Tell me about Jacinda Ardern

[Made4Sunshine]

As a outsider looking in, just wondering why is the former prime minister NZ is held in such high regard ?
Aside being a young politician and having a baby what gave her the saintlness that is held up worldwide?
I know her Covid border lock outs were viewed negatively amongst kiwis abroad.
Violent crime seems to be on the up.

Is NZ a better place because of her ?

Her response to the Christchurch mosque massacre leading to the Christchurch Call. Her response to the Kaikoura earthquakes. How her government handled the covid crisis. I am an expat who wasn't able to go home and I understand why people were upset at the lockdown. I was also in Australia so we had an international lockdown of our own to contend with.

It's true she is not universally loved or respected. Some people really didn't like how covid was handled by her government. There's issues too with election promises that were not kept due to covid.

She stripped me of my citizenship rights at one point and engaged in some nasty populist shit around charging for the necessary quarantine to bet back into the country. I could hate her the way so many kiwis (most of whom did not experience protracted lockdowns or widespread death of loved ones) profess to, but I absolutely don't--I respect her enormously.

She handled a series of crises with dignity, grace, and humanity (the facebook post where her kid drew on her carpet in lockdown, OMG I was crying with laughter and empathy). She engaged in global leadership in the role of technology in terrorism, and got the big techs to make changes. And she did all this while experiencing more vitriol, and more threats than any NZ prime minister before her, or, I hope after her, mostly because of her age and gender. NZ's previous prime minister literally assaulted a woman working in a restaurant, and didn't get near as much vitriol as Jacinda did. Her child was threatened. All of this is atypical of NZ politics, and I found it personally upsetting.

I'm a Kiwi living abroad, and I fully supported the complete border shutdown, and still do. My family at home got to live life relatively normally for a much longer period than we did, and also had far less exposure, infection and death and long term illness as a result.

Her leadership with the Mosque terror attack, and the White Island disaster were unparalleled.

She has worked so damned hard on behalf of our nation and its people. She is strong, smart, witty, and compassionate.

In the face of a global pandemic, the White Island Disaster, the Terror attack, and the global financial crisis, I'm a tad gobsmacked that this government is being berated for its failure to reach what were already pretty bloody ambitious goals.

Also, all of this. It's pretty horrific the way people talk about her, actually. My octogenerian aunt who is a beneficiary of the social welfare her party promotes "hates" her. It's gobsmacking that it is socially acceptable in NZ to talk this way.

Jacinda is smart, compassionate and communicates well. Try watching one of the COVID press conferences, particularly the way she handles the questions at the end. She is all over the detail in a way I've not seen in any other politician.

It's sad that people who don't agree with her have resorted to such abuse.