Hey Australia, can we have Pauline Hanson? We’ll gladly give you Jacinda Ardern.

Politics makes for strange envy.

Across the Tasman, Australia has the blunt, unapologetic force of Pauline Hanson. Here in New Zealand, we had the polished, globally adored Jacinda Ardern. If you judge by overseas headlines alone, you would think we were the lucky ones.

Many Kiwis would disagree.

Hanson is not subtle. She does not wrap her politics in soft…