Jacinda Ardern is Unable to Command the Bridge

A Leader She Is Not

It seems to be gradually dawning upon the Commentariat that our Prime Minister is a shingle short.  The fact that it has taken so long for "ordinary" New Zealanders to grasp cold, hard reality when it comes to our Pretender Prime Minister probably tells us more about New Zealand as a nation than it does about Jacinda Ardern.  She was a nobody plucked from obscurity and thrust into the leadership of the Labour Party because there was no-one else.  Her performance since that time has confirmed the abiding suspicions.

Here is one new-born sceptic:

Kerre McIvor: Why I Don't Get the Sense PM is Across Her Job  
The latest political security breach has convinced Kerre McIvor that this Government doesn't know what it's doing.  It was revealed yesterday that passport and drivers’ licence details have been exposed on a Government website after a security breach.  It affected dozens of young New Zealanders who had supplied their details to the Ministry as part of their application to sail on double-hulled canoe Fa’afaite.

It comes just months after the failure of security on the Treasury website allowed National party staff to access secret budget information through a simple search.  McIvor told listeners that the two breaches adds to the sense of befuddlement and confusion from this Government.   She says that the previous National Government felt more like they were in control of the steering wheel.

"This Government, I just get a sense they have no idea what they are doing."   She also took aim at Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her refusal to answer questions.  "I don't get the sense she's across her job.  "You would think even she could set the agenda and put it to him and get the people to brief you. Just one solid answer would be fantastic.  You're in charge of the country, act like it!"

McIvor says that Labour probably didn't expect to be in Government after the last election, but that was 18 months ago and they should be up and running now.  "I get the sense that they are still trying to get their heads around the job, but this is their job. This is what they have been training all their lives to do - be the Government - and they aren't doing a very good job of it."  [NZ Herald]

Here are some reasons why the PM and the government is emerging as inept: 

PM Ardern had never done serious time in Opposition--the best proving ground of the craft of national politics.
 
She is surrounded by a bunch of light-weight ministers (with one or two exceptions).
 
She and her party have been hobbled by NZ First--Labour's coalition partner.
She is hamstrung by the Greens who are driven by several left-wing radicals, on the one hand,  and feel-good environmentalists, on the other.  Their untrammelled destruction of productivity in this country is breathtaking.  

Ardern is too weak and superficial to lock horns with her "coalition partners", and win the contest.