5 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern has delivered her last speech before Parliament this Wednesday, in which she has put aside her usual political messages to vindicate her personal baggage, stressing that it is possible to be “sensitive” and lead a government .
Ardern, 42, has looked back on her political career and how she and the country have changed since she first took the seat 28 years ago. In the political sphere, she has recalled the COVID-19 pandemic and also the attack on two Christchurch mosques in 2019, which resulted in fifty deaths and about which she still “has a hard time talking”.
He has also set tasks for the future, appealing to the political class to continue taking measures to face the “crisis” derived from climate change, although a large part of his speech has been dedicated to issues of a personal nature, with messages to the daughter he had when she was prime minister.
“You can be a mother, or not, an ex-Mormon, or not, a nerd, a crybaby, a person who likes to give hugs, and not only be here (in Parliament), but also be a leader,” she has said Ardern, in emotional words witnessed in person by his closest relatives.
Ardern announced his resignation in mid-January, acknowledging that he did not have enough “energy” to run for re-election in the October elections. As in her final speech, also when she proclaimed that she would leave the Government she appealed to issues of a personal nature – she said that as a “human” she had reached her limit–, one of the main hallmarks of her mandate .
She has been tasked by the current Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, with leading the Christchurch Call, an initiative she launched in 2019 to combat the rise of online extremism in the aftermath of the attacks. Ardern has given up receiving a salary for this new position, which she will begin to exercise on April 17.
