For good measure, Ms Ardern also gently spoke out against Trump, rejecting his attempts to play down the rising threat of white-supremacist terrorism and urging him to show his solidarity with “all Muslim communities”. I was both Mormon and the sober driver—that was the benefit they saw from my [church] membership.”. But she … 1 /1 Jacinda Ardern’s response to Christchurch puts other leaders to shame. Christchurch shooting This article is more than 1 year old. Jacinda Ardern is the third woman to head New Zealand’s government. New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed never to say the name of the Christchurch mosque gunman. Farid Ahmed (pictured) survived the Al Noor mosque shootings but his wife Husne was killed. According to the BBC, Ardern “targeted young New Zealanders with policies on education subsidies, housing and the environment.”. Credit: In the Herald‘s telling, her political turn was partially inspired by a call from local lawmaker Marilyn Waring, whom Ardern had cold-called for a project. Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now? People gather hoping to find out information about Zakaria Bhuiyan who is still missing after the mosques shootings in Christchurch. “Among the dead were worshipers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Somalia and Afghanistan,” Washington Post journalists noted. The Christchurch mosque attack shooter's guilty pleas on Thursday will save victims and families from the "ordeal of a trial", Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern bluntly declared the Muslim victims of Friday's mass shooting "are us", in sharp contrast to the relative silence emanating from the … New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been widely praised for her response to the Christchurch mosque attacks. WELLINGTON, New Zealand — At 1:40 p.m. on Friday, March 15, a gunman entered a mosque in the city of Christchurch and shot dead 41 people as they worshiped. A powerful image of Jacinda Ardern hugging a woman in the aftermath of the Christchurch shooting will be turned into a mural in the Brunswick neighbourhood in Melbourne. She immediately decried the white-nationalist ideology that fuelled the massacre and spoke firmly for what she believed were her country's values. Credit: American advocates for gun control can only look on wistfully at the pace with which Ms Ardern can act. Credit: Within just a few hours of the shootings, Ardern held a press conference, condemning the plotters as "extremists" who "have absolutely no place in New Zealand." Jacinda Ardern says Christchurch mosque shooting marks 'one of New Zealand's darkest days'. On Friday evening, after the horror unfolded in Christchurch, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stood resolute behind a lectern, and looked into the ring of cameras trained on her. Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield held a media conference on Sunday afternoon, hours after the country's alert levels went up. Ardern spent part of her childhood in Murupara, on New Zealand’s North Island: “a town famous for the Tribesmen gang and little else,” according to the New Zealand Herald. In a political move that can seem striking to Americans, where the politics of gun use are much more fraught, Ardern quickly announced that New Zealand would ban the kinds of gun and modifications used in the Christchurch shootings. Ardern left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2005 over its stance on gay people, according to the Herald. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events, New Zealand shootings: Victims of Christchurch mosque terror attacks, {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}, The world is praising Jacinda Ardern’s response to NZ terrorist attack, Jacinda Ardern receives worldwide support for response to attack, New Zealand minister to ‘confront’ Turkey over mosque attack comments, Death toll from New Zealand terror attacks rises to 50, Mosque killer sent email to prime minister minutes before shooting. She calmly, firmly delivered the facts. This week, the BBC confirmed that Ardern had gotten engaged to her longtime partner, TV host Clarke Gayford, with whom she shares a daughter. She continued, “For those of you who are watching at home tonight, and questioning how this could have happened here, we — New Zealand — we were not a target because we are a safe harbor for those who hate. DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. New Zealand’s political system and condensed election seasons (by American standards) allow for rapid reversals of fortune. We were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we are an enclave for extremism. Watch the PM's full press conference here: In a press conference from Parliament about 7.25pm, Ms Ardern said it was now clear that this could only be described as a terrorist attack and New Zealand's threat level had been raised … In replacing Little, Ardern promised a “relentlessly optimistic” campaign, according to the New York Times, which described her winning appeal to voters as bringing change to the national status quo — where the conservative National Party had been in power for nearly a decade — and focusing on a “fairer deal” for the everyday and peripheral members of New Zealand society. After one such meeting, journalist Negar Mortazavi wrote that Ardern’s choice to wear a hijab was a commitment to inclusivity in the wake of such violence: “She tells them: You are us.”