Jacinda Ardern (39) has become one of the most popular politicians in the world in recent years. How did the New Zealand Prime Minister get this status and does she really get praise?
“We have a bit of an earthquake here. Quite a big one, should you see things moving behind me,” Ardern laughed this week during a television interview. “We’re okay,” she reassures the interviewer.
The video of the moment is going around the world, as a new example of Ardern as a friendly politician who does not panic about an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8, while a pandemic is also going on.
She also has reason to laugh: Ardern is praised at home and abroad for the successful way in which her government handled the corona crisis. New Zealand currently has one known case of an infection with COVID-19. Furthermore, there are no more corona patients in the hospital. The virus killed ‘only’ 22 New Zealanders.
New Zealand did not go for group immunity
Ardern announced in the initial phase that her country was definitely not going for group immunity – as the Netherlands, among others, mentioned – but was going to do everything it could to prevent the infections as much as possible. To achieve this, the country was almost completely halted between late March and late April; a solid lockdown.
From this weekend, the government of the country imagined, the inhabitants can experience life as it was again. Many restrictions have now indeed been lifted.
This successful approach sealed Ardern’s status as a global political star, praised by friend and foe. That was the case before the crisis, and even now its popularity figures are still impressive, with new elections coming up in September. According to the latest polls, 88 percent of New Zealanders trust government decisions. 65 percent of the population approves Ardern’s performance as prime minister.
Heavy weapons banned after attacking two mosques
Ardern won the 2017 elections as leader of the Social Democratic Labor Party. Globally, it was the first to receive praise for the attack in Christchurch in 2019, when a gunman shot dead 51 people in two mosques and injured another 49.
First of all, she said she would never mention the name of the perpetrator. “He wanted to achieve everything with this terrorist act, including notoriety. That is why you will never hear me pronounce his name,” Ardern said during a speech to parliament.
That same parliament had to convince them to change the gun laws. “We have conditions in this country where people need a weapon in some situations. But weapons to kill people en masse are not part of that,” she explained her plans to mainly ban semi-automatic assault weapons. The new laws passed through parliament within a month, with ultimately only 1 out of 120 votes against.
Ardern is seen as the opposite of Donald Trump
Critics of Donald Trump have often portrayed Ardern as the political opposite of the President of the United States due to her social policy and cheerful demeanor. The day before she was elected as the new Labor leader, she participated in the Women’s March, an international protest action on January 21, 2017 against Trump’s appointment as US President.
Disappointed reactions came from the left as Ardern first spoke to Trump in her position as Prime Minister, who then declared that it had been a “fantastic conversation.” “Ardern had to focus primarily on trade, putting aside her disagreements with Trump for a while. While she has made fighting climate change her life’s goal,” wrote The Guardian critical after the visit.
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Jacinda Ardern with Donald Trump. (Photo: Pro Shots)
Praise from an unexpected source
Despite this, Ardern’s status is still rising worldwide, especially now that New Zealand has tackled the corona crisis under her leadership so well.
It forced the always outspoken right-wing television presenter Piers Morgan to a remarkable confessation. “I wish we had a leader like Jacinda Ardern,” the British tweeted in a video comparing the Social Democrat’s policies to Boris Johnson’s.
Even party leader Todd Muller of the New Zealand National Party – the major competitor of Arderns Labor – had to admit that, in his view, tackling the corona crisis is “impressive.” “And I think many New Zealanders feel the same way,” he added.
Ardern has been described by the opposition leader as “very impressive, approachable and down-to-earth“, but the major criticism is that her cabinet is also a collection of” empty chairs “. Besides her, the government would not propose that much.
‘We don’t want a PR spin’
There is also criticism of the amount of power that Ardern has taken on in the crisis. This was further amplified after health minister David Clark was demoted by the prime minister for a mountain bike ride and a family ride to the beach during the severe lockdown. In addition, Clark was trapped in his home in the south of the country, while Ardern was pulling the strings at the Department of Health in Wellington.
From journalism came complaints that there were too few opportunities to ask questions. “Ardern steers the ship excellently during these turbulent times,” he wrote Newshubjournalist Michael Morrah. “But we do need transparent information that we don’t have to wait too long for. We don’t want a PR spin.”
Despite this criticism, Ardern is doing well at home and abroad. “Wherever I go in the world, people ask the same thing,” said New Zealand actor Sam Neill (known from, among others Jurassic Park) in February. “” Can we borrow Jacinda from you for a while? “.”
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