Jacinda Adern, former prime minister of New Zealand, no longer lives in New Zealand. She and her family have been traveling. First to America, to teach, and then to Australia. Why?
Some say it’s a long story:
In 2017, Ardern became the world’s youngest-serving female leader, aged 37, and went on to make history as the second woman to give birth while holding elected office.
Over the next six years, her leadership was defined by a series of national and international crises including the Christchurch attack and Covid pandemic. At a time when major western powers were lurching to the right, Ardern’s brand of politics made her a global icon of the left.
Towards the end of her time in office, Ardern’s legacy at home became more complicated, and she faced criticism over her government’s failure to make headway on its promises to fix the housing crisis and meaningfully reduce emissions. As the pandemic wore on, a small but vocal fringe of anti-vaccine and anti-mandate groups emerged, leading to a violent protest on parliament’s lawns and threatening rhetoric directed at Ardern.
Eva Corlett, The Guardian (February 25, 2026).
But it’s not just Adern exiting Kiwi country. Many have moved westward to Australia. Why the flight? The BBC implicitly blames an inexplicably bad economy, in “Jacinda Ardern’s move to Australia renews spotlight on New Zealand’s brain drain problem” (March 2, 2026). That “brain drain” characterization seems, in relation to Adern, perhaps a bit comic.
The New York Times continues in this vein of taking note of a significant trend without considering the obvious: Ms. Adern doesn’t feel welcome in her home country any more because she messed it up so astoundingly. She abused power; acted like a tyrant.
But the Times does mention that Ms. Adern has had a book published — a common reward for stellar service against the interests of the people — called (we kid you not) A Different Kind of Power.
Ms. Adern has appeared in these pages before, usually in relation to COVID. She was a strident covidian.