Jacinda Ardern, who now calls Sydney home, has delivered a message to Australian politicians from the stage of the city’s Opera House. Politicians, the former New Zealand prime minister turned academic told the audience on Sunday, were exacerbating the problem of polarisation within society and needed to be better. Politicians offered proposals such as Brexit in response to the insecurity – saying “Here’s what you blame” – which then paved the way for the rise of leaders like Donald Trump, she said.
The 46-year-old moved to Australia earlier this year. She purchased a house on the northern beaches in September and last week revealed she would be lecturing and mentoring at the University of Sydney. Sunday’s talk was advertised as bringing together “two of the world’s leading thinkers” to discuss “can we disagree without becoming divided?” “It’s not just that you hold a different opinion, it’s that you hold it so deeply that you have this view you’ve got moral clarity that is not being held by the other person,” Ardern said of the growing polarisation in public discourse.
It’s made it much more difficult to create the discourse that we need to problem solve.” Ardern and Funder were speaking a fortnight after the alleged attack on independent MP Helen Haines. The former NZ PM did not mention the incident explicitly but stressed politicians and leaders needed to be aware of the tone they set. Social media had made it more difficult for people to change their views, she told the audience.
When she entered politics in 2008, she was not only the youngest sitting MP in the New Zealand parliament, but also the first to enter with an existing social media account. At the time, many politicians – including Ardern – were excited to use social media to communicate directly with voters. Her view of the online world changed on 15 March 2019 – the day of the Christchurch mosque shootings.
We have not just a crisis of trust; we have a crisis of leadership.” Ardern suggested empathy was part of the solution. It brings humility, it brings curiosity,” she said.
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