Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers her victory speech after being re-elected in a historic landslide win on October 17, 2020. Lynn Grieveson/ ...

Greaves, from the University of Auckland, said coverage of Ardern has long adopted a misogynistic tone. Then in October, Ardern’s office was allegedly attacked while the prime minister was on a trip to Antarctica, adding to fears about her safety, [according to local media.](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300721972/woman-arrested-after-prime-minister-jacinda-arderns-auckland-electorate-office-damaged) And for me, it’s time.” The threats related to vaccinations, Covid-19 and firearms, police said, though it was impossible to ascertain a motive for many as they included “simply offensive, obscene or threatening words.” It’s not clear who the leadership will fall to – Ardern’s assumed successor, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, has said he’s not interested. “There’s been various expert working groups on tax and welfare that have made some quite bold recommendations that the Labour government haven’t followed. But unfortunately, I haven’t, and I would be doing a disservice to New Zealand to continue,” she said. But Ardern said she her decision had nothing to do with wanting to avoid an election loss come October. Ardern also didn’t mention misogyny in her resignation speech. “There have been people who have made some pretty vile threats against her,” said Neale Jones, political commentator and Ardern’s former Chief of Staff. “I’m looking forward to spending time with my family once again,” said Ardern. And with an election looming this October, she saw no need to prolong her departure.

New Zealand prime minister's decision to quit is understandable on a human level, but the politics of it is confounding.

That probably leaves the party with a figure such as Chris Hipkins, a strong minister, but not one who will draw some kind of huge contrast with the opposition leader, Christopher Luxon. Ardern’s exit will come as a shock to many international fans, who saw her as a beacon of progressive hope during the Trump years. But they now need a new prime minister, someone who can wrangle with the teeming mass of bureaucracy and lead the country on day one. Some will see her as Labour’s greatest postwar leader – a strong leader through massive crises who also gave the party its largest win in decades. Others will compare her unfavourably with someone like Helen Clark – a soldier for the party who stuck around through two losing election campaigns and three winning ones, remaking New Zealand significantly in her nine-year term of power. Ardern was facing a very steep hill at the October election, which explains more than any other reason her decision to leave.

Jacinda Ardern developed a global reputation for decisiveness and empathy after a terrorist attack in Christchurch and the coronavirus pandemic.

Ardern showed flashes of anger as she said authorities could no longer tolerate weeks of “hostility, resistance, and violence” from some of the protesters, especially as [coronavirus](https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10&itid=lk_inline_manual_38) infections were soaring to record levels in the nation at the time. It has the [lowest covid-related death rate](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality) in the Western world, according to Johns Hopkins University. Protesters occupied Parliament grounds and blocked streets in the capital, Wellington, for [more than three weeks ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/02/new-zealand-protest-parliament-police/?itid=lk_inline_manual_38)last year, in imitation of the “Freedom Convoy” in Canada. General Assembly](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/25/theres-baby-un-general-assembly/?itid=lk_inline_manual_16&itid=lk_inline_manual_27) in New York. [the most diverse government](https://www.ipu.org/news/case-studies/2021-03/women-in-politics-in-new-zealand-heres-what-they-are-doing-right) in New Zealand’s history, with more women, people of color, LGBTQ and Indigenous members of Parliament than ever before. [months-long gun amnesty and buyback ](https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/gun-buyback-over-next-phase-underway)program. A later buyback [reportedly](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/448837/gun-amnesty-buyback-cost-more-to-run-than-paid-out-to-owners) cost more to administer than was paid out to gun owners. She acted quickly to close her country’s borders in March 2020. The country of about 5 million people has recorded fewer than In 2018, she became the [second world leader in modern times](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/21/new-zealand-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-gives-birth-to-a-healthy-baby-girl/?itid=lk_inline_manual_16&itid=lk_inline_manual_27) to have a baby in office. Ardern spearheaded legislation to ban military-style semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles just six days after the attack. She won praise for her calm stewardship of the Pacific nation through major events including the 2019

Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has lauded Jacinda Ardern as an “extraordinary” leader who faced unprecedented attacks during her time in ...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, who became a global icon of the left and exemplified a new style of leadership, ...

