Table of Contents
Summarised by Centrist
British commentator Carl Benjamin, known online as Sargon of Akkad, has criticised Jacinda Ardern for what he calls the moral framing behind her political messaging, particularly the use of the word “kindness” during the 2020 election campaign.
“Oh, I’m running on kindness,” he says, mocking the framing. “Oh thank God, because I, the right-winger, was running on just rampant cruelty. I just want pain and misery and evil.”
Benjamin focuses in particular on immigration levels during Ardern’s time in office. He notes that New Zealand experienced a gross inflow of about 225,000 migrants and a net gain of roughly 115,000 in one recent period.
“If you multiply that by 10, that would be a net migration of roughly a million,” he says, comparing the scale to migration surges seen in Britain.
Benjamin links the migration figures to Ardern’s emphasis on diversity and inclusion, arguing that the policy direction accelerated demographic change.
He cites statistics showing a growing share of Asian and Pacific populations in New Zealand’s census data and notes the pace of change has been unusually fast for a small country.
His sharpest criticism, however, concerns reports that Ardern and her family are reportedly relocating to Sydney’s Northern Beaches, one of Australia’s wealthiest coastal districts and coincidentally least diverse.
“She’s found what must be the whitest, wealthiest place in Australia and said: ‘Yeah, this is where I’m going to move with my family.’”
“You get to live in the New Zealand I’ve left for you,” he says sarcastically, “while I move to the sun-kissed beaches of a homogeneous place of English ancestry.”
