Jacinda Ardern has been back in the spotlight over the last couple of weeks. The release of the documentary Prime Minister and a children’s book titled Mum’s Busy Work have brought her name back into headlines. The title itself is almost ironic. The phrase “busywork” is defined as tasks that keep someone occupied but hold little real value. Perhaps unintentionally, the name echoes how many already view Ardern’s leadership.
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What stands out most is not the media coverage, but the reaction to it. The hatred for Ardern remains as alive as ever, in some cases stronger now than when she was in office. Social media comments are flooded with vitriol. She is branded a dictator, accused of causing deaths through her vaccine mandates, and disturbingly, some even call for extreme punishments. These are views I cannot condone, but they reveal the deep scars left from her time in power. Anger towards her is not confined to one political camp. Both left and right have their critics, and both feel betrayed in different ways.
Many argue that Ardern should face legal consequences for her pandemic response. But in a way, she is already living through her punishment. She knows she is not welcome in her own country. The sheer level of disdain for her across New Zealand means she effectively lives in exile. For someone who once wrapped herself in the language of kindness, the reality of being unable to safely live among the people she once governed is a heavy sentence.
Even the media, which she heavily funded and leaned on during the Covid years, shows signs of nervousness. When stories about Ardern are posted on social media by major newsrooms, the comments sections are often shut down. After receiving millions in government handouts, those outlets became her cheerleaders, limiting what could be asked and what could be published. That legacy of protection still lingers.
Despite the positive headlines, the strategy is not working. The more Ardern is propped up with carefully polished coverage, the more hostile her critics become. In some circles, hatred for her has reached a point where no amount of PR can shift opinion. The dislike is too entrenched, too visceral.
That, ultimately, is Ardern’s consequence. She may appear on international talk shows and bask in global applause, but she cannot escape the reality that in her home country she is viewed with suspicion, anger and outright hatred. For all the soft-focus stories and attempts at legacy building, the truth remains that Jacinda Ardern is living in exile from her own people, and it is unlikely she will return any time soon.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.
29 comments:
Fact: Ardern knows people forget very fast. She may be preparing for a tilt at the UN from 2027 on...... 2026 is campaign year for candidates. Hence her new " bronde" hair look?
"She knows she is not welcome in her own country."
But she has just been visiting, with photos of her and Robertson at the Rugby!
She doesnt care or give arats!
As a very old and proud Kiwi, I never knew what real hate was prior to Ardern. She, and her Labour (still active) cohorts have lost the right to call themselves Kiwis in my view, for what they have deliberately done to destroy the trust and respect that once defined our great little country. Trust is very hard to rebuild once broken, as many of us with grey or zero hair will well understand.
A maggot will find a chop-how many 'strands' has the U.N got?
How many american uni's have 'busywork' courses?
Matua’s column captures the paradox of Jacinda Ardern perfectly: the international applause grows louder while at home the disillusion is permanent and unhealed. His “exile” metaphor is sharp — and Ardern’s recent Guardian column only proves the point.
Take her piece headlined “We’re losing so many mothers to childbirth and genocide. It’s our responsibility to act on both.” The headline alone is muddled: childbirth and genocide aren’t parallel tragedies. One is a biological event sometimes mishandled; the other is mass killing. Tying them together feels tone-deaf, even opportunistic.
From there the problems compound. Instead of beginning with the women whose lives she claims to champion, she starts with herself — sleepless nights as a new mother, and a reminder that she was only the second woman in the world to give birth while leading a country. The pivot to “women give birth during war” is tenuous and unearned.
The rest of the column lurches between NGO briefing notes and political activism. There are blocks of statistics about post-partum haemorrhage, examples from South Sudan and Burkina Faso, a nod to promising innovations, then a sudden swerve into Gaza and “genocide.” The flow is disjointed, the argument muddled, the rhetoric at times tasteless. It reads less like leadership and more like an ex-prime minister re-auditioning for the international lecture circuit.
What’s striking is not just the flaws in the writing but the omissions. Ardern speaks of maternal deaths in Africa and child survival in conflict zones — but avoids a single mention of New Zealand, where she was prime minister until very recently. She knows the data: Māori children die at shocking rates from abuse and neglect, New Zealand’s own shameful humanitarian crisis. Yet she says nothing.
