The talkback announcer, who has hosted Newstalk ZB’s Drive show since April 2019, has garnered a reputation for her no-holds-barred interview style and for tenaciously chasing stories other journalists won’t touch.
But it’s her experiences on the mic in 2020 – regular duels with former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over the Government’s response to Covid-19 – that she credits with giving her the hard edge she’s now known for.
In an interview with re_covering – in which New Zealand’s top journalists discuss the stories that have most impacted them – du Plessis-Allan says going toe-to-toe with Ardern “stretched” her as a broadcaster.
She recalls one interview with Ardern early in the pandemic, when the Government was closing New Zealand’s borders but Kiwis were still allowed to come home without quarantining. At the time, Ardern’s popularity was soaring both home and abroad.
“I had her on and got really angry at her,” du Plessis-Allan told re_covering host Reverand Frank Ritchie.
“I said, ‘How can you let these New Zealanders come home and just go straight into the community? They will bring Covid. It’s an utterly pointless exercise to close the borders to keep Covid out, but then let people just come in. You’ve got to put them in quarantine.’
“And she was like, ‘no we don’t, no we don’t’ – just held that line, until they did exactly that. That was quite illuminating because the authorities will hold their line in the face of a very good suggestion until they do that exact suggestion.”
Du Plessis-Allan says in the process of her battles with Ardern, she “lost the fear of being tough”.
“If you’re prepared to yell at Jacinda Ardern at the height of her popularity on the radio – well, bring on the rest of them,” she said.
“Nothing can be harder than a conversation with the most popular Prime Minister, at the height of her popularity, about a thing [the Covid response] which she has 80-90% backing from the country on, who are literally scared of dying.
“If you can survive that and if you’re prepared to put it on the line, then everything else is pretty safe after that.”
Heather du Plessis-Allan says in the process of her radio battles with Jacinda Ardern, she “lost the fear of being tough”. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Reflecting on the learning curve she went through after taking on the Drive hosting role, du Plessis-Allan said the Covid pandemic taught her how important it is “not to be a cheerleader of people in authority”.
Caring too much about being liked is “one of the worst things you can do as a broadcaster”, she says, as it means criticism cuts deeper than it should. She believes the news industry has lost characters with experience who are willing to “really push at things” without fear of being called out.
Heather du Plessis-Allan says young journalists need to care less about what other people think. Photo / Michael Craig
Du Plessis-Allan says she very quickly learned that the position of influence she was in before Covid, but now understands that she can be a driver of opinion.
“I am not just talking into an empty space. I have influence. I don’t say that in a way that’s arrogant, or even something that I’m necessarily stoked about, it’s just understanding your sword.
“I didn’t really understand my sword before [Covid], and now I understood my sword and that if I wanted to, and had enough other people who agreed with me, and pressed hard enough on the subject, I could affect change and lead opinion.”
In a wide-ranging interview, du Plessis-Allan told re_covering about her affinity for the “Machiavelian side of politics” from a young age, how she went from being a “stink journo” to one of the top jobs in media, and gives the inside story of her short-lived current affairs show on Mediaworks.
Listen to the full re_covering interview with Heather du Plessis-Allan here.