. A note is seen on a window of a door at the family home of Wasseim Alsati in Christchurch on 17 March 2019. In her remarks only hours later, Ardern, 38, specifically decried the extremism behind the anti-Muslim attack. Of the victims, the PM says: "They are us. … I don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure it out,” she told the Herald then. Addressing the suspected shooter, an Australian national now in police custody, she warned: “You may have chosen us – we utterly reject and condemn you.”, Now, Ms Ardern says she will pursue changing New Zealand's gun laws. The person who … That question is asked of all women leaders,” wrote Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern leaves a memorial at Friday Prayer for the Christchurch shooting victims, | She told TIME in 2017, with a laugh: ““It was how my friends identified me. She joked earlier this year that she wanted him to be the one to propose: “I want to put him through the pain and torture of having to agonize about that question himself.”. Ardern’s rise is a prime example. Instead, she urged, “Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them.”. “I just think people should be free to have their personal beliefs and not be persecuted for it, whether they be atheist or staunch church members.”. I wish with everything in my heart she hadn’t had to, but I am proud that she did.”, After her initial remarks, Ardern went on to tell Parliament that she would never name the shooter. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? ), On Instagram, Ardern celebrated her daughter’s birth with a brief Instagram post, writing, “Welcome to our village wee one.Feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl … Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness. As Washington Post journalist Anna Fifield wrote on Monday, Ms Ardern has “had plenty of political trials and tribulations”. We were chosen for the very fact that we are none of these things. Credit: Annette King, a friend and former colleague in Parliament, later recalled talking with Little about whether he should resign as the opposition leader, according to the Herald. … New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is being widely praised for her decisive and empathetic response to the Christchurch mosque mass shootings Speaking on the condition of anonymity to the Washington Post's WorldView, one Western fund manager with dealings in the Asia-Pacific region scoffed that Ms Ardern “was just a less annoying Justin Trudeau with an easier country to run” – a jab both at her and the Canadian prime minister, another darling of the centre left who critics argue has traded too long on his rosy image rather than actual policy achievements. Her family moved from Murupara to Morrinsville when she was growing up. But not all at Davos were impressed with the charismatic, liberal and young – Ms Adern is just 38 – world leader. Ms Fifield explained: “Her handling of the economy has been criticised, and her efforts to introduce more affordable housing have been plagued by embarrassing bureaucratic blunders. Christchurch shootings show New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern is a leader for our times. He cited dismal polling some six weeks before the general election. After six weeks of leave, she returned to work with Gayford, her partner, planning to be a stay-at-home dad, according to the Times. Hagen Hopkins/Getty, Jacinda Ardern speaks with reporters days after the Christchurch mass shooting, | Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed 40 people have died in the Christchurch shooting, and fiercely condemned those involved. Ardern also wore a hijab while comforting families of the victims and others in New Zealand’s Muslim community. Get push notifications with news, features and more. Cashmere High School has several links to victims of the Christchurch mosque mass shooting, with two current student students classified as "missing" and a … JASON DORDAY/AFP/Getty Images, Jacinda Ardern (right) with her partner, Clarke Gayford, and their daughter, Neve, Jacinda Ardern (right) with her partner and their daughter, | Editor’s note: This article was originally published in March. Three-year-old Mucad Ibrahim, the youngest known victim of the mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019. While Ardern was far from an unknown on the national stage, she had downplayed any desire for a central role in New Zealand politics, telling the Herald earlier that year her goal was to be minister of children. Jacinda Ardern’s response to Christchurch puts other leaders to shame. Nadeem Rasheed, brother of Pakistani Naeem Rashid who died alongside his son Talha Naeem, 21, who were killed in shooting at a Mosque in Christchurch, at their home town in Abbottabad, Omar Nabi speaks to the media about losing his father Haji Daoud Nabi, 71, in the mosque attack, Ash Mohammed, right, talks to a police officer about his father and two brothers who are missing near the Masjid Al Noor mosque. “I remember saying … ”I don’t know whether he’s the right one for Jacinda.’ I was totally wrong,” friend King told the paper earlier this month. We’re all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital.”. And I respect people who don’t. Such a message of support has yet to come from the White House.