This is exactly the pattern Matua identifies. Ardern seeks safe distance. She chooses crises far away from her own legacy. She wraps herself in causes that carry no direct accountability. It’s easier to condemn Gaza than to confront the record of Oranga Tamariki under her government. Easier to speak of South Sudan than of the Māori children killed all over New Zealand.
That is why the hatred persists. Not because she led during a pandemic, not just because of mandates or media handouts, but because of the gap between the image she sells abroad and the reality New Zealanders lived. The Guardian will continue to run her columns. International conferences will put her on stage. But here, the dissonance only deepens.
Ardern can write about childbirth and genocide in distant lands. But until she writes honestly about her own country’s wounds — the preventable deaths of a group’s children, the failures of her own government — her “kindness” will remain a hollow export brand in the minds of most fellow citizens.
Matua, I've always believed in karma. In such a small country you sort of get back what you deserve.
I think you are being far to kind to this despicable individual called ardern. She knows what shes done and has no remorse at all, not even the decency to apologize. She is getting what she deserves. Ardern = pure evil. Absolute karma. Perfect.
Yep, yep, that's what it is.
Excellent article, Matua.
I can only endorse your own words:-
"She may appear on international talk shows and bask in global applause, but she cannot escape the reality that in her home country she is viewed with suspicion, anger and outright hatred. For all the soft-focus stories and attempts at legacy building, the truth remains that Jacinda Ardern is living in exile from her own people, and it is unlikely she will return any time soon."
As some 70M Americans voted for Trump, it shows that there are plenty of gullible people for Ardern to con.
And she seems to be doing just that, managing to get slots on Colbert and Jon Stewart's shows.
Like me, I expect most Kiwis gagged at her first sickly sweet smile, and switched off.
So - she will never write about NZ.
Really ? Wait - to see if Luxon endorses her candidature for the UN SG post or not in 2026 ......
So list for us the 10 worst things about Trump, in your view. Should be simple.
She was a terrible Prime Minister and likely not a nice person but the distrust and ruination of the country is due to us, the voters, not the government. You don’t get to have democracy and a sovereign parliament and then complain about the people you put in there by an overwhelming margin. She was allowed to run the government and the Covid response how she liked because we told her she could. But no one forced you to call the number to dob in your neighbour for having their mum over for tea or yell at a stranger on the street to “put a mask on” or put up a QR code so someone could enter your shop or accept a vaccine pass or fire your employees for not getting the vax. We did that, we created this environment and we are basking in the consequences.
Blaming a midwit politician is a convenient excuse so people don’t have to examine their own behaviour and learn a lesson. Shame on us.
Agree anonymous at 11.40, and the way things are headed we are going to do the same again in 2026 with her trusted lieutenant. God help us.
Interesting comment about "truth" -
"The truth remains that Jacinda Ardern is living in exile from her own people, and it is unlikely she will return any time soon"
But the real truth is -
She is NOT in exile from "her own people".
She has surrounded herself with other extreme liberal and leftists who likely refer to each other as "comrade".
New Zealand is not yet a communist state despite what seemed to be her efforts to use "regime tactics" over us during covid. Perhaps that is where much of the anger by New Zealanders was first conceived? amongst a slew of other acts of deceit?
Exiled from New Zealand - perhaps?
But not from her "own people"
Love this comment, and I add to the above, people do not want to take responsibility for their own actions they are looking for someone to "save them" and wipe their bottoms for them. That is why in the 2020 election she won by a landslide because she saved people from what was going on overseas. There were tradeoffs to that but I agree with above she was given carte blanche to do whatever she wanted including mandates, thats what I was against because Im prochoice when it comes to ones own situation. People lost their jobs and that was devasting for them.
Anon at 11;40 you are so right. The behaviour of the NZ population during the Covid years and the Jacinda rule was appalling. But some context is needed. NZ had never experienced such a malevolent, dishonest and secretive govt, supported by a cowardly Opposition, in the lifetime of the country. We were taken by surprise. Will it all happen again? One would hope not but ominous signs exist in the political landscape. The greater plan for this country still exists and is being pursued by those presently in power. Are we capable of fighting back? Time will tell.
