Small actions are indicative of bigger ones, and that true power is keeping one’s word.
Well the Prime Minister proved all of that in Dunedin this week, by keeping her promise to the children of Bathgate Park.
Last year, spurred on by their visionary teacher Tina Tuten, the children wrote thank-you letters to all sorts of great New Zealanders who’d helped get through lockdowns: supermarket workers, the police, firefighters and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
So touched was she by the letters, the PM promised to come to Bathgate to say thank you and read the children a story.
The weather gods had different ideas, and after a six-hour wait at an airport, the Prime Minister cancelled the trip down. She wrote to the children promising to come back — and that letter somehow ended up in the Otago Daily Times.
Last week, the Prime Minister came to Dunedin to check out Covid-related efforts, including the nimble and effective vaccine and health response programmes put together by Te Kaika.
But her first stop was at Bathgate Park, to keep her word to the budding writers there.
She also checked out some of the literacy programmes at the school, including Read Share Grow, which is a fantastic National Library programme being piloted in South Dunedin to promote reading for enjoyment.
I received lots of messages in the ensuing days about how excited the children were to finally meet the PM and hear about her job and her favourite books.
But mainly they were messages of gratitude that the PM had been true to her word, role modelling to the children that adults can be trusted, and that in her world, children count.
These positive affirmations are so important at a time of heightened anxiety for everyone, with Covid taking hold in the community, harrowing pictures on our TV screens from the war in Ukraine and the resulting price pressure at the petrol pump here.
Labour has consistently said we will prioritise the most vulnerable in our communities, which includes those who earn least.
This week we kept our word, cutting fuel tax by 25 cents a litre for three months to ease the pressure on Kiwis through the global energy shock.
That’s part of a wider package of measures to reduce cost pressures for Kiwis, including April 1 boosts for families and pensioners and the winter energy payment.
We’re also cutting public transport fares in half for three months to provide cheaper transport options.
While the current cost pressures aren’t forecast to last forever, we know these shocks are causing real pain for families right now.
This builds on the work we’ve done since 2017 to reduce cost pressures on New Zealanders, including the family tax credit, free school lunches, cheaper doctor’s visits and increases to benefits and superannuation.
I’m so grateful to work with a Prime Minister that keeps her word, whether it’s to adult income-earners, or to our children — who will understand the importance of keeping promises.
