Who Is Jacinta Ardern – New Zealand Prime Minister?
Jacinta Ardern is New Zealand’s 40th Prime Minister. She is the youngest in the world to head a government, born 26th of July 1980, she is the Prime Minister of New Zealand at the age of 37.
She grew up in Murupara and Morrinsville, but born in Hamilton. Ross Ardern, her father, is a police officer, in the town where she grew up while Laurel Ardern, her mother, is working as a school catering assistant.
Her aunt was the one who brought her into politics. Her aunt is a member of the Labour party, and recruited her teenager niece, Ardern to assist her campaigning, Harry Duynhoven, New Plymouth MP, during his campaign to be re-elected at 1999 general election. At a young age, she joined the Labour Party, and after became a senior personality/figure in one of the sectors of the Labour Party – Young Labour.
Early political career
Ardern graduated 2001 from the University of Waikato, finishing BCS (Bachelor of Communication Studies) in politics and public relations. She started her career after she graduated, working as one of the researchers in the then Prime Minister Helen Clark. After being a researcher, she moved in the United Kingdom, working as a policy advisor to Tony Blair, a British Prime Minister.
Her Political Views
She described herself as a progressive, a social democrat, a feminist and a republican, mentioning Clark as a political hero also “capitalism” as a “blatant failure” because of the extent and degree of homelessness in the entire New Zealand.
Ardler advocates and supports a lesser rate of immigration, recommending around 20,000 – 30,000. “Infrastructure issue” is what she called the plan, as she disputes that there is no enough planning regarding population growth and has not been targeted New Zealand’s skill shortage right, as of yet. Although, she likes to raise the intake or acceptance of refugees.
Regarding social issues, she voted:
- For same sex marriage
- That abortion should be taken out from the crime acts
- Decriminalisation of cannabis, vowing to hold a referendum regarding the matter during her first term as New Zealand’s Prime Minister
She was also the first and only Prime Minister of New Zealand who marched and joined in a gay parade.
Personal Life
Clarke Gayford, a television presenter, is Ardern’s partner. They had a white and ginger polydactyl cat, which became an instant celebrity and called as the “First Cat”, after she took the Prime Minister post on 1 August 2017. Paddles, name of the cat, died November of last year, in Auckland Suburb, as the cat was hit by a car.
And just this year 2018, January 19, she announced that she is pregnant and expecting her child (first) with Gayford in June.