Most of us know by now that New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern is a complete and utter legend.

Let’s recap, shall we? In the aftermath of the Christchurch shooting, Ardern immediately announced that gun laws would change, making assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles illegal. She also refused to name the gunman who killed 50 people in the 2019 attack – and spent time embracing the families affected by the terrorist act instead. Ardern has also introduced a “wellbeing” budget to help New Zealanders with their mental health, too.

As if this wasn’t already enough, Ardern has also demonstrated she’s able to respond to the demands of every New Zealander – no matter how young they are.

In 2019, she made headlines for responding to a little girl’s questions about dragons with a personalised, handwritten note. And during the coronavirus crisis, Ardern has yet again proven the power of her compassionate leadership style.

During her latest coronavirus press conference, a journalist in the audience told Ardern she’d had some “correspondence” from younger viewers who had an important question for the prime minister: would the Easter Bunny be allowed to visit their house during lockdown?

Ardern, of course, was on board with this incredibly adorable question, and got right to assuring her younger viewers that she had put plans in place to ensure the Easter Bunny had the freedom he needed to do his important job.

“You’ll be pleased to know that we do consider both the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny to be essential workers,” Ardern said. “But as you can imagine at this time they’re going to be potentially quite busy at home with their family as well and their own bunnies.

“So I say to the children of New Zealand if the Easter Bunny doesn’t make it to your household then we have to understand that it’s a bit difficult at the moment for the bunny to perhaps get everywhere.”

Ardern then went on to suggest ways children across the country could celebrate Easter even if the Easter Bunny was unable to make it to their house. 

“I’ve a bit of an idea that maybe in lieu of the Easter Bunny being able to make it to your home you can create your own Easter hunt for all the children in your neighbourhood. So if you’re one of those homes who have had a teddy in your front window, maybe draw an Easter egg and pop it into your front window and help children in your neighbourhood with their own Easter egg hunt, because the Easter Bunny might not get everywhere this year.”

We didn’t know it was possible to love Jacinda Ardern even more than we already do, but here we are.  

Image: Getty