Jacinda Ardern

**Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern**  (; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician. She was the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand and the Leader of the Labour Party from October 2017 to January 2023. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2008. She was the member of Parliament (MP) for Mount Albert from 2017 to 2023.

Ardern was born in Hamilton and grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara. After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern began her career working as a researcher for Prime Minister Helen Clark. She later worked in London in the Cabinet Office, and was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Ardern was first elected as an MP in the 2008 general election, when Labour lost control after nine years. She was later elected to represent the Mount Albert electorate in a by-election in February 2017.

Ardern was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party on 1 March 2017, after the resignation of Annette King. Just five months later, after Labour's leader Andrew Little resignation, Ardern was elected as party leader. She led her party to win 14 seats at the 2017 general election on 23 September, winning 46 seats to the National Party's 56. After working with New Zealand First, a minority coalition government with Labour and New Zealand First was formed, supported by the Green Party. Ardern became Prime Minister and she was sworn in by the governor-general on 26 October 2017. She became the world's youngest female head of government at age 37. Ardern later became the world's second elected head of government to give birth while in office when her daughter was born in June 2018. Her government has focused on the New Zealand housing crisis, child poverty, and social inequality. In March 2019, she became popular because of her leadership during the Christchurch mosque shootings and for introducing strict gun laws in response. For much of 2020, she also became popular for the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ardern led the Labour Party to a historic victory in the 2020 general election, winning a majority of 65 seats in Parliament.

In January 2023, Ardern announced she would resign as Labour leader and prime minister within a few weeks.

## Early life
Ardern was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, and grew up as a Mormon. She was raised in Morrinsville and Murupara, where her father, Ross Ardern, worked as a police officer. Her mother, Laurell Ardern ( Bottomley), worked as a school catering assistant. She studied at Morrinsville College, where she was the student representative on the school's board. She later went to the University of Waikato, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS) in politics and public relations.

Ardern became interested in politics because her aunt asked her to help her with campaigning for New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven during his re-election campaign at the 1999 general election.

Ardern joined the Labour Party at the age of 17 and became a senior figure in the Young Labour party of the party. and worked on a workers' rights campaign. Ardern moved to London, England where she became a senior policy adviser for British prime minister Tony Blair. Ardern also worked at the Home Office to help with a review of policing in England and Wales. She also became Labour's candidate for the safe National electorate of Waikato. Ardern lost the election, but entered Parliament as a list MP because of her high ranking in the party list. She became the youngest sitting MP in Parliament.

Opposition Leader Phil Goff promoted Ardern to the front bench, naming her Labour's spokesperson for Youth Affairs and for Justice (Youth Affairs). She made appearances on TVNZ's *Breakfast* programme as part of the "Young Guns" feature, alongside National MP and future National Party leader, Simon Bridges.

Ardern ran for the parliament seat of Auckland Central for Labour in the 2011 general election, running against incumbent National MP Nikki Kaye for National and Greens candidate Denise Roche.

After Goff resigned from the Party leadership, Ardern supported David Shearer for party leader. She was soon ranked 5th on Labour's list and because of this, Ardern still returned to Parliament where she became Shadow spokesperson for Justice, Children, Small Business, and Arts & Culture under new leader Andrew Little.

### 2017 Mount Albert by-election
Ardern later ran for the Labour nomination for the Mount Albert by-election to be held in February 2017. When nominations for the Labour Party closed on 12 January 2017, Ardern was the only nominee and was selected. She was confirmed as Labour's candidate at a meeting on 22 January. Ardern won a landslide victory, winning 77 per&nbsp;cent of votes cast in the preliminary results.

### Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, 2017
Following her win in the by-election, Ardern was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party on 7 March 2017, after the resignation of Annette King. Ardern's vacant list seat was taken by Raymond Huo. However, Ardern would remain as Deputy Leader for exactly five months because she was elected Leader of the Labour Party in August. At 37, Ardern became the youngest leader of the Labour Party in its history. She is also the second female leader of the party after Helen Clark. At first, Little had talked to Ardern on 26 July and said he thought she should take over as Labour leader.

At her first press conference after her election as leader, she said that the upcoming election campaign would be positive. After her appointment, the party had a large amount of public campaign donations, reaching NZ$700 per minute at its highest. When Ardern became party leader, Labour rose in opinion polls. This idea became unpopular and Ardern said that her tax plan would not be pushed in a first term of Labour government. Minister of Finance Steven Joyce found that the Labour Party had problems in its $11.7&nbsp;billion budget. 
, September 2017]]
The Labour and Green parties' proposed water and pollution taxes also became unpopular from farmers. On 18 September 2017, farmers and lobbyists protested against the taxes in Ardern's hometown of Morrinsville.

