Jacinda Arderned

*Meeting Jacinda Ardern in Whanganui just a few weeks before she became party leader, and then Prime Minister. 2017*

To the Right Honourable Jacinda Ardern,

I would like to thank you for your excellent service in the role of Prime Minister of New Zealand. I think you represent the best of New Zealand, and let me tell you why.

You combine competence with kindness

I am part of an expat community in Dublin, with friends from all over the world, particularly the UK, US, Australia. Countless women have asked me if you could come and lead their country because you get things done, with intelligence, kindness and compassion. Yours has been a style of leadership in sharp contrast to the usual bumbling around, accomplishing little, blazing egos, and those content to be pernickity, pernicious and score cheap points that we have seen so often in politics.

The first notable example of competence and kindness was shortly after Jared and I moved overseas in early 2019. Even from Ireland, the shock of the attacks on the Christchurch Mosques in March 2019 was palpable.

You showed such empathy and compassion to the victims, and I love that you refused to name the man who did that – he faded into obscurity, with the victims and their families instead front and centre.

I still don’t know his name, nor do I want to. The speed that bipartisan legislation banning semi-automatic weapons was introduced was impressive, and holding to account social media sites who let the attacks be livestreamed showed bravery.

I stood on Nassau St, Dublin in the March cold, with a scarf wrapped around my head, feeling like an ‘eejit’ while collecting for Daffodil Day. I was so saddened by what had happened, but equally proud to see how you led New Zealand to react to such an event.

It was nice to feel connected, even from so far away, and show solidarity.

There are many other examples, such as after the Whakaari /White Island eruption, throughout the COVID pandemic, and generally avoiding any of the opportunities to take cheap shots at a laughable opposition.

You’ve been not just a politician, but a true leader

Thank you for the swift and sound COVID-19 pandemic response, and the diligent and deft leadership throughout that time. It was an example of someone who was doing their level best to lead a nation, rather than simply score political points and secure their next election win.

Other big-picture moves have included banning any further exploration for oil and gas, passing the Zero Carbon Emission Act, introducing fees-free tertiary education, introducing a public holiday to celebrate the Maori new year – Matariki, and bringing more than money into the economy with the Wellbeing Budget, aiming to improve people’s quality of life.

Actively working to reduce child poverty has been awesome, and increasing the minimum wage so that those who are working have some quality of life are also baby-steps in the right direction.

One of the first things that your government announced was an increase in mental health spending. This is sorely needed in a country that has a shockingly high youth suicide rate. I know this is an issue that is dear to your heart – me also. I lost a brother to suicide in 2010, aged 21. I believe it could have been prevented had he had better access to mental health services.

These initiatives show real long term vision for how to make the country a better place, beyond an election cycle.

Most people have a good bullshit radar and can tell when politicians are actually being genuine. I think this was the secret sauce to Jacindamania, and you leading Labour to their first all out majority since MMP started in the 2020 Election.

You’ve listened to science

Anyone who actually understands how diseases work was impressed with hard and fast NZ locked down, and how successful that lock down was, leading to a lot more freedom than most of the rest of the world for the majority of 2020 and 2021, with rugby games and concerts while the rest of the world was in lockdown #3.

Some have tried to weaponise this competence. I have had some particularly strange conversations with some right-wing Americans and Irish-wanna-be-Americans who are of the opinion that you have ruined the country and thrashed the economy.

From what I can tell from afar, I think you could safely argue the opposite. Certainly, tourism has taken a hit, but what actually happened was a magnificent saving of lives, a saving of the capacity of the health system, and a speedy roll out of the vaccine, once that commenced.

*The vaccine bus used to help vaccinate more than 100 000 people in one day*

NZ still has the lowest number of recorded deaths from COVID in the developed world, with just over 2500 fatalities. This is in contrast to Ireland’s 8600 to date. A lot of that is down to the trust that people had in your government, and your clear, concise communication, encouraging people to think of the ‘team of 5 million’ and urging everyone to be kind.

While I understand it was well-meant, but I think forcing people to have the vaccine if they’re public servants was perhaps a step too far. However, even in the face of extreme protest that involved burning the Parliament playground, and throwing bricks, you were there to remind people to look at the bigger picture, “Thousands more lives were saved in the past two years by your actions as New Zealanders than were on that front lawn of Parliament today.” Ref

Jacinda, your calmness and professionalism when fielding questions at the daily COVID press briefing was underlined when Chris Hipkins…showed us exactly how lucky we were to have you fielding the questions.

It wasn’t good luck that New Zealand did so well during the COVID pandemic, it was good management, and that kudos goes to you, Jacinda.

Thank you also on behalf of the women that have easier access to abortion, better access to family planning, and also free period products for university students. Your government successfully moved abortion out of the Crimes Act into the Health Act, making early abortion more accessible to women so that they were able to access treatment earlier, and not need to jump through the bureaucratic hoops of seeing two different doctors.

You are real

From the FB lives in your PJs, (and your daughter crashing them), to taking your baby to UN conferences. You have lived, and loved, out loud, and that’s a brave way to live. Embracing the public eye put you under closer scrutiny and no doubt attracted more online haters, which may have been to your detriment in the end. It made you seem real though, it brought you into people’s daily lives, and added a dimension of reality that is seldom seen in world leaders.

Everything from not seeking the leadership position in the first place, to realising that stepping down was the best move for you has shown that you are a big picture thinker, and politics was never about ego for you, Jacinda.

Jared and I watched with delight the exchanges with Stephen Colbert and the shameless plugging of NZ on his show as you picked him up from the airport and had a barbie with Lorde in your backyard. So twee, loved it.

My favourite moment of realness would be the interchange with David Seymour – I agree, he is an arrogant prick – and then transforming that into a good-natured charity auction. Nice pivot.

Point is you’ve always sought to do the best for the country as a whole, and the most vulnerable where possible has been at the basis of most of your decisions.

You know how to bow out gracefully

Jacinda, it is devastating that you are stepping down. But true to form, you know your limits and are doing what’s best for you, your party and your family, not trying to cling onto power, as so many others in your position would.

I know when you put your whole heart into your work, it’s difficult to hold anything back and burnout becomes a nearly compulsory side effect. I fear that’s where you are at. I can’t wait to see what you turn your hand to next.

You had set yourself an incredibly high bar with big promises and lofty ideas coming into government. Perhaps you were a victim of your own idealism. Your government did have a lot of wins, big and small, which were largely overshadowed by Covid. There were no small wins, or even big wins, that could make up for lack of progress on housing. This was one of the most pressing issues prior to your leadership, and will continue to be for a long time to come. Be proud of how much you have accomplished though.

Your rise to leader was meteoric, and you’ve had a profound effect on politics at home and abroad. You’ve shown it’s possible to steer a country with competence and kindness, showing the world there is a better way, rather than zero-sum games, strong-man narcissism, dishonesty, populism, power plays, and petty point scoring.

It is easy to slag any Prime Minister, but when you consider how any of your contemporaries would’ve dealt with similar circumstances, I think that is really where you shine Jacinda. You have met every challenge with competence and kindness, and true leadership, and as a thirty-something Kiwi woman, I really do think that you are the best of New Zealand. You have been the right person, in the right place, at the right time, and I don’t fully think will realise how awesome you were for some years to come.

I know it cannot have been an easy load to carry, but thank you for doing so with such grace, dignity, empathy, kindness and using the strengths of femininity to lead, rather than eschewing them or squashing them. It’s a bold and largely uncharted path, and the trail you blazed will serve generations of women to come I hope.

Best from a fellow boss bitch,

Lauren Bradley

(Jacindamaniac for life)

References