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Collage of politicians speaking in a chamber with serious expressions. The background features a green design with a card labeled "The Spinoff Echo Chamber".
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PoliticsJanuary 29, 2025

Echo Chamber: An unruly first day back at the school of growth

Collage of politicians speaking in a chamber with serious expressions. The background features a green design with a card labeled "The Spinoff Echo Chamber".
Image: The Spinoff

Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s politics column recapping sessions in the House, written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith on Tuesdays and Wellington editor Joel MacManus on Wednesdays.

The year’s first session in the House (season 171, episode one) began with two memorials: the first for fallen police officer Lyn Fleming, killed on New Year’s Day, and the second for former parliamentarian Dame Tariana Turia. Fleming’s tribute was led by the prime minister, who had attended her funeral two weeks prior, while Te Pāti Māori’s Debbie Ngarewa-Packer honoured Turia.

Ngarewa-Packer referenced controversial comments Turia had made to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2000, about Taranaki Māori’s experience of colonisation being a holocaust, which she later apologised for. “I know it was really, deeply disrespectful to some – for me personally, it was liberating, because I didn’t understand what had happened to us,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

In remembering Turia, Ngarewa-Packer reflected on the year ahead, making a promise to Chris Bishop “not to show my teeth too much” (at the end of the session, Bishop stopped by her chair and gave her a pat on the shoulder). Seymour, who was on his phone for the most part, was the last to honour the woman who “[practised] the politics of kindness before it was cool”. The tributes swallowed up the larger part of the session, but once completed, Luxon jumped straight into the prime minister’s statement, the traditional opener of the first sitting day of each year that sets out the government’s plans for the year ahead and is followed by a debate.

His speech was, of course, all about growth and saying yes and going, going, going until you’ve gone so far you’ve reached peak economic health, a brand new Resource Management Act and hopefully an Eras Tour (“not an E-R-R-O-R-S Tour,” Luxon quipped to Hipkins). Whatever he had to say had already been scanned and highlighted for quotables by the press gallery (Winston Peters had a printout at his seat and had highlighted the entire thing), but the public gallery may have had a harder time hearing anything at all.

David Seymour addresses the media mob before heading into parliament’s debating chamber (Photo: Lyric Waiwiri-Smith)

There was heckling all around, led by Megan Woods, Carmel Sepuloni and Rachel Brooking, while the Greens and Te Pāti Māori mostly looked like they’d rather be anywhere else. Sepuloni yelled that she couldn’t remember a prime minister’s speech ever being so boring. Brooking only stopped shouting when offered a tupperware container full of lollies by Camilla Belich. “We’ve got passionate MPs,” Luxon said. “Name one,” Willie Jackson called. “Growth trumps everything,” Luxon grinned. “Except te Tiriti,” came a voice from the opposition benches.

But all the while, the government benches added their own chorus. Todd “Trade” McClay got a round of applause at the mention of trade agreements, as did James Meager for his “awesome” new role as minister for the South Island. Luxon employed one of his favourite singing techniques – the ol’ call and response – to drive home how serious the party is about 2025 being the year of yes. “What did Labour say to tax relief to working New Zealanders?” Luxon called. A definitive “NO” rose from the benches. “What did they say about fast track?” Luxon prompted the crowd. “NO!” came the call. At the end, he received a standing ovation from almost everyone on the government benches, except Act.

Then it was Hipkins’ turn to deliver his response. He lifted his voice so loudly and so forcefully it would have made a case for making parliament the new stomping ground for Homegrown. If Luxon was making a case for growth, Hipkins was out to prove the economy’s ill health, drawing on the businesses that had shuttered since the pandemic years: “companies that survived Covid cannot survive National”. Unfortunately, Luxon and most of his cohort couldn’t hear him because they had already left the House.

Luxon speaks up for the Eras Tour (Image: Parliament Video)

But his words did hit Seymour, who became the first person in the House this year to call a point of order. He had shaken his head through jabs from Hipkins, who accused the Act leader of splitting the nation into two: “the wealthy and the mediocre”. When Seymour’s point of order was stood down by the speaker, Seymour took it to X instead.

When Greens leader Chlöe Swarbrick took the stand, someone else was ready and waiting in the wings to cut her off at every line: Winston Peters. At the mention of “Aotearoa New Zealand”, he called “New Zealand! That’s its name!” For every statistic or piece of legislation she tried to quote, he was ready to tell her she had no idea what she was talking about. Shane Jones, who had left the House during Luxon’s speech, returned to parrot his party leader’s heckles, which earned a thumbs up from Act’s Todd Stephenson and some very appreciative smiles from Seymour. Swarbrick acknowledged the heckling only at the end: “they’re quaking in their boots”.

Peters’ words blew a gust and the Greens, as well as the rest of the Labour lot, swept themselves out of the House, leaving Seymour to perform alone. The man who has been at the centre of many a media scrum this week already was now finally staring at an audience of his peers. But he didn’t let the lack of interest, or the jabs thrown his way by Hipkins, get him down, because he spent his summer going “as far north as Northland, and as far south as Southland” and heard feedback that struck a chord: “If I was to play back the mood music of those responses, it would be a little bit like something Crowded House once said: Now we’re getting somewhere.” The one MP who cheered him on, Sam Uffindell, was disregarded as “the guy from King’s”.

