The Front Page: Barry Soper on the legacy of Jacinda Ardern’s political career

Jacinda Ardern poses at her desk for the last time as Prime Minister. Photo / Getty Images

Journalist Barry Soper has reported on the careers of 11 prime ministers during his long tenure in the press gallery.

The Newstalk ZB senior correspondent has heard drunken speeches from Robert Muldoon, seen Helen Clark defeat National by a single percentage point, and - most recently - he’s witnessed the five-and-a-half-year tenure of former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Speaking to The Front Page podcast, Soper says that the name Jacinda Ardern will leave a divided legacy.

“She’s terribly divisive, there’s no doubt about that,” says Soper, pointing to Ardern’s shift from immense popularity to calling it quits before the upcoming election. Soper says that public sentiment started turning against her during the Covid-19 response.

“Every day, she was fronting the so-called podium of truth. And to me, it was inappropriate for a prime minister to be doing that. Chris Hipkins finally got the job doing it, but he should have been doing it from the start. She got over-exposed,” he said.

Soper says that while the Prime Minister is applauded for her international profile and response to crises like the Christchurch terrorist attack, there are also many New Zealanders frustrated with her policies during and since the pandemic.

With the focus now shifting to the economy, that anger has persisted and leaves newly-appointed Prime Minister Chris Hipkins with an arduous battle to turn around Labour’s polling in time for the next election.

“No prime minister that takes over in the final year [of a term], in an election year has won an election. He’s going to find it very, very difficult because if he says, for example, that Three Waters [will be] put on hold. We still know it’s going to be there after the election if Labour wins.”

While Hipkins might have a different style to Ardern, Soper makes the point that he’s still operating in the context of the big policies that Ardern’s Government has tabled.

“This Government has been very good at announcing policy and then retracting from it. And I think that’s really the legacy that Jacinda Ardern will have. In fact, a lot of policy was put out there, but a lot of it was withdrawn as well.”

Looking at the divided public response to Ardern, Soper sees some parallels between her and Robert Muldoon.

But Soper believes there’s another politician that offers a tenure more analogous to that of Ardern - and he comes from the ranks of the Labour party: David Lange.

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page to hear Soper explain why he sees Ardern and Lange as so alike, how this election might play out, and why Labour might still be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat.