‘Do you mind if I give you a hug?’ Waleed Aly interviews Jacinda Ardern

The Project host sat down with NZ PM Jacinda Ardern — and her response couldn’t be more different from Scott Morrison’s.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed motherhood has “almost certainly” affected her reaction to the Christchurch terror attack.

Ms Ardern will open up about the impact of the shootings in an interview with The Project’s Waleed Aly set to air on Monday.

In a preview, Ms Ardern can be seen greeting Aly with a warm hug, in a stark contrast to the journalist’s icy reception from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during their interview on Thursday night.

“Do you mind if I give you a hug?” Ms Ardern asked.

“No, not at all,” Aly replied.

“I know that might sound strange,” Ms Ardern added.

Jacinda Ardern greeted Waleed Aly with a hug

Aly asked the NZ leader, who has been praised internationally for her response to the Christchurch attack, if being a mother had impacted her reaction.

The politician welcomed daughter Neve with her partner Clarke Gayford last June.

“Almost certainly,” Ms Ardern said. “I think it’s hard to sometimes analyse the way that you are changed by parenthood, but you feel it I think in your responses and your empathy.”

"Do you mind if I give you a hug?" Waleed meets NZ PM Jacinda Ardern#TheProjectTV - 6.30pm Monday on @Channel10AU pic.twitter.com/kn2w5bYpxF

— The Project (@theprojecttv) March 22, 2019

Ms Ardern said she had given “very little thought” to wearing a black hijab in the wake of the attack except that it had been “the appropriate thing to do”.

“So if in wearing the hijab as I did gave them a sense of security to continue to practice their faith then I’m very pleased I did it,” she said.

Waleed Aly

Jacinda Ardern

Aly was invited to New Zealand to interview Ms Ardern after delivering a stirring editorial on The Project in response to the Christchurch shooting last week.

The emotionally charged speech, which has since racked up more than nine million views on Facebook, saw Aly admit he was overcome with “utter hopelessness” over what had happened in New Zealand.

But not everyone was happy with Aly’s editorial, with Mr Morrison’s office contacting The Project to complain about the reference to a Sydney Morning Herald report.

Scott Morrison’s Project interview saw the politician panned on social media

Aly had repeated claims first made in 2011 that the politician had urged his party to exploit concerns about Muslims in Australia for votes.

After a public war of words Mr Morrison and Aly went head to head during a special commercial-free interview on Thursday’s episode of The Project.

The testy exchange saw the Prime Minister criticised over his answers about One Nation and “aggressive” body language.

Originally published as ‘Do you mind if I give you a hug?’ Waleed Aly interviews Jacinda Ardern