Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern MP
Official New Zealand Labour Party portrait of Jacinda Ardern
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Labour Party List
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 November 2008
Personal details
Born	(1980-07-26) 26 July 1980 Hamilton, New Zealand[1]
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Labour Party

Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern^[2] (b. 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician. A member of the Labour Party, she was elected as a list MP at the 2008 general election.^[3]

Personal life

Ardern grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara, where her father worked as a policeman.^[4] She attended Waikato University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. She joined the Labour Party at a young age, and became a senior figure in the Young Labour Party. After graduating from Waikato University, she spent time working in the offices of Phil Goff and of Helen Clark as a researcher. She later spent time in London, working as a senior policy advisor.^[5] In early 2008 she won election as the President of the International Union of Socialist Youth.^[6]

In 2013, during a speech on the Marriage Amendment Bill, Ardern confirmed that she had been raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) but left the church in 2005 because it conflicted with her political views.^[7]

Member of Parliament

Ardern, with Phil Goff and Carol Beaumont, at an anti-mining march on 1 May 2010.

After being placed high on Labour's party list for the 2008 election (at number 20 she was virtually guaranteed a seat in Parliament) she returned from London to campaign full-time. She was selected as the Party's candidate for the Waikato electorate. Ardern was unsuccessful in the electorate vote, but was elected a List MP. Upon election, she was the youngest sitting MP in Parliament, succeeding fellow Labour MP Darren Hughes, and remained the youngest MP until the election of Gareth Hughes on 11 February 2010.

Ardern was appointed Labour's spokesperson for Youth Affairs, and associate spokesperson for Justice (Youth Affairs) by Labour leader Phil Goff.^[8]

Jacinda Ardern has featured as a panel guest on the TVNZ show Back Benches. The episode's panel was all young members of the political parties. On 19 November 2008, shortly after the 2008 general election, Ardern featured for her first time on this show. She featured again on Wednesday 23 June 2010,shortly after the shadow cabinet reshuffle, in which Ardern had no portfolio change.

She has also made regular appearances on TVNZ's Breakfast programme as part of the 'Young Guns' feature in which she appeared alongside National MP Simon Bridges.

Ardern contested the high-profile Auckland Central seat for Labour at the 2011 general election, against incumbent National MP Nikki Kaye for National and Greens candidate Denise Roche. Despite targeting Green voters to vote strategically for her, she was unsuccessful in her bid to unseat Kaye, losing by 717 votes. However, she was returned to Parliament via the party list.^[9] She maintains an office within the electorate as a listed MP based in Auckland Central.

After Goff resigned from the leadership following his defeat at the 2011 election, Ardern supported David Shearer over David Cunliffe. She was elevated to the fourth-ranking position in the Shadow Cabinet on 19 December 2011, becoming Spokesperson for Social Development under new leader David Shearer. In 2012 the Trans Tasman Roll Call rated her performance for the year at five out of ten, summarising that Ardern "thinks she knows her stuff but there is little sign she does her homework or has come up with new ideas in her policy area."^[10]

References

External links

• Jacinda Ardern's page on Parliament website
  • Appearances on Parliament TV
• Jacinda Ardern's campaign website
• Jacinda Ardern at the New Zealand Labour Party
• Jacinda Ardern at They Work For You (New Zealand)