Time & Perspective Quote by Jenny Shipley

Diplomacy often sounds like motion while standing still, and Jenny Shipley knows exactly how to make that stillness feel responsible. The phrase "ongoing" turns a concrete dispute into a weather system: no one caused it, no one can abruptly end it, everyone must simply navigate it. "We understand that there are issues in Australia" performs sympathy without conceding leverage. The problems are firmly located on the other side of the Tasman, but the tone stays politely non-accusatory, a classic small-country maneuver when the larger neighbor controls more of the runway.

The craft is in the steady deferral. "Need to be sorted out" is passive voice as political cushioning: it implies resolution is necessary while avoiding the question of who must act. Then she pivots to "over time", the most useful unit of measurement in government because it cannot be audited. Time becomes the policy instrument when immediate outcomes are unavailable or inconvenient.

Open Skies, in this regional context, is not just about air routes; it's about sovereignty, competition, and who gets to set the terms of economic integration. Shipley frames the issue as a shared "opportunity for us", signaling New Zealand's desire for access and growth, while reassuring domestic audiences that she isn't picking a fight with Australia. "Progressive way" is the closing masterstroke: it borrows the moral glow of progress to describe incremental negotiation, implying forward movement even if the next step is another meeting, another memo, another delay. This is statesmanship as calibrated patience, selling restraint as strategy.