WELLINGTON, April 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda
Ardern confirmed Thursday she paid for a harried mother’s groceries in a
gesture sure to enhance a reputation already soaring because of her response
to the Christchurch mosque attacks.
Ardern was reluctant to discuss the incident, revealed on social media,
involving a mother-of-two who was ahead of the prime minister at a
supermarket checkout when she realised she did not have her purse.
“(Ardern) paid for my friends’ shopping in the supermarket the other day
when she had forgotten her purse and had two screaming kids in tow,” Twitter
user Helen Burness posted, adding: “like we didn’t love her enough”.
Ardern swiftly wrapped up a media appearance Thursday when asked why she
had helped the woman, replying only, “because she was a mum”.
The 38-year-old had her own daughter Neve last June, becoming only the
second prime minister in the world to give birth while in office, and later
taking the infant onto the floor of the UN Assembly in New York.
She has won widespread praise for her response to the March 15
Christchurch attacks in which a white supremacist gunman is accused of
killing 50 Muslims in an atrocity that shook the normally peaceful nation.
The New Zealand Herald has described her actions as a mix of “solace and
steel” after she donned the hijab while comforting devastated families and
also moved swiftly to tighten gun laws.