Jacinda Ardern delivers an emotional farewell to New Zealand parliament

Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern gave an emotional farewell to parliament after stepping down from the role earlier this year.

She announced she was stepping down and retiring from politics earlier this year, after five and a half years in the role.

The 42-year-old told journalists she “no longer has enough in the tank” to do the role justice when she announced she was stepping down telling New Zealand Labour party’s annual caucus meeting in January it was “time” to step down.

Delivering her final speech to parliament draped in a korowai, traditional Maori feather cloak, Ardern urged MPs to "please take the politics out of climate change"

Outgoing New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern gives a speech in parliament in Wellington on April 5, 2023. - Ardern bowed out of parliament on April 5, making an impassioned plea during her tearful final speech to "please take the politics out of climate change". (Photo by Mark Coote / AFP) (Photo by MARK COOTE/AFP via Getty Images)

She spoke of her humble beginnings in a working class family, describing leading the country as “a cross between a sense of duty to steer a moving freight train and being hit by one.”

Using her final address to address the ongoing climate crisis she said to MPs: "Climate change is a crisis. It is upon us.

"Pne of the very few things I will ask of this house on my departure is that you please take the politics out of climate change."

Concluding the speech she added: “I cannot determine what will define my time in this place. But I do hope I've demonstrated something else entirely. That you can be anxious, sensitive kind, and wear your heart on your sleeve.

“You can be a mother or not. You can be an ex-Mormon or not. You can be a nerd, a crier, a hugger. You can be all of these things. And not only can you be here, you can lead. Just like me.”