Prime Minister Ardern has pulled out of her weekly appearance on the Mike Hosking breakfast show. The reason given is that she is rearranging her interview schedule. Yet one can’t help wondering whether she was tired of being asked difficult questions. As many are now pointing out, Ardern seems more at home with patsy questions and friendly interviewers. She’s loved overseas, and her daily performance during COVID rallied many New Zealanders, despite feeling a little patronizing at times. Unfortunately, she struggles when facing a more seasoned interviewer who pushes back.
In his explanation of the situation, Hosking said, “The number of times she’s fronted on this programme with no knowledge around the questions I’m asking is frightening. Reports I read, she hadn’t. The time I asked whether they’re replacing the Tauranga City Council, she replied they didn’t do such things. Clearly, not having the slightest clue, in a month or so, they were going to do exactly that. Those occasions are too many to be comfortable.”
To anyone who has heard Ardern and Hosking spar, it’s clearly an uncomfortable experience for Ardern. She seems to be struggling. She might be able to present well at the daily COVID briefings. She might be good at spouting platitudes, but despite promising us transparency, she doesn’t seem to deal well with grown-up questions pertaining to her government’s performance. She seems to feel much more at home with fawning and sycophantic supporters who would never dream of asking a question of their hero. Is this true leadership?
Barry Soper, one of the few decent journalists we have in New Zealand, observed, “The questions were too direct, they got under her thin skin but, more importantly, she didn’t know the answer to many of them. She was exposed on a weekly basis and it simply all became too much for her.” His final line in his editorial, “She’s treading water.” is about right.
It seems she’s fallen into leadership before she was ready. Without COVID, she’d probably be gone. To ensure a third term, one would imagine she will have to deliver on some of the grandiose promises she’s made. Unless COVID saves her again.