There’s a greater weight of responsibility, a greater vulnerability amongst the people, and so in many ways, I think that will be what sticks with me,” she said. New Zealand Opposition Leader Christopher Luxon said Ardern had been a strong ambassador for the country on the world stage. Ardern was [widely praised for her empathy](/article/f80e79bb61ba460695b308c5552f83ef) with survivors and New Zealand’s wider Muslim community in the aftermath. “She has demonstrated that empathy and insight are powerful leadership qualities,” Albanese tweeted. “Her treatment, the pile on, in the last few months has been disgraceful and embarrassing,” wrote actor Sam Neill on Twitter. “All the bullies, the misogynists, the aggrieved. But she was [forced to abandon](/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-new-zealand-auckland-829fc4cd04e68e9e3b264ac03418aeaf) that zero-tolerance strategy as more contagious variants spread and vaccines became widely available. [Just 37 when she became leader](/article/9387e2bf316b41f5906769cc35bcd340), Ardern was praised around the world for her handling of the nation’s worst-ever mass shooting and the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Her approach to the pandemic earned the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, and she pushed back against wildly exaggerated claims from Trump about the spread of COVID-19 after he said there was a massive outbreak and “It’s over for New Zealand. Ardern became an inspiration to women around the world after first winning the top job in 2017. But she faced mounting political pressures at home and a level of vitriol from some that hadn’t been experienced by previous New Zealand leaders.

Jacinda Ardern came to the prime ministership of New Zealand by what amounted to an accident and had her five-year term defined by a series of crises. Her management of those crises, particularly the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre of 51 Muslims by a ...

Mr Peters tried to subtly swing New Zealand's foreign policy emphasis back to its traditional partners: the UK, the US and Australia. During the election campaign, she was dismissed by her critics as offering little more than stardust. At home, Covid defined her prime ministership. Mr Little resigned eight weeks before the election, and Ms Ardern took over. Jacinda Ardern came to the prime ministership of New Zealand by what amounted to an accident and had her five-year term defined by a series of crises. And initially, her management of Covid-19 saw her lead her Labour Party to a landslide victory in 2020, but as draconian lockdowns kept New Zealanders at home and its borders closed, her popularity began to wane.

One of the youngest prime ministers in the world, Ardern leaves a legacy of immense positivity in times of crisis.

As soon as the pandemic began in early March 2020, Jacinda Ardern acted quickly to close the country’s borders and kept the people of New Zealand updated with press conferences and social media posts. Proposing a range of measures to be put into law to tackle the decade-old issue of child poverty, she set a goal to "halve child poverty and reduce it to 10 percent of children". NZ made the commitment and legislated to halve child poverty by 2030.

The New Zealand PM has announced her resignation, but her impact on the country's diplomacy will continue to resonate.

The free trade agreements will go down on Ardern’s slate of foreign policy achievements – as will an upgrade to a free trade deal with China in early 2022. The visit had been cut back from a lengthier stay because Ardern wanted to return to New Zealand to deal with the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attacks. It is to Ardern’s credit that leaders from Russia, China, and the United States agreed to participate in an unusual second APEC leaders’ meeting, at a time of rising geopolitical tension. Despite New Zealand’s heavy reliance on China for trade, Ardern quickly fell in line with Australia’s outspoken opposition to the arrangement. This took away the main opportunity during her premiership for Ardern to host world leaders in New Zealand itself. President Joe Biden at the White House followed at the end of May 2022 – after which an unusually hawkish joint statement was issued with the United States. A major outcome of the attacks was the “Christchurch Call” to remove terrorist and violent extremist material from the internet. By the end of 2018, Ardern was already a well-known international figure. [cast](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/15/the-anti-trump-new-zealand-pm-jacinda-ardern-vogue) as the “anti-Trump” figure by commentators during the first years of her premiership, and her comments at her first U.N. Ardern [told](https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/new-zealand-national-statement-united-nations-general-assembly) her audience in New York that “in the face of isolationism, protectionism, racism – the simple concept of looking outwardly and beyond ourselves, of kindness and collectivism, might just be as good a starting point as any.” Ardern’s first major foreign trip came within weeks of her election in 2017, to the APEC summit in Vietnam. The campaign now counts 58 countries and 12 companies among a total of 120 signatories.

The WHO classifies 'burnout' by three factors: Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism ...