In the final days of the general election campaign, the National Party took a slight lead over the Labour Party.

### 2017 general election
In the 2017 general election held on 23 September 2017, Ardern was re-elected to her Mount Albert electorate seat by 15,264 votes. Preliminary results from the general election showed that Labour received 35.79 per&nbsp;cent of the party vote to National's 46.03 per&nbsp;cent. After more votes were counted, Labour increased its votes to 36.89% while National dropped back to 44.45%.

After the election, Ardern and Deputy Leader Kelvin Davis began talks with the Greens and New Zealand First parties about forming a coalition against National Party which did not haven enough seats for a majority. On 19 October 2017, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters agreed to form a coalition with Labour, The Green Party also supported the coalition. Ardern named Peters as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She also gave New Zealand First five posts in her government, with Peters and three other ministers in her Cabinet.

## Prime Minister, 2017–2023
### First term, 2017–2020
, October 2017]]
Ardern was sworn-in as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy on 26 October 2017. Ardern promised that her government would have empathy and be strong.

Ardern became New Zealand's third female Prime Minister after Jenny Shipley (1997–1999) and Helen Clark (1999–2008). She is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders. At aged 37, Ardern is also the youngest person to become New Zealand's head of government since Edward Stafford, who became premier in 1856.

On 19 January 2018, Ardern announced that she was pregnant, and that Winston Peters would become acting Prime minister for six weeks after the birth. Following the birth of a daughter, she took her maternity leave from 21 June to 2 August 2018.

#### Domestic policies
Ardern focused on cutting child poverty in New Zealand by half within a ten years. In July 2018, Ardern announced the start of her government's flagship Families Package. The package would increase paid parental leave to 26 weeks and introduced a $60 per-week universal BestStart Payment for low and middle-income families with young children. In 2019, the government a school lunches pilot programme to help cut child poverty numbers. She also increased welfare benefits by $25, expanding free doctor's visits and giving free menstrual hygiene products in schools.

Ardern's government added increases to the country's minimum wage over a period of time. Her government also cancelled the National Party's planned tax cuts, saying instead it would focus on healthcare and education. The first year of post-secondary education was made free on 1 January 2018 and the government agreed to increase primary teachers' pay by 12.8 (for beginning teachers) and 18.5 per&nbsp;cent by 2021. Even thought the Labour Party campaigned on a capital gains tax for the last three elections, Ardern promised in April 2019 that the government would not pass a capital gains tax under her leadership.
 Patsy Reddy, May 2018]]
On 2 February 2018, Ardern went to Waitangi for the annual Waitangi Day commemoration and she stayed in Waitangi for five days. Ardern became the first female Prime Minister to speak from the top marae.

In September 2019, she was criticised for her handling of an allegation of sexual assault against a Labour Party staffer. Many did not believe this as one journalist found that Ardern's claim was hard to believe.

Ardern does not support putting people who use cannabis in prison and promised to hold a referendum on the issue. A non-binding referendum to legalise cannabis was held at the same time of the 2020 general election. In the referendum, voters did not support the proposed cannabis legalisation and many found that Ardern not supporting the 'yes' campaign may have caused the legalisation's defeat.

#### Foreign policies
, September 2019]]
On 5 November 2017, Ardern made her first official trip to Australia, where she met Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the first time. Turnbull promised to work with Ardern and not have their political beliefs in the way.

In November 2017, Ardern announced that the government would being part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations even though the Green Party did not support it. On 25 October 2018, New Zealand ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Ardern had described as being better than the original TPP agreement.
 Boris Johnson, September 2019]]
In December 2017, Ardern supported for a United Nations resolution criticising U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Her address to the General Assembly on 27 September had positive support from the United Nations where she talked about climate change, for the equality of women, and for kindness.

In October 2018, Ardern criticized China for its Xinjiang re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the country. Ardern was also worried about the treatment of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. In November 2018, she met with Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and offered any help New Zealand could give to solve the Rohingya crisis.

On 23 September 2019, at a United Nations summit in New York City, Ardern had her first formal meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

On 28 February 2020, Ardern criticised Australia's policy of deporting New Zealanders, many of which had lived in Australia but had not become Australian citizens.

#### Christchurch mosque shootings
 near Christchurch, March 2019. This image was called by *The Guardian* as "an image of hope".]]
On 15 March 2019, 51 people were fatally shot and 49 injured in two mosques in Christchurch. She also called it as a well-planned terrorist attack.