One source of truth.
Most transparent government ever.
Be kind.
Ardern will be forever remembered in NZ as anything but the above. Any coverage of her in any msm immediately triggers reminders of the unfathomable depth of her hypocrisy and conniving & devious deception of NZers as to her true character as a power mad deceitful person.
It should be a condition of any media accepting taxpayer funding that their comments section is not switched off. It's a kind of public accountability.
Recall this comment which so accurately describes Ardern - so young and already so deceitful. What will she be like when she is 40 years old?
Thank you Anonymous for all your comments.
Lenin fled from Russia, having earned the displeasure of the Tsar and went to Live in Switzerland. Marx, ditto and 'shot thru' to London and when he returned to Russia, the Poms but a big blue circle on his house, to laud his residency in that City.
When the Russian Army rose to confront the Tsar which allowed the People to also join in the tyranny that followed, both Lenin & Marx returned. Lenin very secretly as he was not sure if the Tsar's secret police were still active.
Yup he was on a "hit list".
But they "came home". Interestingly, one person who was very happy to see them was Iosef Statin.
Comparison, Ardern 'shot the gap' to the Us of A a known Country for the number of Socialists that reside there, not only in their Universities and also those found in their MSM.
Grant Robertson - suddenly found employment in a Uni, one that has "developed" a record of left leaning (tower of Piza style) politics.
Chris Hipkins, is "Stalin" in waiting - along with the other Ardern adherents who are still in the Labour Party, in opposition.
So when the Socialist Labour Party are able to "topple" the current Govt, will we see the "triumphant" return of the 'dear lady' who currently lives in 'exile'.
Now we have, here in NZ People who still adore Ardern, they quietly "wait" for the return of and would be very happy to "unseat" our current Govt, and that includes many People who have become dissatisfied with their performance.
The Russian people did exactly the same thing back in 1916 -
If she returns, will she like Lenin, quietly 'slip into the Country'?
Such great Prime Minister! Peace and love to you all
The anti Jacinda tribe show nothing other than deep, deep ignorance, stupidity, meaness and desire to blame someone for who knows what -their empty lives, unhappiness with their partners, because negativity is all they know.
And determination not to hear some basic facts as follows:
1. From 2020 - 2022 ( lock down period) NZ had the lowest COVID death rate of 180 countries.
2. To emphasise the no win nature of her role - one side was the anti vax mob, and on tge other the critics about obtaining vaccines.too slowly, but eventually NZ delivered over 13million vaccinations.
3. Those vaccinations were responsible having a COVID death rate that was very low - 122th in the world - well below countries like the US, UK, Sweden and Canada. NZ had second lowest COVID death rate ( behind Japan). in the 38 country OECD ( most developed countries, most advanced health systems.)
Criticising that result is like criticising an All Black captain for not taking a shot at goal in an All Black 25 - 5 win over the Springboks.
Dear oh dear anon @ 11.35pm. It's not just about covid , it's about the state of the mess she and her far left ideological theorists left us in. You being a leftie obviously have picked up on an subjective position that you can never defend as how do you know that national wouldn't have done better? National may have had less covid deaths, you never know because they were not in power. It could be that we closed our borders and we are at the bottom of the world. Anyone could have done that. Lefties love objective arguments, where you can't prove they have screwed up like they always do. The only way to really find out is to bring another pandemic while national is in power.
You conveiently fail to mention anything else about ardern. You are a sad sick person if you think ardern did a good job. I would be happy to debate you on any part of this country's functioning infrastructure, law and order, justice, the economy, cost of living, inflation, health, education, poverty, roading and infrastructure, crime, debt - did anything improve under arderns labour? You might think so being a leftie. But the truth and reality backed up with facts, (which the left despise) will prove you wrong. Despite this, the far left nutters will never admit that they are wrong, or change their stance, that more aligns with stupidity and deep ignorance.
There is no better comedy than people like o dear anon - often old, unhappy, deeply unfriendly people with obvious anger management problems, happy to abuse a complete stranger because they are annoyed with some thoughts about an issue. And who cares about being a stranger, these people are arrogant enough to brand their kind of politics and even describe the way the stranger thinks. All a recipe for not taking them seriously or wasting time with return messages.
