Jacinda’s separate travel to Nauru: Media needs to up its game of holding politicians to account

Media reporting and grilling of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has to evolve in a manner that doesn’t concede a self-goal.

The fact that the National Party is struggling to find an effective way to deal with Jacinda Ardern right from her advent as the leader of the Labour Party six weeks before elections to right up to ten months into the sixth Labour-led government is well known.

However, it is apparent that often New Zealand media finds it tough or struggles to find effective ways to deal with issues related to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her decisions in office.

Often, New Zealand media, like political opponents of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, gets caught-up between how much is too much while grilling PM’s action or (in) action in the office.

This week’s travel by Ms Ardern to Nauru to attend the Pacific Island Forum summit is the latest one where media commentators have invited criticism for the work they do – holding the government to account.

As a consequence, everyone needs to be reminded again that our Prime Minister is a superwoman who has delivered a baby about eight months into the office and sprung back into action after a startlingly short six weeks rest. This outcome, though well received by the public, would be of insignificant value if she would fail to leave the country in better shape than what she found, whenever she eventually goes out of the office in the future. 

For the public of NZ, the personal situation of the country’s leader as should not matter as long as the country is in good shape and the maxims of good governance are being followed with due diligence.

The travel costs of the country’s MPs, Ministers, officials, and the Prime Minister are a necessary and an unavoidable cost of governance.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern fields questions on her use of a RNZAF 757 to attend the PIF. / Photo by Mark Mitchell/ NZ Herald

The leaders and officials have to be present at different platforms and destinations for numerous purposes ranging from basic governance to advancing our national interests abroad.

While a broad oversight is necessary over collective travel expenditures of those in the government and in higher bureaucracy, lest they become less mindful and overindulgent while spending taxpayers’ money.

However, there is little need for knee-jerk grilling on individual instances before or after major events, purely because it distracts the public from the bigger issues involved and it creates an unrealistic impression about the country’s politics.

In this instance, a major distraction is from the main issue of how New Zealand should be reinforcing its leadership in the South Pacific region – a region that does not remain as our exclusive geostrategic space with rising powers like China jostling for influence.

Any under-cutting of NZ’s influence in this region, primarily because of our distractions at home, for reasons unrelated to demands of the geopolitics of international politics of the region is completely unacceptable.

And a Prime Minister struggling to justify her travel expense to such an important regional forum can be least expected to bolster NZ’s position.

Also among other key distractions, one other distraction from country’s day to day politics is in being reminded repeatedly that we have a Prime Minister who happens to be a woman and has delivered a baby eight months into her office and amazingly sprung back into action after six weeks.

We as a country have demonstrated our progressiveness in having a PM deliver a baby while in the office and work like any other working woman.

If we have that maturity, then we should also have enough maturity to leave her alone as a mother and focus on her actions and (inactions) if any at the office.

The nation would have expectation that this unprecedented situation of a breastfeeding mother leading the country as the PM would require some adjustments in things related to travelling, accommodation, and the way she carries out day to day business at her workplace and would expect that they would be met in a dignified manner befitting to the position of country’s topmost elected leader.

It’s okay to not focus on what the PM needs to do just because she is a mother with a little one who needs to be breastfed.

There are important things that she may do or not do in her office that she needs to be held accountable for.