Next New Zealand PM slams ‘abhorrent’ treatment of Ardern
Wellington, New Zealand - New Zealand’s incoming prime minister Chris Hipkins criticised the ‘abhorrent’ treatment endured by Jacinda Ardern and vowed on Sunday to shield his own family, three days after her shock resignation.
Hours after being unanimously endorsed by Labour Party MPS as the party’s leader and the nation’s next prime minister, Hipkins attacked the personal abuse suffered by Ardern during her more than five years in the top job.
Ardern sparked a national debate about the pressures she faced when she revealed on Thursday that she was stepping down just nine months before October 14 general elections, saying she no longer had ‘enough in the tank’.
Politicians and other public figures have lined up to criticise the ‘vitriol’ Ardern was subjected to as prime minister, notably on social media, although she did not mention it herself.
“The way Jacinda has been treated, particularly by some segments of our society - and they are a small minority - has been utterly abhorrent,” Hipkins said.
“It does not represent who we are as a country,” said the 44-year-old education and police minister.
Men have a responsibility to call out such treatment and say ‘it’s not ok’, he said.
The future prime minister, best known for leading a national crackdown on COVID-19 for nearly two years, said he understood that putting himself forward as leader meant he was ‘public property’.
“But my family aren’t,” he told reporters.
Hipkins said he wanted his six-year-old son and four-yearold daughter to grow up with a ‘typical Kiwi kid life’, adding that his amicable separation from his wife was his own business.
“I have seen the enormous scrutiny and pressure placed on Jacinda and her family and so my response will be to keep my family completely out of the spotlight,’ he said.
Ardern said she had been exhausted after leading New Zealand through the COVID-19 pandemic, its deadliest terror attack and a volcanic eruption