Except that - more entertainment, the poor old guy has an alcohol problem that allows him to criticise me of having both a objective and subjective argument as all lefties do, he claims. There are around 1 000,000 "lefties" in NZ. The suggestion that 1,000,000 people all think the same way is as stupid as me saying some National Party supporters are not racist.
COVID? The National Party might have done better. COVID is not someone kind of yop town competition between National and Labour . COVID happened, in comparisons with other countries, NZ did well - Ireland with the same population had 9000 COVID deaths, NZ 4500. Meaning 4500 more people were alive in NZ - which is a good thing. Being isolated may have given a bit more time to prepare with lockdowns and related measures but inevitably it came and spread as widely as anywhere. And there was no blueprint to follow, everything had to be developed from scratch - the lockdown system, mask supply. Tracking, quarantine, vaccinations. Of course errors were made and not everything went smoothly. But the end result was a survival rate that was amongst the best in the world.
There is a speech by Theodore Roosevelt called the man in the Arena. It contrasts the efforts of someone actually dealing with an issue, with success and failures along the way, with the person who just sits and criticises. He calls them a cold and timid soul who knows neither victory nor defeat.
I am not a "leftie", but whoever you are who decided to brand me , definitely seems to be a very cold and timid soul.
To Anon @11.35pm and 12.54am
Lets stick with the facts, truth and reality.
1. Your very first sentence was “The anti Jacinda tribe show nothing other than deep, deep ignorance, stupidity, meaness and desire to blame someone for who knows what -their empty lives, unhappiness with their partners, because negativity is all they know.”
I responded about your defence of Ardern……I never called anyone stupid, mean , ignorant, empty, unhappy and negative. You did that in your very FIRST SENTENCE. FACT.
Abusing people, in your first sentence. It’s not a great way to start a discussion really is it? How did you think people would respond? Perhaps some personal reflection is required? Could it be you are really talking about yourself. Go and check some psychology books (or legit websites) which highlight that our writing reveals our personality, values, experience and lives. You may want to cut the abuse……especially in your very first sentences…. Just a thought to help you out.
2. In your reply, you go on to label me: ‘often old, unhappy, deeply unfriendly people with obvious anger management problems, happy to abuse a complete stranger’
Go back to my response above – your very FIRST sentence in your reply is again abusive, a personal attack. FACT. My ONLY attack is ‘you are a sad sick person IF (IF is the big word here….IF) you think Jacinda did a good job’. (As I have the facts to show she was the worst prime minister in this countries history). And I’m happy to debate that. IF you are happy to debate that then fine…..you wont get me calling you any names or any personal attacks in my very first sentence – I will leave that to you.
3. I have never called you old, unhappy, mean, stupid, an alcoholic, unfriendly etc….. FACT.
Again, Im just wondering if you are more describing your own life here….?
4. these people are arrogant enough to brand their kind of politics and even describe the way the stranger thinks.
Hmmm, again, see above.
5. ‘the poor old guy has an alcohol problem’
Oddly enough I don’t drink alcohol, due to a medical condition. FACT.
6. You call me ‘old’.
Yep, true. Im in my 50’s. You got me there!
7. ‘…..happy to abuse a complete stranger’
Really? Go and read everything again. Whos abusing? Can you figure it out, or are you not prepared to cope with facts and reality? Where is my abuse? Would you like me to point out yours? (I have above – but I’m betting you are the type not to admit to any of it.)
8. …..’man in the Arena’.
I have the Man in the Arena hanging on my Wall. FACT.
9. “I am not a "leftie",”
Really? This I don’t believe at all. You exhibit all the signs of a ‘leftie’.
Credit where it’s due to her team of spin doctors, they have done a superb job of taking an incompetent, deceitful and much reviled former P.M. and rebranded her as a kind and empathetic person who oozes wonderfulness, and is deserving of a level of adulation that most cult leaders and dictators would be envious of.
Her team may even be able to make Luxon electable.
Yep agree Allen. Also funny how the left abusive bully when faced with facts about his abusive behavior just disappears. These terrible losers love to try and dish it out, usually because they don't have a decent argument, so turn to what they do best, resort to bullying and abuse. They love to try and dish it out, but certainly can't take it. That's the left for ya folks!!
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