Empathy and the Polity: Jacina Ardern’s Tenure as Prime Minister of New Zealand
August 21, 2026
Jacinda Ardern. Still from Prime Minister. (Netflix)
As the first woman prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern steered her nation through some rough waters, from a murderous anti-Muslim slaughter of innocents to the Covid-19 tumult and backlash against government policies to halt the pandemic’s spread. “Prime Minister” is a documentary that chronicles Ardern’s five years as New Zealand’s prime minister as a member of the Labour Party, highlighting her tenderness and toughness. The two characteristics are not mutually exclusive, in my view.
This documentary, that Ardern’s stalwart partner, Clarke, in part filmed, follows her road to the highest political office in New Zealand, and life after that. My takeaway from her comments on growing up in a place and time of deindustrialization, is straightforward. She sees what that destructive process of capital flight does to families.
Ardern’s working class sensibilities also shine through in her support of the families of coal miners killed in the Pike River coal mine explosion. A cameo appearance of Ardern in the “Pike River” feature film demonstrates her understanding of the centrality of labor to the common good. The film tells the story of Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse’s 15-year battle for corporate accountability, in and out of the courtroom and court of public opinion, seeking justice for 29 dead miners, including the two protagonist’s husband and son.
From the childhood experience of watching capital abandon labor flows Ardern’s sense of empathy to others. Specifically, she looks out for the victims of the system who it exploits mercilessly under the coercive laws of capitalist competition and the resulting social dysfunction, e.g., impulsive, reckless and self-destructive behaviors. As prime minister, Ardern prioritizes reducing childhood poverty and addressing the overall affordability struggles of the poor and working class.
Ardern entered my consciousness after the heinous act of an Australian gunman killing 51 people, Muslims and immigrants, during Friday prayer services at two locations in Christchurch, NZ. Her empathy to the families of the victims told me to keep watching this politician. The gun laws that Ardern shepherded through Parliament in the wake of the terrorist shooting should serve as a wakeup call for U.S. politicians, who will pray for the victims of gun violence but fail to stand up to the Gun Lobby and enact sane laws to end the daily carnage from firearms.
Ardern helms New Zealand during the pandemic, and it takes a terrible toll on her, rearing Neve, a daughter of the union with Clarke. As the lethal virus mutates, measures to slow and stop the spread combined with anti-vaccination disinformation create a toxic brew of opposition that to my eyes as an American looks a lot like the Make America Great Again rearguard of President Trump’s supporters. However, the documentary sidestepped the impacts of lockdowns on the working class laboring in the service sector of lodging and restaurants.
Ardern shares the daily anxiety that accompanies the office of the prime minister. Upon resigning, she describes the feeling of losing an immense weight on her shoulders. The 40th prime minister of New Zealand had an amazing run, as viewers of this 2025 documentary from directors Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe will see.
Governance under a parliamentary system can open the door to a politics of the possible for the working class, the majority. Contrast that system of governance with the capitalist-controlled political duopoly of the U.S. Contradictions drive history, which people like Ardern make under conditions they inherit, to paraphrase a dead German writer.
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