But if it’s too late for that, leaders could ask workers to take part in an anonymous survey to identify if burnout is taking place in their firm – and what is causing it. Although burnout is particularly prevalent in the C-suite, leaders mustn’t dismiss the fact that their workers could also be suffering. and the States, found that burnout levels experienced in middle management dropped to 89%. From here, you can get a plan in place to tackle the root cause,” Nader adds. In reality, just like everyone else – they need routine and structure. But the reality is we can’t give our best when we’re over-stretched,” Touroni stresses. This is especially important (and tricky) for those who work from home. “We often (wrongly) associate being busy with being productive. So Touroni suggests not taking work home and if you are working from home, having a specific working zone that you can clock out of. “Burnout is something I see quite often in therapy sessions,” Dr Elena Touroni, co-founder of The Chelsea Psychology Clinic says while adding that it points to “an imbalance in what we are giving out to the world and taking back for ourselves”. “Spot the signs that things are getting a bit much and speak to your employer and a mental health professional if you need to. “I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice,” she choked through tears as she addressed the nation.

The New Zealand prime minister showed us a different way to lead, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff.

She wanted to show that there was a different way to lead, and she did so; at the height of her powers she made the world sit up and watch. To everything there is a season, and Ardern is saying that hers is passing. Her resignation speech sounded more like a recognition that leadership is by definition a finite process; that power is a series of impossibly tough choices, each of which inevitably involves burning some capital, until eventually there’s simply no more match to burn. Think of Donald Trump and his towering ego, so incapable of accepting the democratic verdict of the people that he [whipped up a mob](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/23/jan-6-panel-final-report-trump-capitol-attack) to storm the Capitol. By bowing out now, she is perhaps recognising not only that she has exhausted her own reserves but that her party’s best chance of retaining power this autumn may be under a leader free from the painful baggage she had accumulated over the last few years. If Ardern has felt painfully torn at times – and it’s a rare mother in a demanding job who doesn’t – then she didn’t spell that out in her leaving speech. And so Ardern becomes that rarest of unicorns, a politician with the emotional intelligence to jump instead of waiting to be pushed. She caught the millennial mood with her unifying response to a [terror attack in Christchurch](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/19/the-key-moments-of-jacinda-ardern-time-as-prime-minister-of-nz-new-zealand) and, with her appeal to New Zealanders to “ [be strong, and be kind](https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/03/17/be-strong-be-kind-we-will-be-ok-pms-message-in-face-of-coronavirus-impact/)” as they faced the Covid storm, she became the standard bearer for a gentler, more empathic model of leadership. [Boris Johnson scrabbling around](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/25/boris-johnson-tells-friend-dont-want-resign-will-stay-tory-members/) in the dirt last summer, clinging so stubbornly to his irrevocably stained premiership that even when he finally and grudgingly resigned, some wondered aloud if he really meant it. Like everyone else, New Zealanders are feeling the inflationary pinch, and polls suggest that her party will struggle in this year’s general election. So it is testament to Jacinda Ardern’s enduring skills that she has made it look almost easy. One of the hardest things in life is knowing when to stop.

Jacinda Ardern, citing burnout, resigned as Prime Minister of New Zealand on Thursday after nearly six years on the job.

With a [new mandate](https://www.ft.com/content/ccfc8195-aa97-4845-b16b-4f0762a168ed), Ardern appointed eight women, five indigenous Maori ministers, and a gay deputy prime minister. “We are living in an increasingly polarized world, a place where more and more people have lost the ability to see one another’s point of view. Ardern also followed in the rare footsteps of Pakistan’s late Prime Minister Beneazir Bhutto, when she [gave birth](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44568537) while in office in 2018. Now I’m asking you to do everything you can to protect all of us. I hope that this election, New Zealand has shown that this is not who we are. He is a criminal. He is a terrorist. “It takes courage and strength to be empathetic, and I’m very proudly an empathetic and compassionate leader. That she doesn’t have any sense of what girls can or can’t do. And that you can be your own kind of leader – one who knows when it’s time to go.” “I hope that she doesn’t feel any limitations. We give all that we can for as long as we can, and then it’s time.”

With her charm and leadership philosophy rooted in kindness, the New Zealand prime minister has earned widespread popularity. Many of her fans are women, who ...