She announced a time of national mourning and created a national condolence book that she opened in the capital, Wellington. She also travelled to Christchurch to meet first responders and families of the victims. In an address at the Parliament, she said that she would never say the name of the attacker: "Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them ... he will, when I speak, be nameless". Ardern became popular in the country and the world for her response to the shootings. A photograph of her hugging a member of the Christchurch Muslim community with the word "peace" in English and Arabic was projected onto the Burj Khalifa. A  mural of this photograph was opened in May 2019.

In response to the shootings, Ardern said her government's plans to create stricter gun laws. She said that the attack had shown many weaknesses in New Zealand's gun law. On 10 April 2019, less than one month after the attack, the New Zealand Parliament passed a law that bans most semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles, parts that turn guns into semiautomatic guns, and higher capacity magazines.

On 15 May 2019, Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired the Christchurch Call summit to bring together countries and tech companies.

### COVID-19 response
 restrictions caused the country to have low numbers of deaths and infected cases and even be "eliminated" in the country]]
On 14 March 2020, Ardern announced the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. She said the new rules will make it harder for people to travel to the country. On 19 March, Ardern said that New Zealand's borders would be closed to all non-citizens and non-permanent residents, after 11:59&nbsp;pm on 20 March (NZDT). Ardern announced that New Zealand would move to a nationwide lockdown, at 11:59&nbsp;pm on 25 March.

National and international media had positive responses about her leadership and quick response to the outbreak in New Zealand. *The Washington Post* said her interviews, press conferences and social media is an example of what a leader should do. In mid-April 2020, two people sued Ardern and other government officials, saying that the lockdown limited their freedoms and was made for political reasons. The lawsuit was dismissed.

On 5 May 2020, Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced plans to create a trans-Tasman COVID-safe travel zone that would allow residents from both countries to travel freely without travel restrictions.

Opinion polls showed the Labour Party with nearly 60 per&nbsp;cent support. In May 2020, 59.5 per&nbsp;cent of citizens found Ardern as "preferred prime minister".

#### 2020 general election
In the 2020 general election, Ardern led her party to a landslide victory. Her party won an overall majority of 65 seats in the 120-seat House of Representatives, and 50 per&nbsp;cent of the party vote. She was also re-elected to her seat on the Mount Albert electorate by 21,246 votes. Ardern said her landslide victory was because of her response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic impacts it has had.

### Second term, 2020–2023
#### Domestic affairs
 Grant Robertson and Governor-General Patsy Reddy, November 2020]]
On 2 December 2020, Ardern declared a climate change emergency in New Zealand and promised that the country would be carbon neutral by 2025 in a parliamentary motion.

In response to the housing affordability issues, Ardern proposed the removal of the interest rate tax-deduction, lifting Housing Aid for first home buyers, giving away infrastructure funds and expand the Bright Line Test from five to ten years.

On 14 June 2021, Ardern said that the New Zealand Government would apologise for the Dawn Raids. She formally apologised for the raids in August 2021.

#### COVID-19 pandemic
On 12 December 2020, Prime Minister Ardern and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown announced that a travel route between New Zealand and the Cook Islands would be created in 2021. On 14 December, Prime Minister Ardern confirmed that the New Zealand and Australian Governments had agreed to create a travel route between the two countries the following year. On 17 December, Ardern also announced that the government had bought two more COVID-19 vaccines from the pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax for New Zealand and its Pacific partners.

On 26 January 2021, Ardern stated that New Zealand's borders would remain closed to most non-citizens and non-residents until New Zealand citizens have been "vaccinated and protected". A month later, her government created a vaccination programme. In August 2021, after one person tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, the country went under lockdown again.

On 29 January 2022, Ardern went into self-isolation after she had contact with someone who tested COVID positive on a flight to Auckland.

On 14 May 2022, Ardern tested positive for COVID-19. Her partner Gayford had tested positive for COVID-19 several days earlier on 8 May.

#### Foreign affairs
In early December 2020, Ardern showed support for Australia during an issue between Canberra and Beijing over Chinese Foreign Ministry official Zhao Lijian's Twitter post saying that Australia had committed war crimes against Afghans.

On 16 February 2021, Prime Minister Ardern criticised the Australian Government's decision to remove dual New Zealand&ndash;Australian national and ISIS bride Suhayra Aden's Australian citizenship. After a phone conversation, the two leaders agreed to work together to fix the issues Ardern had said.

In response to the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis, Ardern said on 17 May that New Zealand "condemned both the rocket fire we have seen from Hamas" and "a response that has gone well beyond self-defence on both sides".

In late May 2022, Ardern led a trade and tourism mission to the United States, where she asked President Joe Biden to have the U.S. rejoin the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. On the trip, she made an agreement with Governor of California Gavin Newsom creating a two-way cooperation between New Zealand and California in reducing the effects of climate change and doing more research on it.
 Jens Stoltenberg in June 2022]]
In late June 2022, Ardern went to the NATO's Leader Summit.