A sombre start to the year doth not promise an entirely sombre year. Peters, in his own way, chose to see the cup half full – though his speech was interrupted many times by opposition backbenchers and assistant speaker Greg O’Connor, he came back to a favourite Winstonism: “sunshine”.

Winston Peters has adopted a new name for everyone in the House: sunshine (Image: Parliament Video)

There was a “how long have you been here, sunshine?”, a “let me tell you what my policy is, sunshine” and a “we know you live in dreamtime, sunshine, but we’re talking about the real world”. He cracked himself up so much, he wiped tears from his eyes. He said “sunshine” so much that O’Connor, of Ngāti Labour, called on him to respect “the tikanga of this house”.

“Less of the ‘sunshine’, more of people’s first names,” O’Connor said. Peters argued there was no “tikanga” in the House, but was happy to follow the “procedures”. And so, the coalition government painted the picture of parliament in 2025: less sunshine, more growth, less tikanga, more yes.

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Clarke Gayford and Jacinda Ardern  at the Prime Minister premiere in Park City, Utah. Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Clarke Gayford and Jacinda Ardern at the Prime Minister premiere in Park City, Utah. Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

PoliticsJanuary 28, 2025

What the critics are saying about the Jacinda Ardern film that just premiered at Sundance

Clarke Gayford and Jacinda Ardern  at the Prime Minister premiere in Park City, Utah. Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Clarke Gayford and Jacinda Ardern at the Prime Minister premiere in Park City, Utah. Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

The first reviews of the documentary Prime Minister are in.  

Since her valedictory speech in April 2023, Jacinda Ardern has sought largely to stay out of the spotlight. In 2025, however, she’ll be back in the headlines – or bookshops and cinemas, at least. 

Last week, Ardern announced that her memoir, A Different Kind of Power, will be published in June. And two documentaries also have the former prime minister at their centre. One of those, supported by the Film Commission, is slated for an August release. The other, which by contrast has Ardern’s involvement and implicit endorsement – her husband Clarke Gayford is credited as both a producer and a director of photography, and contributes plenty of family footage to the project – is currently playing at the Sundance Film Festival. 

The film, titled Prime Minister, is part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Utah event, and Ardern is among those attending the festival. What are the reviewers saying so far?

Writing for IndieWire, Harrison Richlin awards a “B” grade to the film. Directors Michelle Walshe and Lindsey Utz had presented “a compelling what-if to Americans now dealing with another four years under a ruthless tyrant by showcasing the capable leadership and everyday life of former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern during her six-year term, as well as where she is today post-resignation,” he writes. “The documentary acts as an intimate study of what it means to serve others when it seems like the world is falling apart and to be a partner and mother at the same time.”

For all that, it ultimately “feels like a film that would’ve had more impact if released a year ago, but today reads as a tragic depiction of yet another experienced, thoughtful woman whose determination to do good, both by her family and the country she represents, is steam-rolled by the horror and bigotry other individuals wish to bring on the world”, he says.

Caryn James puts it differently, writing in her review for The Hollywood Reporter that the release is “timelier than anyone might have expected. It would be a bit of an exaggeration, but just a bit, to say it trolls Donald Trump. It’s no accident that it includes deliberate, pointed contrasts that position Ardern as the American leader’s exact opposite in their approaches and objectives.”

James commends the filmmakers’ ability to “juggle the personal and political”, but adds one reservation: the coverage of her resignation as prime minister is “both compelling and too partial”. She concludes: “But even with its omissions and glossiness – a typical side effect of insider access – Prime Minister’s portrait of Ardern is so persuasive it might make you wish you could vote for her.”

IndieWire’s Richin offers a similar critique. “Though it’s not featured as part of the narrative, in resigning as PM, Ardern opened the door for Labour to suffer a landslide defeat in the next election, marring her own legacy for the sake of her mental health and as a response to those who stood in opposition to her,” he says. “As she packs her office sporting a Portishead T-shirt and reveling in the presence of her now fiancé and their daughter, we can see her joy slowly start to flow back in, forcing us to wonder if any good person can actually govern in a world where politics have become seemingly ruled by those who are loudest and most out for themselves.”

Amber Wilkinson of Screen Daily is impressed by “an eye-opening insider perspective that comes as a reminder of what conviction politics looks like when it is maintained even under extreme pressure, as well as being a celebration of feminism”. Prime Minister, “as much about the person as the position she held”, she writes, “might just restore some of your own faith in politicians”.

“Intimate but simplistic”, is the headline in another trade staple, Variety. “Gayford’s proximity is a double-edged sword, one the rest of the production also wields, in terms of its limited political approach,” writes Siddhant Adlakha. “However, as a portrait of struggles in the seat of power, the film presses all the right emotional buttons.” 

He concludes: Prime Minister may verge on hagiographic in its telling, but as a tale of political mythmaking – and a young woman in a world of right-wing strongmen – it’s greatly assisted by its intimate documents of Ardern. Since these are captured by her closest confidant and biggest supporter, they come with all the flaws and flourishes that living in a leader’s proximity provides.” 

As for Ardern’s personal assessment, in a Q&A session at the Sundance festival on Sunday, she said: “I saw the final cut of the film yesterday. I cried through most of it, and I’m not sure if that’s equivalent to laughing at your own jokes. I was very emotional watching it. I credit the storytellers for it. I hoped that the film would humanise politicians, those who are public servants, and leadership, but I never thought it would humanise me. When I watched it, I just saw myself as someone who was trying to do their best.”

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