Ardern urges politicians at Sydney Opera House to rebuild trust through financial security
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern told a Sunday forum in Sydney with author Anna Funder that politicians are worsening polarisation. She said trust must be rebuilt by creating financial security in a time of insecurity.
Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand who has become an academic and now lives in Sydney, addressed Australian politicians on Sunday from the stage of the Sydney Opera House. Speaking at a forum with author Anna Funder, she said politicians were aggravating social polarisation and needed to do better. The event came a fortnight after the alleged attack on independent MP Helen Haines.
A call to politicians
Ardern said politicians should avoid binary thinking and the language of violence, and should rebuild trust by building financial security during deep insecurity. In her view, things are currently being made worse rather than better. She did not mention the attack on Haines explicitly, but stressed that leaders must be aware of the tone they set.
Insecurity and a crisis of trust
Ardern said that as globalisation took hold, people felt growing insecurity and began attacking institutions such as the World Trade Organization. Politicians responded with proposals such as Brexit, telling people what to blame, which she said paved the way for leaders like Donald Trump. She argued that mistrust had built up for years without an adequate political response, and said there was not only a crisis of trust but a crisis of leadership.
Social media
Ardern said social media made it harder for people to change their views because opinions are recorded and preserved. When she entered politics in 2008, she was the youngest sitting MP in New Zealand's parliament and the first to arrive with an existing social media account. She admitted she had been naive about the potential for information manipulation. Her view changed on 15 March 2019, the day of the Christchurch mosque shootings; she said the attacker was radicalised on YouTube and used Facebook to broadcast the violence.
Ardern suggested empathy was part of the solution, saying it brings humility and curiosity to politics. The 46-year-old moved to Australia this year, bought a house on Sydney's northern beaches in September, and recently announced she would lecture and mentor at the University of Sydney.
