Holiday Breakfast

There's likely to be political fallout from America's decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the US East Coast.

China has condemned the move, saying it now "reserves the right" to "deal with similar situations".

Washington and Beijing were due to hold their highest-level talks in some years, but those meetings have now been put on ice.

US Correspondent Richard Arnold says there's a lot of talk about why Chinese President Xi Jinping would do something like this.

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There's been a mood of celebration and a message of unity at this weekend's commemorations at Waitangi.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is among thousands of people who have been braving the rain to attend a dawn service and flag raising ceremony on the Treaty Grounds.

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni is spending today at West Auckland's Hoani Waititi Marae, after spending the weekend at Waitangi.

Carmel Sepuloni observed that Chris Hipkins' speech from this morning was well-received and genuine.

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Reported job growth in the US is higher than expected for January.

2023 opened with 517,000 new employment opportunities created, surpassing growth expectations.

Hospitality lead with 128,000 jobs created and business services, health care, and construction all reported an uptick in jobs.

Greg Smith from Devon Funds says this puts America's unemployment rate at 3.4 percent, the lowest the region has seen since 1969.

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NZ First leader Winston Peters —who served as Ardern's Deputy Prime Minister in her first term— isn't surprised by her resignation, which he's put down to failures in this term.

He says the Labour Government has been in serious trouble post 2020, as has the Prime Minister.

Peters had earlier ruled-out working with Labour, citing the He Puapua report which Labour kept secret from NZ First when they were in Government.

He says this position has not changed despite Ardern's resignation, stating that 'they don't get to lie to him twice'.

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Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says polarisation has boiled to an irrational level of vitriol and hate on social media, which would take a toll on a leader.

Clark thinks things have gotten worse since she left office.

She says she was Prime Minister before social media really got underway, and the worst they had to endure then was the odd protest in front of parliament and what people said on talkback radio.

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Neale Jones, a former advisor to Jacinda Ardern, says leading a nation through tough times has taken a toll on the Prime Minister.

The former Chief of Staff's certain she made a personal, not political, decision.

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Jacinda Ardern is receiving high praise across the Tasman for being a trailblazer for women in our part of the world.

Correspondent Murray Olds says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is among a long list of politicians paying tribute to Ardern.

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National leader Christopher Luxon says that her handling of the Christchurch terror attack made New Zealand proud.

But he says there was an inability to just get things done.

Luxon says resignation aside, the reality for New Zealanders is that business confidence is at an all time low while food prices are at a record high.

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People are showing empathy for the vitriol Jacinda Ardern has faced during her time as Prime Minister.

Te Pati Maori's Co-Leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer told Tim Dower that you don't go into politics to play tiddlywinks, but there's been a tone and level of politics that went really low.

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Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announced today that she would step down from her role no later than February 7th.

The two-term Prime Minister stated that she was unable to find the energy and heart to prepare for another term in Government over the summer.

A caucus vote for a new leader is set to happen on January 22nd.

Deputy political editor Jason Walls says this resignation was unexpected. 

"I know this has been predicted by pundits for a while and a lot of people have been giving their two cents on this happening, but nothing can really take away from the shock that we were feeling that this was happening right here, right now."

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