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All New Zealanders should feel that politics is a home for them, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday, in her final speech in Parliament after leading the country through the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019 terror attacks in Christchurch.
Ardern, who has thanked her family, political party and supporters, resigned as prime minister in January saying she was “not in the tank” to lead the country.
She has entered the global stage in 2017 when she became the world’s youngest female head of government at the age of 37. She gained more international attention when she brought her baby to a UN meeting.
While Ardern is popular abroad, with higher prices at home, rising crime and controversial reforms on water and agriculture have ultimately eroded support.
As head of the centre-left Labor party for five years, Ardern led New Zealand through a volcanic eruption, a 2019 attack by gunmen in Christchurch that killed 51 Muslim pilgrims and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ardern said she had been involved in people’s lives “during the saddest or most traumatic moments” of the event.
“His story and his face stay in my mind and will forever,” Ardern said on Wednesday in Parliament wearing a gifted korowai, a traditional Maori robe, seen as a sign of honor and prestige.
The daughter of a police officer and a school cafeteria operator and a self-described “hugger and crier,” Ardern said she wants her career to inspire others to take office.
“You can be anxious, sensitive, kind and wear your heart on your sleeve,” she said through tears. “You can be a mom or not, an ex-Mormon or not. A nerd, a crier, a hugger, you can be all of these things and not only can you be here, you can lead like me.”
a new role
Her successor Chris Hipkins appointed Ardern on Tuesday to an unpaid role in countering violent extremism online at the organization she set up after the Christchurch attacks. Ardern said she hopes to work on de-radicalisation.
The resignation of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sparked conversations about burnout and knowing when to bow out. About The Producer Lauren Bird looks back at some of the defining moments of her leadership.
He won praise across the political spectrum for his handling of the COVID pandemic, which he said was a “difficult experience.” New Zealand faces some of the strictest measures in the world, but also has one of the lowest death tolls.
Looking in the public gallery at her four-year-old daughter, Neve, Ardern thanked her partner, Clarke Gayford, and told her child: “You will never grow up to be known as the daughter of the former prime minister, but I will be happy to be known as Neve’s mother, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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