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NZEALAND-ATTACK-MOSQUE-POLITICS-ARDERN,PROFILE
NZ PM tackles tragedy with empathy, and resolve
SYDNEY, March 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Scarcely 18 months in office,
Jacinda Ardern faces an era-defining tragedy for her country — and is
winning praise for meeting the moment with a deft mix of empathy and resolve.
Tragedies like the murder of 50 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch can
shape nations.
They can also derail political careers and cement a leader’s place in the
history books — for good or for ill.
Barack Obama’s tearful public appearance after 20 elementary school
children were murdered at Sandy Hook in 2012 and his singing of ‘Amazing
Grace’ at the memorial for slain pastor Clementa Pinckney were seminal
moments of his eight years in the White House.
Vladimir Putin’s first months in office were thoroughly overshadowed by
images of him holidaying on the Black Sea as all 118 submariners aboard the
sunken Kursk lay dead.
Within hours of the mosque massacres, Ardern was in Christchurch, wearing
a headscarf in a poignant show of solidarity with victims’ families.
The next day, in the capital Wellington, she put on the headscarf again
and was seen in emotional embraces with members of the shellshocked Muslim
community.
The heartfelt expressions of solidarity and shared pain embodied the
sense of vulnerability many Kiwis now feel, and offered a powerful rebuttal
of the politics of hate.
“She never had to deal with something so horrific,” said Vicki Spencer,
of the University of Otago’s politics department, “nor has any other New
Zealand Prime Minister.”
But she quickly moved beyond the role of consoler-in-chief to confront
the challenges posed by an Australian white supremacist who, unbeknownst to
any security agency, was able to come to her country, legally purchase
weapons of war, and devastate the nation.
Within hours of the tragedy, Ardern started tackling those challenges,
declaring: “I can tell you right now, our gun laws will change.”
“I know that there is, understandably, grief in New Zealand right now,
but there is anger too, there are questions that need to be answered,” she
said later in one of many televised interviews, the tone both reassuring and
firm.
“Empathy has always been one of her strengths and never has it shown
more,” said David Farrar of the popular politically-focused Kiwiblog.
“The picture of her in Christchurch wearing a headscarf looking
devastated is a powerful iconic image. I think Ardern has been near perfect
in her response to the tragedy.”
– Baby politics –
Until the gunman walked into the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch on Friday
afternoon, Ardern was better known around the world as a new mother holding
down a difficult and busy job.
She became an instant champion for working women the world over when she
brought her infant daughter Neve onto the floor of the UN Assembly in New
York last year.
Becoming only the second prime minister in the world to give birth while
in office — after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990 — allowed the leader of
a small, remote nation of just 4.5 million people to enjoy an extraordinarily
high profile.
She has graced talk show host Stephen Colbert’s couch, met with
celebrities such as Anne Hathaway and shared parenting tips with the panel of
NBC’s Today Show.
Amid a sea of conservative leaders, the 38-year-old has become a hero to
the disgruntled centre-left around the world.
Like Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau, her advocacy for climate
action and gender equality has led her to be branded the anti-Trump.
Like Trudeau, Ardern has not been shy about expressing her displeasure at
Trump’s politics or leveraging his unpopularity in New Zealand to boost her
own.
When Trump called to ask what he could do to help in the wake of the
shootings, Ardern had no qualms about divulging their usually private leader-
to-leader chat.
“He asked what he could do, and I think I simply conveyed the sentiment
that exists here within New Zealand. My message was sympathy and love for all
Muslim communities,” she said in a press conference broadcast around the
world.
According to Spencer, that message to Trump was “clearly genuine and has
resonated strongly with New Zealanders.”
Despite such a sure political touch, Ardern’s lustre had been starting to
fade at home.
Her legislative agenda had been stymied repeatedly by wiley coalition
partner, Winston Peters and his populist New Zealand First party.
At a crisis cabinet meeting Monday, she harnessed the political moment to
sweep aside Peters’ longstanding opposition to gun control.
The 73-year-old could do little more than stand beside her at the podium
and acknowledge “the reality is that after 1pm on Friday our world changed
forever.”
So did New Zealand politics.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1740 hrs