Communication, political intelligence, effective strategies. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has managed (for now) to stop coronavirus.
"Jacinda's lesson to the world." On 19 April, the British daily Financial Times paid tribute with these words to Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand. She has managed to limit the spread of coronavirus in her country (at least so far), announcing as a result the easing of lockdown measures. But she has also made front pages around the world for announcing a 20 per cent cut to her own salary. This, together with the ministers of her government, as a gesture of solidarity with the rest of the population, who will have to face severe economic repercussions as a result of the epidemic.
The Labour leader earns 470,000 New Zealand dollars a year for her work, equivalent to approximately 260,000 euros. "The cut to our salaries," she explained, "will certainly not overturn the general situation on its own. It is a matter of the exercise of power. A way of acknowledging the impact that this emergency is having right now on the lives of many of our fellow citizens."
Jacinda Ardern also explained that a reduction in remuneration would be imposed on all senior officials in the country as well. "But we are not here to make an apology for pay cuts. There are people working in public services that are essential right now, on the front line. Such as health professionals and law enforcement."
It should be noted that the four-week lockdown imposed by the Wellington government appears to have produced excellent results. Just over a thousand people have been infected in New Zealand and there have been only nine deaths, in a population of approximately five million.
According to the Financial Times, Jacinda Ardern has shown four great strengths during this crisis (and not only). The ability to coordinate government action, an intelligent and swift political strategy, outstanding communication skills and a particular attention to detail. During her term in office, she also passed a historic law to bring net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. This came after she had already banned offshore drilling for new oil deposits.
All of this has earned her great international popularity. "The world watches Jacinda's New Zealand," the Washington Post had headlined on 19 March 2019, a few days after the Christchurch attack, carried out by an Australian right-wing extremist and claiming the lives of 50 people of the Islamic faith. The leader had succeeded in making the city's population feel her closeness, while maintaining great clarity of mind: "Through this act of terrorism," she had stated, "the killer was attempting to achieve a number of objectives. One of these was to gain notoriety. That is why you will never hear me utter his name. He is a terrorist. A criminal. An extremist. I ask you to remember the names of those who died, rather than the name of the one who killed them." Words spoken with solemnity, by a woman dressed in mourning, who had begun her speech with the Arabic expression "salam aleykum" ("peace be upon you").
A few days later, the government had passed a ban on the free sale of firearms. And, in particular, a prohibition on the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles.
Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister in October 2017, at the age of 37. She is the third woman to hold this role in the country's history since 1856, and the youngest ever. Her programme, however, had not met with unanimous approval. Ardern had promised to reduce the costs of university studies, to promote access to housing for less well-off people, to legalise abortion and to impose a tax on drinking water. For this reason, a former party colleague had called her a "quasi-communist".
Despite this, Jacinda Ardern pressed on undeterred. During the election campaign she found herself compelled to answer, for example, questions about her intentions regarding motherhood. To which she replied with these words: "It is totally unacceptable to ask women questions of this kind in 2017. The choice of when to have children belongs to women. And it must in no way determine whether or not they get a job."
On 24 September 2018, for the first time a newborn baby entered the United Nations General Assembly. She was the daughter of the New Zealand Prime Minister, who was at the Glass Palace to deliver a speech at the peace summit named after Nelson Mandela.
