‘Washed-up politician’ Dame Jacinda Ardern reveals why she chose to move to Sydney

Former New Zealand Prime Minister and self-proclaimed “washed-up politician” Dame Jacinda Ardern has explained why she chose Sydney as her new home.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Ardern said she and her family had spent time in the United States and UK since she resigned from her post in 2023 and thought they would spend “a little bit of time” in Australia instead of returning to New Zealand.

“One of the main attractions for us was the proximity to home,” she said.

“We’d been far away for a while, and we wanted to be closer to friends and family, but also wanted to get back to a life that was, you know, a bit like what we might have in New Zealand.

“But we don’t have a set timeframe. We’ve never been much for five-year plans.”

Former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern has revealed why she moved to Sydney. Photos / Mark Mitchell, Supplied

When pressed on why she chose Sydney specifically, she said it was a beautiful city before qualifying that New Zealand was still the most beautiful place on the planet to her.

“Living beside the ocean is one thing, as that’s where my husband Clarke’s happiest.

“We particularly love your birds. We have lots of birds in New Zealand, but our birds are just much quieter than yours!”

When she returns to Sydney after being away, Ardern joked that she wasn’t always sure what to put on her arrival card.

“Every time I pause and I think, ‘What am I?’ You know, ‘former PM’, is not really an occupation.

“Sometimes I write ‘speaker’, sometimes I write ‘writer’. If there was more space I would put, ‘Washed-up politician’!”

Ardern was asked about the state of global politics right now and whether her more collaborative style can survive.

“I think it’s key to ... the survival of democracy,” she said of her own style.

“We’ve been on a trajectory where citizens around the world increasingly feel a sense of grievance to political institutions.

“These are all things that certain styles of politics have contributed to, [advanced] by politicians who choose to use polarisation and insularity as tools, and it is causing us to be fractured.”

The former prime minister was asked about the reason behind her resignation. Ardern said it wasn’t due to burnout.

“I could have kept going,” she replied.

“But I did not believe I could keep going and perform the job to the standard that I had set for myself, and I recognised that I needed to have that sense of responsibility to hand over to someone else.”