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Germany has elevated security to the top of its political agenda. And it has finally dumped the weak, amoral, and irresponsible foreign policy of the Merkel years.

Merkel has governed Germany for 16 years, but she never led it.

Anyone wishing for an anti-Trump, an anti-Johnson or an anti-Bolsonaro could not dream up a more impressive figure like Jacinda Ardern. If she did not exist, she would have to be invented.

Voters should ask a simple question about any new housing proposal: Will it make it easier to build more homes? If the answer is not “yes,” these are not the policies Australia or New Zealand need to fix our countries’ housing crises.

Kiwis are an optimistic bunch. That is why they look likely to give Ardern a second chance – and a second term.

This country can once again become prosperous and productive. But only if this is a shared ambition. As the government’s lead economic adviser, it is the Treasury’s ambition to see this through. And as Minister of Finance, it should be yours too.

Though it is tough to reliably forecast what Covid-19 will do to key economic indicators over the coming years, the true legacy of Covid-19 will be for the Government to occupy the commanding heights of the economy once again. And make everyone poorer.

New Zealand must remain clean, transparent and solid in all its economic institutions. We are not a banana republic, and we do not want to become one.