New Zealand PM launches re-election bid

Bloomberg

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern launched her campaign for a second term by reminding voters of her leadership credentials and pledging to steer the country through the economic crisis unleashed by Covid-19.
The September 19 election is “more important than ever” because of the pandemic, Ardern told Labour Party faithful in Auckland on Saturday. “It’s about the future. It’s about leadership and it’s about values,” she said. “It’s about whether we stop and change to another team, or whether we keep those we know and we trust.”
Labour is riding high in opinion polls after Ardern led the country through one of the world’s strictest lockdowns and achieved the rare feat of eliminating community transmission of the coronavirus. By contrast, the main opposition National Party has been beset by internal ructions and scandals, prompting it to change leaders twice this year.
New Zealand now faces its biggest economic challenge in generations, with unemployment set to surge after the loss of international tourism, a key foreign exchange earner. The next government will need to create new industries and jobs, and find a way to safely reopen the border, which has been closed to foreigners since the pandemic struck.
Ardern squares off against new National leader Judith Collins, a hard-nosed conservative who claims her party is more capable of navigating the economic recovery.
There is little to separate the two parties in terms of policy at the moment as they have yet to reveal their full platforms.
Both have pledged massive infrastructure spending to create jobs and boost growth, while neither is currently proposing tax hikes or cuts.
National has said it would aim to reduce net government debt to 30% of gross domestic product within a decade, which Ardern says would
require huge cuts to public spending. Labour would
instead focus on growing the economy to reduce the debt ratio.