New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is receiving international praise for her display of empathy and action after the terrorist attacks. This is her groundbreaking story.
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00:00Surely in politics the measure of political leadership is your ability to deal with the hard stuff.
00:21We walked up and down the main street and I would go into shops asking them if they had any after school jobs
00:27and the wonderful family who run the Golden Kiwi gave me my first job.
00:38Does it feel momentous that you are the first Prime Minister to walk in a bikeway?
00:43It probably should have happened a while ago.
00:57I haven't had this opportunity until now to actually say thank you because because of you, for me, you know, all of the things that you consider when you're doing a job like this about your ability and so on, gender never came into it for me and that was because of you. I have no doubt.
01:25I'm just so happy that I'm not the last and there will be a new generation of girls and young women saying, hey, Jacinda did it.
01:38Question time today was a reflection of the inability of this government to deal with the hard stuff.
01:44Granted, I am a young proposition for the party, but this team has worked alongside me for nine years. They have faith in me and I absolutely believe I'm up to the job.
02:03Let's do this. Teeth are a little bit much.
02:24This is my permanent state at the moment, either breastfeeding or this.
02:34I can tell you one thing right now. Our gun laws will change. This ultimately means that within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism, we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our communities safer.
02:52I'm here today to bring with me the grief of all of New Zealand. And there is huge grief in this nation that we share with you on your behalf. And I'm here also to stand alongside you.
03:10The person who brought this hate to us brought it here. It was not developed here. It is perhaps one of the reasons it feels so alien to all of us. This is not who we are. This is not who Christchurch is. This is not who New Zealand is.
03:29He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety. And that is why you will never hear me mention his name. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless.