Stardust and Substance: Jacinda Ardern

Overview

Jacinda Ardern's sudden rise to power in 2017 was one of the most memorable moments in recent New Zealand political history. With seven and a half weeks to go to the elections, the then current Labour leader Andrew Little gave up his leadership spot after the party hit a historically low polling result. Jacinda was appointed new leader of the party, and in less than two months, the country was overtaken by Jacindamania, a phenomenon which the then Prime Minister Bill English called just "stardust", hoping it would settle before election day. English was wrong, and Ardern won over enough votes to be able to form a coalition government with the Greens and New Zealand First.

For this year's Auckland Writers Festival, Jacinda sits down with Toby Manhire to talk about Stephen Levine's book Stardust & Substance (to which she contributed, alongside her coalition partners, Winston Peters and James Shaw and former prime minister Bill English). Ardern will give an insider's perspective on the campaign as well as what it's been like living up to (and trying to live up to) the promises made during the campaign.