Jacinda Ardern wasn’t meant to become prime minister in 2017. A rising star in New Zealand’s Labour party known for her DJing stints and canny use of soft media, it was assumed the office was in her future somewhere down the line. Instead, then Labour leader Andrew Little’s shock, mid-campaign resignation in the face of dismal polling thrust her into the role, and she turned what many expected to be a hospital pass into the surprise Labour comeback that three previous leaders had failed to conjure.

Now, just as unexpectedly, she’s resigned. Her resignation comes a mere nine months out from an election that could have secured her the third term her two immediate predecessors enjoyed.

The story of how Jacinda Ardern’s Labour went, in three short years, from winning a historic mandate to polling doldrums so bad that even her ambitious number two turned down her job, is a story of the perils of liberal hesitancy. Ardern excited voters by pledging to boldly tackle the issues that public surveys showed most concerned Kiwis — including shameful levels of poverty, rising homelessness and an out-of-control housing crisis, and climate change. But her government will end having done little to meaningfully engage with these crises. Over the course of her time in office some of these problems have even worsened.