In the Survivor jungle, PM is ahead of the game

In the past few weeks, watching world leaders react to Covid-19 has been like watching the final stages of a reality TV show where all the contestants start going bananas. If this was Trump would be the thin-skinned used-car salesman forever lying about what a great shag he’d be. Boris Johnson the cocky, overbred private schoolboy who doesn’t understand why his patrician wit hasn’t automatically won already. And Scott Morrison is the dude they put in there so everyone can shout at the TV, ‘‘Why the hell is this guy here?’’

But in the race for the hearts and minds of the nation in crisis, there’s been one clear winner. And the calm, compassionate, charismatic Jacinda has stood out as not only the one you want to take home to your family, but also to run your household, business, and country.

While BoJo and ScoMo have thrashed around in indecision, and Trump has put his head even further up his backside than was previously thought anatomically possible, Aunt Cindy has shone. She’s unequivocally playing the main role in this movie (the one that’s always played by a white, middle-aged, maverick cop named Jack): the one who announces: ‘‘It’s OK everyone, I have a plan. Follow me and you’ll survive.’’

And it feels as though the ability to deliver that monologue is the most important thing we need right now in our leaders. In terms of managing the actual health crisis, the role of a national leader is a bit different to normal. Typically, you’d expect the PM to make decisions on policies based on public service advice, but primarily from party policy and their own opinion. Not now.

Right now requires leaders to listen to what their scientists and health advisers say. And just that. Uncharacteristically for politicians, they need to remove their own opinions and simply get everyone doing exactly what the doctors order.

This is where Ardern has excelled. In comparison to leaders like Trump, she’s sitting down, shutting up and listening to the scientists.

Trump has consistently undermined America’s preparedness, disbanding the US’s China-based pandemic research team, eroding funding for the

Centers for Disease Control, rejecting WHO virus tests, and making misleading, unscientific statements that the virus will ‘‘vanish’’, or that he’d like to see churches packed for Easter.

His style, a dangerous yet highly listenable blend of scientific distrust and sweeping it’s-allgood-man, is completely at odds with the need to prioritise the advice of the experts.

But Ardern is sensible enough to realise that pandemic control is not her speciality, and to react swiftly to medical advice instead. Which is exactly what we saw when she heard the criticism of New Zealand’s early complacency and swiftly raised the alert level to a general lockdown – a firmness unseen in Australia.

And the next vital step, after realising that you don’t know all the answers, is to clearly communicate the advice of those who do.

Boris Johnson is smart, but his preference for loveable bumbling chic hasn’t prepared him for delivering important messages in a way people listen to. As we can see when he tried to be stern in asking people to practise social distancing, and everyone ignored him and went to the pub.

Trump can’t stay on a consistent message, bouncing between it being a hoax, to it being ‘‘contained’’, to it being a national crisis. Scott Morrison is no better, having tried to say both that mass events should be cancelled (but he was going to the footy) and that bars and cafes were out (but not hairdressers for appointments under 30 minutes, with one person per four square metres).

Ardern is sensible enough to realise that pandemic control is not her speciality, and to react swiftly to her medical advisers instead.

In contrast, Ardern has managed to tell the message clearly and calmly via press conference, text message and even road signs. Be kind. Stay home. That’s it. It’s a mark of skilled communication to find clarity in overwhelming and complicated situations. And it’s the ability to do that which maintains public calm, because we’re freaking out and can process only the clearest of messages.

But perhaps what’s made her most invaluable is how she conveys equal parts clarity and compassion. She openly acknowledges that people are afraid and that this is normal. And by embracing the difficulty we’re all feeling, she connects with the public and gets our support. And we’re listening. We’re not partying on Bondi beach, we’re (mostly) hunkering down at home.

Once again she’s proved that communication with kindness – historically dismissed as too feminine a leadership style – creates trust. And our survival now depends on trust in the Government. And we need them to maintain the good practice they’ve started – even more so if this gets worse.

While the outcome still looks very uncertain, Ardern’s leadership has given us cause for hope that we can get through.