Summarised by Centrist
Speaking on the Pod Save the World podcast, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern floated a conspiracy theory of her own.
Ardern claimed New Zealand was one of the world’s leading consumers of Russian disinformation in early 2022, citing the near-simultaneous convoy protests in Canada and New Zealand as potential evidence of coordinated foreign influence.
“Six days after the convoy in Canada… we had the same in New Zealand,” she said.
Her comments were quickly dismissed by groups involved in the protests, including New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out With Science (NZDSOS), who said the allegation was “a conspiracy theory.”
“Russia had zero influence on our decision to head to Wellington,” the group said. “Using ‘Russian disinformation’ to undermine what happened is really just a conspiracy theory.”
Broadcaster Chris Lynch criticised the claim as an excuse to avoid accountability. “There is no concrete evidence that Russia targeted New Zealand… Blaming Russia is a coward’s excuse… instead of confronting the truth that thousands of Kiwis simply refused to be controlled.”
Ardern did not cite specific sources or examples of the alleged disinformation, fuelling scepticism online. “If they know there was Russian disinformation, they should be able to show us,” one social media user wrote. Another added, “Putin probably doesn’t even know she exists.”
Editor’s note: Invoking Russian disinformation, especially without citing any specific evidence, distracts from legitimate criticism of vaccine mandates and deflects attention from numerous policy failures, including her broken promise that there would be “no consequences” for those who declined to get jabbed.
