There is still work to do across the political divide to address misogyny in politics, the prime minister says.
Although Jacinda Ardern acknowledged misogyny is not new, she said it had been "amplified" by social media.
Her comments on Breakfast came after two Young Nats resigned following an investigation into an internet troll who has harassing female politicians in Christchurch.
The politicians on the receiving end of the harassment were Christchurch City councillor Sarah Templeton and Labour MPs Megan Woods and Sarah Pallett.
READ MORE: Two Young Nats resign after female politicians trolled online
Templeton used the Harmful Digital Communications Act to locate the IP address and home of the person trolling her.
She told 1News: "It's not really a witch hunt of one person. It's more raise the issue and try and get some change. What I've had on the scale of what I know other women get, especially women in minorities and our female MPs, what I've had is small in comparison to that."
The owner of the house, Young Nat Bryce Beattie, said his flatmate and fellow Young Nat Jessee MacKenzie was the man responsible.
Asked by Breakfast's John Campbell what could be done to draw a line in the sand, Ardern said: "We can create an expectation and a culture".
"Having been in politics for a long time, one of the goals I had, knowing that I wouldn't be able to change everything, was at least to create an expectation within our party on the way we do politics and that I wanted that mantra of kindness to apply in a place where that is the last thing you think about in politics.
"We still have work to do and I won't for a moment even claim perfection on our side, but that is the culture we're striving for and I think every leader needs to take responsibility to try and do the same."
The IP address used to target female politicians was tracked to the home of Bryce Beattie, who now says a flatmate has admitted to being behind the trolling. (Source: 1News)
The prime minister said a perception existed around standing up against misogyny and appearing to be weak.
"There's sometimes a concern that if we stand up and talk about these things, do we ourselves look like we're weak, do we look like we can't take the heat in an environment where often that is considered to be part of the job," Ardern said.
"I think we need to put that aside because look we're here, we've been through it in many ways, particularly if you've been around for a while, we've experienced it and we're still here.
"But what I think we need to start thinking about is what it does for others. I want women and girls to look at this place and think 'yeah, that's a meaningful job where I can make a contribution' … and so long as we see these kinds of examples that have been raised, it will put good people off politics and surely across the political divide we can agree, we want good people in politics."
Ardern said she was not saying that in standing up against misogyny the ability to debate and critique politicians would disappear.
"We would be the last country that would want to see a place where we had such a sterile environment that we couldn't debate, that we couldn't critique … No one for a moment is saying we want some kind of sterile environment where we can't do that anymore …
"Play the ball, not the man or the woman. There's a reason that that exists in this country because we also believe that actually you should be able to critique the issue and it not be about the person. We've got that in us. That's all I think anyone is asking."
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