Despite her denials, Ardern's move can also be seen as a canny decision to save her party and avoid a personally humiliating defeat in the upcoming election as the incumbent PM. She talked about how she wished to spend more time with her family as they had "sacrificed the most out of all of us". We give all that we can, for as long as we can, and then it's time," Ardern said, her voice faltering. Ardern noted in her speech on Thursday the "constant and weighty" decisions she faced. But I am confident with all of the support I'm very lucky to have, we will absolutely make it work," she told reporters at the time. With her charm and leadership philosophy rooted in kindness, the New Zealand prime minister has earned widespread popularity.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and the leader of New ...

In 2021, she won praise for her handling of the country’s earthquakes and tsunami warning — it was later revealed that on the same very day, she was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. Hipkins was first elected to parliament for the Labour Party in 2008 but became a household name among Kiwis during the pandemic when he was named Minister for COVID-19 Response in November 2020. He wrote on Twitter: “She has given her all to this incredibly demanding job and I wish her and her family all the very best for the future. She also became a target for misogyny and personal threats from the public — with police reportedly dealing with 50 in 2021. In between press conferences and emergency meetings, she was in the hospital getting tests on a 6cm growth. But while she was gracing the covers of Vogue and Time magazine internationally, her popularity has begun to wane at home. “Leaving now is the best thing for her reputation … However, criticism of the harsh lockdowns grew in 2021, with Hipkins himself later agreeing that quarantine measures should have been scaled back earlier. You cannot and should not do the job unless you have a full tank, plus a bit in reserve for those unplanned and unexpected challenges.” The Labour Party leader said in a tearful address to the nation that her term would end by Feb. “She has demonstrated that empathy and insight are powerful leadership qualities. For his part, Luxon thanked Ardern for her service to New Zealand.

Five years ago she became the second world leader to give birth while in office. Now, the New Zealand prime minister plans to step down.

No, none of that meant that she wasn’t up to the task. But if you prefer the optimistic take, the other lesson was that if citizens are willing to accept flexibility in how their leaders get the job done then they can have a leader like Jacinda Ardern. The article also misspelled the first name of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. “If I didn’t go, I imagine there would have been equal criticism,” she told the New Zealand Herald at the time, explaining the careful analysis that had gone into her decision. Could her global fans even name her accomplishments, or were we merely mesmerized by a leader who seemed to want to do things differently? What I remember mostly was the debate that raged over her breastfeeding choices.

When Jacinda Ardern announced she was stepping down as prime minister of New Zealand, she said didn't have “enough in the tank” to keep going or seek ...

In a report by Slack Technologies Inc.’s Future Forum [released in October](https://futureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Future-Forum-Pulse-Report-Fall-2022.pdf), female workers were 32% more likely to experience burnout than their male counterparts. Plenty of working women, particularly those who have lived through the pandemic, know that breaking point well.

Ardern says she slept soundly 'for the first time in a long time,' as colleagues in New Zealand deplore her treatment as prime minister.

Their caucus will meet on Sunday to vote on candidates for a new leader. And for me, it’s time,” she said. In her resignation announcement on Thursday, Ardern was asked how threats to her safety had played into her decision. The protests, coupled with increased threats and abuse against the prime minister and other MPs, prompted New Zealand’s typically open and accessible parliament to up security measures. While police could not determine motives for every individual threat, documents they released showed anti-vaccination sentiment was a driving force of a number of threats, and opposition to legislation to regulate firearms after the 15 March mass shooting in Christchurch was another factor. “Our society could now usefully reflect on whether it wants to continue to tolerate the excessive polarisation which is making politics an increasingly unattractive calling.”

The race to become New Zealand's next prime minister is wide open following Jacinda Ardern's shock decision to resign and her obvious successor and deputy ...

The stakes are high for the party that has seen its popularity sink amid growing frustrations over inflation and social inequality, a reversal in fortunes after Ardern was globally lauded for steering New Zealand through the pandemic. 22 on a new leader to take it to the general election set for Oct. The ruling Labour Party will vote Jan.

Retiring New Zealand PM gave Australian counterpart advance warning before announcing her surprise resignation.

“There’s still a range of emotions. Even more importantly, she has shown that a true leader possesses both,” he wrote. So I sent him a message. “He’s become a friend and I respect him greatly. I of course feel sad but also I do have a sense of relief,” she said. “I sent him a message before making the announcement and that’s because he is one of the leaders that I do have a close relationship with,” she said.

"Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it," William Shakespeare writes of an executed rebel in "Macbeth." Today's leaders, however, often struggle ...

We give all that we can for as long as we can and then it’s time. Then there are the leaders who don’t want to go, but are pushed or who are forced out by deteriorating political circumstances. His failure paved the way for a long period of Conservative Party rule that still endures. Even some of the strongest leaders can be forced out early by ambitious colleagues pining for their own chance. The world is watching with some concern as Xi becomes more militaristic the longer he stays in power. The three most-recent ex-PMs, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May were all effectively felled by their own party, Around the world and more recently, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, President John Magufuli of Tanzania and Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko of Ivory Coast also died of illnesses in office. Some leaders have the mercy of term limits which make the decision for them. But there would have been time to mount a comeback before the general election that she called for October. This truism led 20th century British parliamentarian Enoch Powell to note: “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.” Although if you ask the election-denying Trump, he thinks he should now be halfway through his second term, reserving for himself a unique category of post-power political disgrace. [Jacinda Ardern](https://e.newsletters.cnn.com/click?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) is the rare leader who is choosing to leave the stage, not to be pushed off it.

New Zealand's leader says she has a "sense of relief" as her party prepares to anoint a successor.

Mr Hipkins, 44, led the government's response to the pandemic after being appointed minister for Covid-19 in November 2020. Other potential candidates include Minister of Justice Kiri Allan, 39. She will step down by 7 February and Labour Party MPs will hold a leadership vote on Sunday.

Political commentators say there are several current ministers, including Kiri Allan and Chris Hipkins, who are potential candidates for the top job.

In December, the government announced [an inquiry](https://apnews.com/article/health-business-new-zealand-covid-economy-ed4548f52efc3740b9bd0cd19a9e40cc) into its own response. “Whoever it is that takes over on Sunday,” Shaw says, “this person’s job is to minimize the loss and then … Those issues mean that whoever becomes the next Prime Minister may not be in office long, with some experts predicting a backlash against the center-left Labour Party. [Ukraine Yellow Kitchen Photo](https://time.com/6247839/ukraine-yellow-kitchen-photo-dnipro/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20230105) [Toll of Working for Amazon](https://time.com/6248340/amazon-injuries-survey-labor-osha/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20230105) “I think he’s too closely associated with the COVID response,” says Shaw. But his ties to the pandemic response may also be problematic, as some in New Zealand have been intensely critical of the strict approach. The country won praise for its quick response and elimination strategy—which relied heavily on scientific advice and which, boosted by clear communication, meant New Zealand had one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in the world. That includes Kiri Allan, the minister for justice, who if elected would become the country’s first openly gay leader and its first prime minister of Māori descent. “I don’t know that Allan would want to put herself forward for that.” They’ll have to contend with a slew of domestic issues that had taken a toll on Ardern’s domestic popularity, like soaring house prices and inflation. But Robertson has ruled himself out, as has deputy party leader Kelvin Davis.

In today's newsletter: After two terms, the Labour prime minister said she didn't have 'enough in the tank' for three more years.

[Both agreed](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jan/19/dining-across-the-divide-david-maple)Labour will win the next election, so that’s something. The study found a reduction in motor traffic within the zones – which use bollards, planters or traffic cameras to keep motor vehicles out – of 32.7% (median) and 46.9% (mean). Toby Moses, head of newsletters [Libby Brooks’ piece](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/19/a-contentious-place-the-inside-story-of-tavistocks-nhs-gender-identity-clinic)into the Tavistock’s NHS gender identity clinic is sensitively handled and exhaustive, telling the 33-year story of this pioneering and contentious facility that now faces closure. Yet it’s always a pleasure to be in the presence of such blackbelt movie stars as Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie (above, with Diego Calva). They scrapped the target in 2019 [ when only 47 homes had been constructed ](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/28/new-zealand-housing-crisis-just-47-affordable-homes-built-in-six-months)in six months. [polling was released](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/05/support-for-jacinda-ardern-and-nz-labour-sinks-to-lowest-since-2017-poll-shows) that showed that support for the Labour party had dropped to its lowest level since 2017, at 33%. [laid out an ambitious plan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/04/new-zealand-scraps-overly-ambitious-plan-to-tackle-housing-crisis) to build 100,000 new homes over the next decade to help ease prices. Listening to Rush!, you’re struck by how canny their sound is, with a grab-bag of influences that’s perfect for the streaming era. With only two weeks left in office, New Zealand, and the rest of the world too, is anticipating the next political era for this small island country. The US musician was part of the original lineup of the Byrds and appeared on their first five albums. The decision to not include glass in the scheme has been criticised by campaigners as a missed opportunity. The news comes as the social care system continues to buckle under the pressure of rising unmet care demand.

