‘Julia Gillard sends her regards’: Jacinda Ardern ribs Tony Abbott in address to rugby lunch

October 19, 2026 — 2:00am

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It’s not often you hear former prime minister Tony Abbott admit to being to the left of anyone.

But after a gentle push from our colleague Peter FitzSimons at his annual Cauliflower Club charity lunch on Friday, Abbott quietly conceded he was to the left of his former Coalition colleague, Barnaby Joyce. Former New Zealand prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern was asked whether she considered herself aligned with, to the left, or to the right of former prime minister Julia Gillard.

To the left, she said, sounding a little less squeamish than Abbott had just moments earlier.

Ardern and Abbott were the unlikely pairing billed among the headline guests of the Cauliflower Club’s annual rugby charity lunch, held at the Fullerton Hotel to raise money for equipment for those with disabilities and sports-related injuries. In their remarks, Ardern toasted the game’s forwards; Abbott, the backs. It was the former New Zealand prime minister, though, who won the room.

“Since resigning as New Zealand’s prime minister in 2023, I have done my best to stay out of the fray. And so, to be honest, Peter, at first I........

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