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Home / New Zealand

Editorial: After all that, it ends with a laugh

NZ Herald
25 Dec, 2022 04:00 PM2 mins to read

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David Seymour and Jacinda Ardern have autographed a printout of Parliament's Hansard recording her calling him an "arrogant prick". Photo / Supplied
David Seymour and Jacinda Ardern have autographed a printout of Parliament's Hansard recording her calling him an "arrogant prick". Photo / Supplied

David Seymour and Jacinda Ardern have autographed a printout of Parliament's Hansard recording her calling him an "arrogant prick". Photo / Supplied

Editorial

All’s well that ends well.

After a bruising year that stretched political nerves to the limit, 2022 is rolling to an end with a bit of a laugh over an insult and plenty of money raised for charity.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s microphone-trapped mutter about Act leader David Seymour being an “arrogant prick” has ended up raising $100,100 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation through an online auction.

That’s after news of it, of course, went viral around the world.

(As a side note, it’s interesting in these inter-connected times just what captures the attention of people around the planet, regardless of their political or social views.)

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None of it did the country any harm — people like leaders to be relatable and human rather than overly professional and invulnerable.

And hopefully this sequel where a signed transcript of the exchange has been preserved for posterity will go viral as well.

The two politicians, from different sides of the fence, have been good sports about it.

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The incident shows there’s still a generosity of spirit in New Zealand’s politics despite much debate over divisions in society.

What unites us is ultimately a lot more important.

We don’t ever want to become so polarised that two people who can argue can’t also have a laugh together.



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