The New Zealand Labour party will pick a new leader on Sunday, after Ardern's shock resignation. Who are the top contenders?

His selection would also leave Labour with two white men at the top – a problem for a party priding itself on its diversity and progressive credentials, and unlikely to provide much desired contrast with the opposition leader, Christopher Luxon. Hipkins – known as “Chippy” because of the acronym and somewhat schoolboyish demeanour – is the most experienced political hand of the candidates, and the frontrunner for the role. Against him: inexperience, particularly compared with Hipkins, and the same double-white-man problem. If one candidate secures two-thirds of the vote, they will take the helm of the party – if not, the vote will then go to the party’s wider membership to make a selection. [some hiccups](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/31/charlotte-bellis-new-zealand-defends-miq-strict-quarantine-pregnant-journalist-help-taliban) – kept reasonably steady control of the enormously complex legislative and communication undertakings of pandemic governance. For a government that has struggled to get some of its ambitious reform packages across the line, it represents a key legislative achievement of the past year. Ardern’s personality and profile - as a young mother and progressive, leading the most diverse parliament in New Zealand history – increasingly propelled the country on to the international stage. He is seen within Labour as a safe pair of hands and has spent the last term juggling high-profile portfolios – currently as minister for education, minister for police, and leader of the House. He has elements of the unpretentious, self deprecating humour that New Zealanders tend to embrace in their politicians: [going viral for a pandemic-era gaffe](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/23/spread-your-legs-new-zealand-makes-hay-with-covid-ministers-gaffe) in which he encouraged New Zealanders to go outside and “spread their legs”, and more recently for celebrating his birthday with [a cake constructed entirely of sausage rolls.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/08/flake-news-what-is-a-sausage-roll-cake-and-why-does-it-exist) For overseas liberals, she and Aotearoa took on near-symbolic status as a liberal enclave amid the pressures of Trumpism, rightwing resurgences, misinformation and anti-democratic movements. Should it prioritise continuity and experience to right the ship? Right and left-wing coalition partners Act and the Greens were sitting at 11% apiece.

Welcome to today's Morning Brief, where we're looking at reactions to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's resignation, defense leaders convening in ...

China Doesn’t](https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/19/the-u-s-lets-ambassador-posts-sit-empty-for-years-china-doesnt/) by Robbie Gramer and Jack Detsch and Taiwan Trapped](https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/18/taiwan-us-china-strategic-ambiguity-military-strategy-asymmetric-defense-invasion/) by Raymond Kuo [•The U.S. [killed](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/19/three-children-among-six-killed-during-indian-kite-flying-festival) at an annual kite festival in India. [pledged to send](https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-ready-tanks-without-germany-mateusz-morawiecki-consent-olaf-scholz/) the tanks with or without Berlin’s blessing. [to discuss Ukraine ](https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2023/01/19/austin-meets-new-german-defense-minister-over-ukraine-tank-support/) at the United States’ Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, [among others](https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/12/30/new-geopolitics-vocabulary-popular-buzzwords-2022/), to describe doing business with friendlier, more democratically-minded countries, or countries with less geopolitical risk. China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, noted last week that the two countries had gone to the W.T.O over trade disputes, but suggested a bilateral solution would be preferable and “much easier.” The meeting also comes as Germany [continues](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64329059) to express reluctance to send tanks to Ukraine, saying it will only do so if the United States does so first. [Speaking](https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-01-19/davos-2023-be-careful-on-friend-shoring-wtos-ngozi-warns) in Davos at the World Economic Forum, World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said countries looking to engage in “friend-shoring” should be careful. Pistorius has already [met](https://www.dw.com/en/new-german-defense-minister-meets-us-counterpart/a-64447245) his U.S. “Jacinda Ardern’s decision to resign is radical in an era where so many leaders are clinging to power. Anthony Albanese, prime minister of Australia, said Ardern had “shown the world how to lead with intellect and strength …