Tasmania quietly points to our socialist future

Tasmanian House of Assembly [Edoddridge CC BY SA 3.0]

The election of Michelle O’Byrne as Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly on May 14, 2024 marked a significant departure from parliamentary convention, raising questions about stability, leadership, and media coverage. The decision’s implications are all the result of Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s inaction. Meanwhile, the mainstream media’s response has focused on Rockliff’s inadequacy with barely a mention of Michelle O’Byrne’s role of Speaker.

Are we quietly accepting socialism while ignoring our Westminster traditions?

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

The prolific Michael de Percy has a look at the fiasco that is the Tasmanian parliament’s successful no-confidence motion against the Liberal minority government premier, Jeremy Rockliff. He rightly homes in the Labor speaker, Michelle O’Byrne, disgracefully defying and trashing Westminster convention to break the tie on the motion by voting for it, not against. There’s something rotten in the state of Tasmania, and it’s not just the moribund economy.  Is there any way the rest of Australia can make Tasmania go and join New Zealand? They deserve each other, politically.

My latest opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Tasmania quietly points to our socialist future.

Jacinda Ardern’s triumph of style over substance

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister, 2017-2023. [Image: CC PDM 1.0]

Jacinda Ardern’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister (2017–23) was lauded globally as a masterclass in empathetic leadership, her image burnished by deft handling of crises like the Christchurch mosque shootings and the early stages of Covid.

The world swooned over her ‘kindness’ and ‘authenticity’, with fawning media elevating her to near-mythic status.

Yet beneath the polished rhetoric and carefully curated narrative lies a stark reality. Ardern’s leadership, when scrutinised, reveals a troubling lack of measurable outcomes. Her policies, draped in inclusive language and moral posturing, often failed to deliver the substance needed to justify the hype.

By 2020, punters were asking whether Jacinda Ardern was just ‘a show pony’.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

And finally, Michael de Percy takes a look back on the legacy of Jacinda Ardern’s ‘inclusive’ and ‘kind’ agenda and whether or not it actually achieved anything meaningful.

In the Morning Double Shot, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Jacinda Ardern’s memoir came out this week. To save you the temptation to part with your hard-earned to read it, Michael de Percy sums Ardern’s leadership up: for all her ‘I feel your pain’ schtick, as New Zealand’s prime minister she didn’t actually achieve very much. Except that is, in the Covid years, when Ardern shut down New Zealand, and turned it into an Antipodean hermit kingdom with a zeal exceeded only by Victoria’s Daniel Andrews. She’s not missed.

My latest article in The Spectator Australia, Jacinda Ardern’s triumph of style over substance.

Key Studies on Jacinda Ardern's Leadership

Research question: What quantitative and qualitative metrics can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of Jacinda Ardern's key policy initiatives during her prime ministership?

Below are the key studies on Jacinda Ardern's leadership I reviewed from the academic literature:

Baker, M. G., Kvalsvig, A., & Verrall, A. J. (2020). New Zealand’s COVID‐19 elimination strategy. Medical Journal of Australia, 213(5), 198. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50735

Beattie, A., & Priestley, R. (2021). Fighting COVID-19 with the team of 5 million: Aotearoa New Zealand government communication during the 2020 lockdown. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 4(1), 100209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2021.100209

Henrickson, M. (2020). Kiwis and COVID-19: The Aotearoa New Zealand Response to the Global Pandemic. The International Journal of Community and Social Development, 2(2), 121–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/2516602620932558

Howden-Chapman, P., Keall, M., Whitwell, K., & Chapman, R. (2020). Evaluating natural experiments to measure the co-benefits of urban policy interventions to reduce carbon emissions in New Zealand. Science of The Total Environment, 700, 134408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134408

Rangiwhetu, L., Pierse, N., Chisholm, E., & Howden-Chapman, P. (2020). Public Housing and Well-Being: Evaluation Frameworks to Influence Policy. Health Education & Behavior, 47(6), 825–835. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120917095

Skilling, P. (2024). The sixth labour government on poverty and inequality: Policy action and political language. Political Science, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00323187.2024.2441360

Tyner, K., & Jalalzai, F. (2022). Women prime ministers and COVID‐19: Within‐case examinations of New Zealand and Iceland. Politics & Policy, 50(6), 1076–1095. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12511

#JacindaArdern | Kind? Authentic? Empathetic? Inclusive? And yet ultimately a massive and enduring failure.

The global applause for Ardern’s leadership ignored a critical truth – without measurable results, empathy is just a performance. @FlaneurPolitiq https://t.co/XogZlcYXno

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) June 5, 2025

One more seat and One Nation joins the majors

Pauline Hanson's One Nation is now the main conservative party in Australia

The Coalition appears to have abandoned their followers who sweated blood for them over the past 30 years. Further, the minor conservative parties brought about their own demise by trying to play off against one another. Rising from the ashes of the socialist’s recent election victory is One Nation. Soon to approach its thirtieth year, One Nation is now the only real chance for conservatives to hold the Uniparty to account.

What can conservatives do to help One Nation?

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy is encouraged that the surprise Senate gains of One Nation put it in reach of official party status at five seats, and the resources that status brings. But based on the troubled party’s history, and especially how all One Nation senators since 2016 – Malcolm Roberts excepted – have fallen out with their leader and party founder, your scribe remains unconvinced that One Nation is poised or savvy enough to make the breakthrough to make it a strong player in the Canberra parliamentary game. Let’s wait and see.

My latest opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, One more seat and One Nation joins the majors.

"To me, Pauline Hanson is an Australian political heroine."

She has never wavered from her convictions and yet, unlike our hubristic PM, she has never referred to herself as a conviction politician. Now’s the time for her party to reap the rewards.https://t.co/vkmTQmwoHw

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) June 2, 2025