NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the topics up for discussion during her brief catch-up with US President Joe Biden at the East Asia Summit. Video / Claire Trevett
Opinion by Claire Trevett
Claire Trevett is the New Zealand Herald’s Political Editor, based at Parliament in Wellington.
A photo of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern crouching down in a small gap between two chairs talking to US President Joe Biden in Cambodia is proof she has mastered the art of sharp elbows essential to all New Zealand prime ministers.
New Zealand is too small a country to beable to command frequent face-to-face time with the leaders of the big powers.
And so it is the lot of prime ministers to have to learn to be swift with the elbows and shameless about being opportunistic.
The photo highlights the obvious: the big leaders don’t go to them, they go to the leaders.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern crouches next to US President Joe Biden at the gala dinner ahead of East Asia Summit in Cambodia.
Summits such as the EAS and Apec are what all that elbow training is for.
Other leaders are a tad easier to catch up with - and that can depend on the personal relationship a prime minister has with them.
Ardern divides hers into leaders she can “drop a casual Whatsapp to” and those she cannot. Biden is in the latter.
But when Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese walked past Ardern without seeing her, she hollered out “Albo! Albo!” to catch his attention, much to the amusement of the watching media and officials.
However, her primary focus at such summits is those leaders she cannot Whatsapp at will: those she does not speak to often.
One of the reasons Ardern gave for prioritising the EAS and Apec summits over attending the COP summit in Egypt was that those summits were where the leaders were.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, 2022. Photo / Thomas Manch
Like many leaders, Ardern is also sensitive to accusations she spends too much time out of the country rather than focusing on people at home.
When there are crises or hard times at home, it is deemed not a good look for a PM to be swanning off hobnobbing.
It is a shallow argument, not least because getting gains overseas is good for the people at home. Most of the causes of the cost of living crisis are overseas - and it is also where the solutions are.
So such summits are must-attend events for New Zealand leaders - elections are often timed to ensure the campaign does not prevent a PM from attending.
They are the only international bodies, other than the UN, that it shares with the likes of the US and China and Russia.
They are also more intimate than the UN - and it is not the formal talks, but the more casual catch-ups at mealtimes and while moving from venue to venue that make them critical.
However, such summits can also be humbling affairs, well and truly reminding leaders of small countries of their place.
When the leaders were being announced for a photo to mark the upgrade of the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade agreement, the official calling their names initially stopped after calling Albanese and completely left Ardern out.
After a brief pause, he started over - this time remembering to include her.
