apologise.
Three-year-old Naia Pohl also seemed to be taken by Ardern before her attention turned on the media entourage following her. "What are you guys doing?" she asked us in apparent bemusement.
It was the second baby encounter of the day for Ardern, who was met by a mother when she arrived at the Sarjeant whose baby girl was born within an hour of Ardern's baby Neve.
"I hope you're getting enough sleep," a beaming Ardern said to her.
Post-lockdown business has been slow to pick up at the Central City Pharmacy, but that didn't stop the manager thanking Ardern for the Covid response.
He gifted her garden-picked flowers and a whiskey glass for a "wee nip". Ardern responded by dryly noting the gargantuan size of the glass.
Illustration / Rod Emmerson
Outside on the footpath, Muriel Scott, 80, gave the media scrum a regal wave - "Hello, my people!" - from her mobility scooter before being overwhelmed at who the scrum was for.
She told Ardern she would vote Labour for the first time because "I don't want the other side".
She later clarified she hadn't voted for 20 years because she usually "can't be bothered", but would make an exception this time because of the Government's doubling of the Winter Energy Payment and the success of the lockdown.
She was over the moon to have had the unexpected meeting. "All I was doing was going to the bloody chemist to get my face mask."
Not even a busker shouting "are you from the fascist party?" could break Ardern's stride.
"Certainly not, sir," Ardern replied, and when he then asked if she was from the Marxist party, she commended him for checking all the other non-parties she may be representing.
A woman then approached to relay her concerns about 5G. Ardern politely said there was nothing to worry about.
When pressed she implored the woman to google "5G" and "chief science adviser" - advice the woman seemed ecstatic with as she skipped away merrily.
Quality Safety International general manager Paula Goudie with Labour leader Jacinda Ardern and Labour candidate Steph Lewis at the face mask factory in Whanganui. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Such bounce was absent among the dozen or so protesters on the corner outside Quality Safety International, a local factory pumping out 200,000 face masks a day.
Communism, 5G, 1080, euthanasia and abortion were the topics adorning their signs.
A woman holding a sign saying "Ardern. Be kind. Resign" told me how the "Ardern tyranny" had doomed the country, and resignation was the only option.
At the ensuing media stand-up, Ardern did not offer her resignation.
But she had little to say on non-Covid policy except to say it was coming, and voters will have a clear idea of what a Labour government would do in 2020-2023 if re-elected.
Does that mean everything blocked by NZ First, the self-described handbrake on bad ideas, would be resurrected by a Labour Party that commanded a parliamentary majority?
That remains unclear, though Ardern did say that Labour still supported Auckland light rail, and it wasn't dead because it was still sitting with the Ministry of Transport.
She has previously said the same goes for Fairpay Agreements.
The subtext was that they might get over the line in a future Cabinet lacking any NZ First Ministers, and supporters/opponents of those issues could vote accordingly.
Meanwhile the National Party was busy chatting about policy. It released its law and order and conservation policies this morning, and Judith Collins challenged Ardern to state her position on the cannabis referendum.
Ardern declined. She repeated her message that it was not for her to send a message to the public.
She will have something new to talk about when Labour releases its tax policy "soon".
But many voters may not care having already made up their minds, based on New Zealand's unique, Covid-free position. Which Ardern will have no problem with.
