Some may be shocked at Jacinda Ardern’s resignation, but it’s not surprising she is abandoning a sinking ship

Some may well be shocked at the resignation of Jacinda Ardern. In the days that followed, some have sung her praises for having empathy and vision, and some, like me are not surprised she is abandoning a sinking ship. There are many who espouse opinions as to why a government may or may not get elected and its often because the electorate is just ready for a change. There is no doubt that many jurisdictions across Australia together with New Zealand saw the re-election of the current governments at the time purely on the basis of the way COVID-19 was handled. My kids were handing out how to vote cards. I used to do this but as WAFarmers president have withdrawn from party political activity. While doing so, my kids were often asked how to vote for Mark McGowan even though there was no way of directly voting for him in this electorate such was the fervour at being kept safe by Mr McGowan and other leaders across our realm. Jacinda Ardern was one of these, along with mostly Labor governments in our states and Liberals in NSW. The trouble with election wins with such enormous landslide victories is that the winners (in most cases the incumbents) think they have the imprimatur to do whatever they think fit… and they do and do so in spades. Just look at Mark McGowan and his electoral ‘reform’ when he stated time and again that there was no reform on the table. One can only hope for the law of unintended consequences. True also for Jacinda Ardern on water ownership and the methane tax on farmers. Ardern had been elected because she was young and a fresh face with promises of doing things better and being more inclusive. Then COVID-19 hit and New Zealand had, along with WA, and now maybe China, some of the harshest lockdown laws in the world almost as though if we stopped the disease getting in for a short time we would stop it forever. History clearly shows that to have been patently wrong…but we did flatten the curve! Compare New Zealand to Australia. Population: 5.12 million verses 25.69 million, agricultural output $52.2 billion verses $82 billion. You can see just how important agriculture is to the New Zealand economy compared with ours (I think ours is pretty damned important). They are the largest exporter of dairy products in the world and the largest sheep meat exporter. So why would you tax and impose extremely harsh laws on farmers who are such an important part of the economy. Simply put it has to be idealism. Young and idealistic is lovely but it does not pass the test when it comes to outcomes for the betterment of the whole community or even for being right. While Greta Thunberg may well spit ‘how dare you?’ at me for challenging any of the science around the rush by Ardern to be the first country in the world to propose a methane tax she would do well to look at basic maths and common sense before criticising me. And there are those that are desperate to see the voice activated which will have huge impacts on us just as the unintended consequences of McGowan’s cultural heritage laws. Ardern was keen to have new changes to water laws, three waters, with an entrenchment clause embedded in the constitution which would have meant they were very difficult if not impossible to change even if they were a disaster for their country and by extension their farmers. Oversight of water was to be taken from local authorities, set up in four mega departments and managed by half elected and half appointed Maoris effectively removing local management. Fortunately after much pushback from many, including the farmers, the senior members of the ruling party saw the error of their ways. And the Voice is heading down the same path. If the changes are so desperately needed in Australia why do we not get on and test them and if they ever get them right there will be no need for constitutional change. Why we are trying to appease a minority to assuage our guilt, I am not sure. How far do we go back? Roman times, Alexander the great? If a majority of voters knock back the voice in a referendum Albanese said he will join with the teals and pass it as legislation. What a great way to piss off the majority who just voted against it. Remember they are the ones who vote. Delightfully bringing the word into very common usage the NZ government proposed a fart tax. Forever wanting to play the victim card or the oppressor card, as socialists do, New Zealand wanted to be the first to impose a carbon tax on methane for its role in savaging the climate of the planet. Notwithstanding that the simple maths shows no net carbon from farming livestock and that the science shows it breaks down after 12 years into carbon and is absorbed, the farmers (or the wealth holders) were a very convenient target. So New Zealand is confessing to half its emissions being from agriculture, when they are probably close to zero (effectively criminalising itself on the world carbon stage) and proposing to tax the very industry, which provides most of its export income, out of existence. Nothing more and nothing less than wealth redistribution. Thank goodness our Agriculture Minister Murray Watt was smart enough to realise this is not what you do to our farmers and thank the polls for the New Zealanders being rid of Jacinda. John Hassell is the president of WAFarmers