Jacinda Ardern quit politics in January this year. Cartoon / Rod Emmerson
Jacinda Ardern quit politics in January this year. Cartoon / Rod Emmerson
Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson reflects on his favourite moments in a year when climate change came knocking, Donald Trump came back and the world seemed to give him more tempting targets than ever.
Precisely where the earth’s atmosphere ends and space begins is a conundrum for the science community.
The Fédération aéronautique internationale has drawn an artificial line at an altitude of 100km and it’s known as The Kármán Line. Less than the distance between Auckland and Hamilton, not far at all.
Within this thin blue line lies a complex symbiotic relationship with the natural world that provides us with the gift of life.
Science tells us we are about to pay a very heavy price for the generations of industrialisation and the relentless march of humanity.
We had a taste of it in New Zealand as the year began, with extreme weather events that wreaked havoc on our lives, our homes, our businesses, our antiquated infrastructure and truly tested our survival skills.
It certainly caught our civic leaders by surprise. For cartoonists and visual satirists, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown delivered in spades. When the community desperately needed leadership and communication, all we got was the TV equivalent of a test pattern. The hospital pass eventually went to his deputy, Desley Simpson.
Enjoy some of Rod Emmerson’s best cartoons of 2023 here
Image 1 of 34: August: Mug shots - Donald Trump becomes the first president charged with racketeering, while the All Blacks suffer a humiliating defeat to the Springboks 35-7.
Planning for future events brings us to the point where we must now consider planned retreats.
On December 2, 2020, New Zealand officially declared a climate emergency and committed to reducing carbon emissions, moving to a low-carbon economy. Furthermore, New Zealand made a commitment to becoming a carbon-neutral country by 2025.
Yet as we close the year with a new government, our new Resources Minister and Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones stood in Parliament and gave us a glimpse of our new future.
“We’re going to bring rigour and commonsense to the hysteria surrounding climate change.”
Oil and gas exploration is back on the table, as will be mining in Department of Conservation land. With this, the previous government’s incentives to push towards a carbon-neutral economy went out the window.
It seems our leaders have learned nothing from catastrophic global events. We went from being world leaders to wooden spooners in a nano-second. Great fodder for the nation’s cartoonists.
There’s always opportunity in adversity. Back in January, the resignation of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was a loss for New Zealand, but it certainly took the heat out of a raft of political issues.
It also presented a golden opportunity for both Labour and the opposition to realign and focus on the October election. It’s here that Labour tripped and fumbled its way to the finish line, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
The lukewarm electorate appetite for National and its leader Christopher Luxon gave rise to the conservative minions of Winston Peters and David Seymour.
The parties and policies of both NZ First and Act were rejected by some 94 per cent and 91 per cent of the population yet through the obvious vagaries of MMP, they now form part of the government – as do their policies. Given past form, this curious power-sharing arrangement will surely come with an early use-by date.
All is not well as we hobble towards 2024. Wars and famine rage and refugees are on a relentless march.
The small cabal of despotic and ruthless leaders that dot the globe may well be joined by America’s Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has declared he’ll be a dictator for just one day, should he take office. Which would be the journeyman’s equivalent of saying, I’ll have one beer and go home.
All of these subjects and more, have littered my drawing table over the past 12 months. You flick back and wonder how we ever arrived at the 21st century at all.
Some highlights of 2023 : Recently being awarded the illustrious Honorary Canuck Award by the Canadians at a conference of American and Canadian editorial cartoonists in San Francisco. I’m looking forward to testing this award sans passport at the 49th parallel border.
To the many fans of Posie Parker and her army of several thousand keyboard warriors who filled my social media inbox with rancid bile – thank you for your words of encouragement and endearment.
For those knitting circle warriors who wrote Biblical-length essays suggesting I move back to Australia because ‘you’re not wanted here’ – you have only cemented my resolve to stay and provide you with eternal discomfort.
Finally, to the chap who recently wrote to me offering the following: ‘The rest of us have all moved on from the ridiculous bastardisation of our language, the racial insults of the left and the Maoris. We want what this country desperately needs, fiscal prudence and just plain common sense…’
