New Zealand: Stormy weather on all fronts
Traditionally New Zealanders swarm to the beaches during the New Year holiday period, but by mid-January national forecaster Metservice said that Auckland – home to more than a third of New Zealand’s population – had only 26 hours of bright sunshine for the entire month, just 28% of the usual amount. However, it wasn’t seasonal affective disorder (SAD) that lead to the shock resignation of New Zealand’s now former Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern on January 15 2023, it was burnout. Arden, who had won the 2020 Election with a landslide victory as New Zealanders rewarded her government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis, was lauded globally as one of the world’s most progressive and compassionate leaders. Yet at home, Ipsos was tracking a downward trend in perceptions of her Labour-led government’s performance in our Ipsos NZ Issues Monitor. Ratings peaked at 7.6/10 during the height of the pandemic in 2020 yet by early 2023 ratings had dropped to a low of 5.4/10.
Weather continued to have a big impact on our year. On 27 January, Cyclone Hale hit Auckland. The city was hit again by the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle on February 12. In total these weather events caused sixteen deaths and devastating damage to homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods throughout the country with the east coast and far north of the North Island the worst affected. Ipsos saw the impact of climate change hit home for New Zealanders, with the issue hitting the top five concerns in the NZ Issues Monitor following these weather events. Damage caused by flooding also saw New Zealanders satisfaction with our infrastructure decline from 46% satisfied in 2019 to 29% in 2023 with perceptions of quality of our major roads plunging from 62% (% very/ fairly good) to 46% over the same period.
2023 saw another ill wind reach our shores with the arrival of anti-trans activist Posie Parker. Parker, real name Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull, attempted to bring her ‘Let Women Speak’ tour to New Zealand. Many New Zealanders believed the event was an anti-trans rally in disguise and thousands of Rainbow Community supporters forced her to cancel the event with their protests. Ipsos could have let Posie know that her message was unlikely to resonate in New Zealand, with the Ipsos Pride survey showing 84% of New Zealanders believe transgender people should be protected from discrimination, one of the highest rates globally.
By September the weather had settled but the country hadn’t, as the NZ Parliament was formally dissolved ahead of the 2023 election. The campaign trail saw both major parties focussed on the issues worrying New Zealanders as identified by Ipsos, with inflation and crime dominating the headlines. On October 14, the wind blew in a new direction, with a National-led, right leaning government formed after six years of the Jacinda Ardern, Labour-led government and the country waiting for a warmer, drier summer in 2024.
Simon Wake
Country Manager, Ipsos in Australia & New Zealand