So, Ben. Chris Hopkins doesn't have the
international recognition that just under a dozen heads.
Tell us more about New Zealand's new prime minister.
That's exactly right. Paul, so the new prime minister, in his
first press conference to New Zealand, pitched himself as a down to earth guy,
and I think that's really the message that he's going to be trying to deliver
ahead of the October election. HeLa DAX khaki like sausage rolls.
He understands kitchen table issues. This is the sort of narrative that he's
trying to push. He's a former police and education
minister. And very importantly for New Zealand, he
was the face of their Covid-19 response, regularly appearing alongside Jacinta
turn at press conferences during 2020 and 2021.
So he's very recognizable for that. And given that the Covid-19 response was
one of the more controversial aspects of Jacinda Dow Jones time as prime minister
that may help or hinder new Prime Minister Ripken's depending on how
people viewed that response. So he's got nine, maybe 10 months,
depending on how you want to count it. That'll run up to the election.
How is he likely to fare? Well, sir, I sort of allude to in my
first answer, he's really going to be focusing on kitchen table issues as he
says, he's going to be focusing on the economy, on rising inflation, on New
Zealand is doing it tough. And he's going to be removing some of
the more controversial policies that were dragging down just under ISE
approval rating, and that is the Labor Party's approval rating as well.
Currently, they trail the opposition centre right national party by a not
insignificant margin. A few months out from the election now,
Hopkins is to try and present a very different picture from just under ISE.
And I mentioned previously that I was a very popular figure on the world stage
and that often encountered some criticism back home.
Hopkins is very different. He's not known internationally.
He doesn't have that star power. And while that might hurt him in some
respects with, you know, that lack of charisma that some experts are talking
about, it will mean that come the election, he might get to present a
more, you know, everyday man who understands the average voter in terms
of that. I mean, Dan's departure may come as a
shock to an international audience. But in New Zealand, her popularity have
been slipping. Taxpayers Union Courier poll had her as
a negative net favor ability for the first time.
Just before she stepped down. And a lot of the commentary has been
around focus on issues such as code governance, particularly around New
Zealand's water supply and a move away from, as you described, bread and butter
issues. There is a cost of living crisis in New
Zealand at the moment. So how do you think that switch might
impact some other countries that were looking at her government's policies,
particularly here in Australia? Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, it's going to be a interesting message for Prime Minister Anthony
Albanese in Australia, who right now is kicking up his campaign for an
indigenous voice to pop element that is a body of indigenous elders who would
advise the Australian government on policy matters affecting Indigenous
Australians. I mean, this is a big, big platform of
Albanese, his policy for this term. He's burning a lot of political capital
on it. So if New Zealand backtracks on some of
that, if it moves away from it, it's bad timing for the Australian law that given
that although Australia and New Zealand often are out of sync with each other on
terms of your political leaning, you know, for the past few years, Australia
has had a center right government while just since obviously Prime Minister
Stern has been in power. It's not a good look if the country
right next year, the country most famous for its handling of indigenous issues,
starts to move away from embracing that right.
When you were trying to push it on your home turf.