As New Zealanders count down to the end of tumultuous year and look ahead to the election in 2020, the Guardian asked readers which questions they would like to pose to Jacinda Ardern.
We will publish the prime minister’s answers on Monday, but here we lay out the topics that people in New Zealand felt were the most pressing.
Among the more than 700 questions sent in, many focused on the consequences of the Christchurch attacks. Some asked what was being done to plug intelligence holes, while others were concerned the March attack had divided the country in a “culture war” that had the potential to split communities in a way that Brexit has in the UK.
A large number of readers also asked questions about the housing crisis, growing inequality and child poverty in New Zealand – in particular, the crisis in social housing. The standout theme was that housing was becoming unaffordable and many wanted answers to how the government was planning to address it.
As the country approaches a population of 5 million in 2020 – a milestone that many New Zealanders who responded to our callout had thought would take longer – there were a significant number of questions about what was being done to manage the growing numbers of citizens and residents. Would New Zealand change its immigration policy? Would there be any changes for international students?
The environment was another major theme. Many readers asked how the prime minister intended to reduce New Zealand’s carbon emissions. Others asked if Ardern thought the climate crisis had become too affiliated with left/right politics.
The fractious Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu in August highlighted the emergency in the region, with small countries pleading with bigger nations such as Australia to act more aggressively on emissions. Ardern told the forum “Australia has to answer to the Pacific” on climate change, saying that New Zealand was doing what it could to limit global emissions to 1.5C and expected others to do the same.
Readers wanted to know how much difference New Zealand’s efforts could make and how could Ardern influence other nations to follow her country’s lead. Could the prime minister form/influence an alliance of smaller countries to band together to help reduce emissions?
Some of the questions posed to Ardern focused on foreign influence in New Zealand. In June, Canterbury University China academic Prof Anne-Marie Brady said she was “being watched” and living in fear of Beijing. One reader asked what was being done to counter Chinese influence and should Ardern take a more principled stance towards Beijing, given the detention of 1m Uighurs and other minorities in camps in Xinjiang province?
Readers also wanted to know what the government would do if re-elected to ensure a free and independent media in New Zealand and how the government intended to combat sexism in schools.
But it wasn’t all macro issues. One reader wanted to know something slightly more quotidian: what is the best away to cook snapper?
The Guardian asked Simon Bridges to respond to readers’ questions, but he declined.
