Leader who held world’s attention

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Aotearoa New Zealand and our Parliament celebrated a remarkable political career yesterday as Jacinda Ardern gave her valedictory speech, signing off after 15 years in the House including just over five years as Prime Minister.

We all know how significant her leadership has been at critical junctures for our nation, and how she has been lauded for this on the international stage where she has had a profile like no New Zealand prime minister has had before and perhaps ever will again.

The spotlight turned this way first on a young, eloquent woman leader among predominantly middle-aged and older men on the world stage — a leader who then became only the second ever to become a mother while in office.

It was her responses to crises that catapulted her to stardom for many, especially her words of comfort and resolve that reverberated around the world after the March 15, 2019 terror attack on mosques in Christchurch that left 51 people dead — along with our Parliament’s swift action in banning military style semi-automatics and assault rifles.

Then there was the volcanic eruption that killed 22 people on Whakaari White Island, and of course the Covid-19 pandemic.

When Ardern announced her resignation in January there was a lot of speculation that abuse and threats against her had contributed to the decision, even as she said it was not a decisive factor; she simply “no longer (had) enough in the tank to do it justice”.

After a long silence since, Ardern re-emerged in interviews on Tuesday night where she added that she did hope her resignation would reduce the vitriol aimed at the Government and bring the tempo, heat and friction down a peg: “If it did, that would be good for NZ.”

The opposition that arose during the pandemic in response to vaccine mandates and closing the border, culminating in the occupation of Parliament, was one of the hardest experiences. A sense of unity and cohesion was lost for a time, and she would forever think back: “Is there a way I could have kept that cohesion?” — but the cost might have been the loss of many lives.

Yesterday in Parliament, as her one request, she urged everyone to, “please, take the politics out of climate change”. And she signed off with a message to anyone considering politics that they could be “anxious, sensitive, kind and wear your heart on your sleeve”, and still also lead a country.

Haere ra and all the best for the future, Jacinda Ardern.