MAX RASHBROOKE
The terrorist attack in Christchurch, which left 50 dead in March, thrust New Zealand into the spotlight and its prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, into a task that no political leader relishes. “One of the roles I never anticipated having, and hoped never to have,” she said, “is to voice the grief of a nation.” Yet she did just that, and in a manner that won plaudits around the world.
Where others might have threatened vengeance, Ardern centred her attention on the victims, emphasising that these Muslim “brothers, daughters, fathers and children… were New Zealanders. They are us.” She also showed a steelier side, promising to change gun laws and hold tech giants to account for helping spread the assailant’s propaganda. But she refused to give him the attention he craved or refer to him directly, insisting: