The Front Page: How can New Zealand find social unity again?

There have been numerous protest movements across New Zealand over the last year. Photo / NZME

Lingering disinformation around the Covid-19 pandemic is still having an impact in New Zealand - and it’s being fuelled in part by overseas players.

The New Zealand Herald has kicked off the next installment of the “New New Zealand” series, looking at how the country can rebuild better after the events of the last few years.

The next series, as voted for by readers, focuses on the feelings of a divided society, and how the country can find social cohesion again.

In a poll for the series, 64 per cent of the country felt that the country had become more divided in recent years. And while 37 per cent of those surveyed felt that Covid-19 had brought the country closer together, 51 per cent felt it had contributed to divisions.

While many have moved on from dwelling on the pandemic, many who engaged in conspiracy theories around the virus and subsequent vaccine remain committed to the community that has sprung up from that belief. Recently, Health NZ took a couple to court after they refused to allow their son to receive vaccinated blood.

Kate Hannah, director of The Disinformation Project, told The Front Page that this is an example of the “long tail” effect of those stories.

She said that other global conspiracies, such as QAnon, are taking root here, and it means that events like this court case become part of a global network and are shared internationally.

“It means that we get attention from international conspiracy theorists, and that has happened in the most recent case with some of the fake news perpetrators in the United States posting about this family in Auckland.

“And it also means that our local stories become part of this widespread, global net of conspiracies, and almost make people who have been caught up in the real events feel like their lives have greater meaning because of its impact in this global space. And so the impact of QAnon or global conspiracy theorists is quite severe because it is an enticing story for people to attach their own lived experience to.”

But while there are many things that are causing division, Hannah said that many recent events in New Zealand society, such as Matariki and the Black Ferns victory, show that we can come together to celebrate progress.

Correction: The photograph at the top of this article has been updated. The initial photo used depicted a protest occurring in Hamilton, with a caption suggesting the protest had occurred “last week”. The protest had in fact occurred a year earlier. The image and caption have both been updated.

Listen to the full podcast for more on how societal changes and political debates can affect our social unity, the lingering impacts of Covid-19, the role of social media in our cohesion, and what politicians can do during next year’s election to unite rather than divide.