WORLD NEWS | In final speech, Ardern reflects on leading New Zealand

WELLINGTON, April 6 (AP) – In her final speech to New Zealand’s parliament on Wednesday, Jacinda Ardern gave an emotional account of how she has navigated her turbulent five-year tenure as prime minister. Epidemics and mass shootings.

She also told humorous anecdotes, such as how a European leader admired Ardern’s chief of staff’s striking hair so much that he messed it up like a hairdresser – which she joked helped achieve. Free-trade deals — and the uplifting but pompous message her mother once sent her: “Remember, even Jesus had people who didn’t like him.”

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On a more serious note, she urged lawmakers to take politics out of climate change.

“There will always be policy differences,” Ardern said in her farewell speech, wearing a traditional Maori cloak called a korowai. “But underneath that, we have everything we need to make the progress we have to make.”

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When Ardern finished speaking about 35 minutes later, she was greeted by lawmakers from across the political spectrum with a standing ovation and a rousing rendition of several indigenous Maori songs.

Ardern, a global icon on the left and an inspiration to women around the world, said when she stepped down as prime minister in January: “I don’t have enough money in my tank anymore to do it justice. It’s as simple as that.” But she remained in law until April to avoid triggering a special election before a national election in October.

Later this month, Ardern will start a new, unpaid role as special envoy for the Christchurch appeal to combat extremism online. It was an initiative she launched with French President Emmanuel Macron in May 2019, two months after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

She also announced that she will join the board of The Earthshot Prize, an environmental charity started by Britain’s Prince William.

Ardern said she came into politics based on her convictions, but had grown used to her tenure being defined by different lists.

“Domestic terrorist attacks. Volcanic eruptions. Pandemics. I find myself in a chain of events in people’s lives during their most distressing or traumatic moments,” she said. “Their stories and faces are still etched in my mind and will likely be forever.”

She also described how she and fiancé Clarke Gayford thought they were infertile after IVF failed.

“Instead of dealing with this issue, I ran to become prime minister,” she joked. “As far as they’re concerned, it’s a great distraction. Imagine my surprise when I found out I was pregnant a few months later.”

Ardern became just the second elected world leader to give birth while holding office after she and Gayford had daughter Neve in 2018.

Ardern described how she was grounding the science in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and how New Zealand performed best among the developed world when it came to measuring excess mortality.

She said she once tried to argue a false conspiracy theory with a lone protester.

“But after going through many of the same experiences, and seeing the anger that is often hidden behind these plots, I have to admit that I was wrong,” she said. “I can’t single-handedly pull people down the rabbit hole.”

Ardern said she was concerned that the country had lost its sense of security and its ability to engage in vigorous debate in a respectful manner during the pandemic.

She also described how she never thought she was destined for the post of prime minister, and how this came about through a surprising chain of events.

Ardern said while she had no control over how her term was defined, she hoped it would demonstrate something else.

“You can be anxious, sensitive, kind, and wear your heart on your sleeve,” she said. “You can be a mother or you can’t be, you can be an ex-Mormon or you can’t be, you can be a nerd, you can be a weeper, you can be a hugger, you can be all of them, and you can’t just be here , you can lead, just like I can.” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)