#### Resignation
On 19 January 2023, Ardern announced she would resign as Labour leader and prime minister before 7 February. She said the reason for her resignation was to spend more time with her family. In some opinion polls, Ardern's popularity had reached all-time lows in the past few months.

On 22 January 2023, Chris Hipkins was elected as her replacement. At Ardern's final event as Prime Minister, she said her work as the Prime Minister was the "greatest privilege" and that she loved the country and its people. She officially left office on 25 January 2023 when Hipkins was sworn-in as prime minister. with many calling it the 'Jacinda effect' and 'Jacindamania'.
, September 2017]]
Jacindamania was seen as an important reason behind New Zealand gaining global attention and media influence in many reports. In a 2018 trip, Ardern got a large amount of media attention after delivering a speech at the United Nations in New York City. Many saw her as the "cure to Trumpism".

Ardern has been described as a celebrity politician. She has become popular for her leadership following the Christchurch mosque shootings, COVID-19 pandemic and the Whakaari / White Island eruption.

Ardern was one of fifteen women selected to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British *Vogue*, by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. *Forbes* magazine placed her at 38 among the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2019. She was included in the 2019 *Time* 100 list and was a candidate for *Time*'s 2019 Person of the Year. Many believed that she would win the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for her handling of the Christchurch mosque shootings. In 2020, she was listed by *Prospect* as the second-greatest thinker for the COVID-19 era. In 2021, New Zealand zoologist Steven A. Trewick named the flightless wētā species *Hemiandrus jacinda*  in honour of Ardern. A spokesperson for Ardern said that a beetle (*Mecodema jacinda*), a lichen, and an ant had also been named after her.

In May 2021, *Fortune* magazine gave Ardern the top spot on their list of world’s greatest leaders, saying her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as her handling of the Christchurch mosque shootings and the 2019 Whakaari/White Island eruption.

## Post-political career
On 4 April 2023, Ardern was announced as a trustee of the Earthshot Prize. Ardern was for the position by Prince William. That same day, Prime Minister Hipkins named Ardern as Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call. A few weeks later, Ardern accepted dual fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School for a semester beginning in fall 2023. She also was the 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow and a Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard.

In June 2023, Ardern was appointed a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (GNZM), for services to the State, officially becoming Dame Jacinda Ardern.

On 21 August 2024, Ardern supported U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign. She also spoke at the Global Progress Action Luncheon during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where she compared Harris' campaign to Labour's campaign during the 2017 New Zealand general election.

On 21 January 2025, it was announced that Ardern's memoir, titled *A Different Kind of Power*, would be released on 3 June. Ardern, who has been living in the United States for two years, chose not to tour in or near New Zealand to promote her memoir. This was because she was still seen as unpopular there. In June 2025, Oxford University announced that Ardern would be given an honorary degree in civil law.

## Political views
Ardern has called herself as a social democrat, and a feminist. She called former Prime Minister Helen Clark, a political hero. She believes that the large amount of child poverty and homelessness in New Zealand is a "blatant failure" of capitalism.

Ardern believes in removing the Māori electorates and they should be decided by Māori people. She supports teaching of the Māori language in schools. and she voted for the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 which legalised it. In 2018, she became the first New Zealand prime minister to march in a pride parade. Ardern supported legalising abortion and removing it from the Crimes Act 1961. In March 2020, she voted for the Abortion Legislation Act that would make abortion legal.

She described taking action on climate change as "my generation's nuclear-free moment".

Ardern has also supported a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She has criticised Israel over the death of Palestinians during protests at the Gaza border.

## Personal life
 in Auckland, February 2018]]
Ardern is a second cousin of Mayor of Whanganui Hamish McDouall. She is also a distant cousin of former National MP for Taranaki-King Country Shane Ardern.

Ardern's partner is television presenter Clarke Gayford. The couple first met in 2012. They did not spend time together until Gayford talked to Ardern about a controversial communications bill. The wedding was planned for January 2022, but she changed the wedding date for an another time because of COVID-19 restrictions. They were eventually married in January 2024.

On 19 January 2018, Ardern announced that she was pregnant with her first child, making her New Zealand's first prime minister to be pregnant in office. On 21 June 2018, she gave birth to a girl the same day, becoming only the second elected head of government to give birth while in office (after Benazir Bhutto in 1990).

Though raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LSD), Ardern left the church in 2005 because the church's views did not support her own political views. In January 2017, Ardern said she was agnostic, saying "I can't see myself being a member of an organised religion again".

## References
## Other websites
* Jacinda Ardern's  profile on the New Zealand Parliament website
* Jacinda Ardern  at the New Zealand Labour Party