Heckler forces New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to abandon press conference

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ended a press conference after being heckled by a man claiming to be a journalist.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ended a press conference in Northland early after being heckled by at least two people — one of whom was claiming to be a journalist.

Ms Ardern and Māori-Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis are in the region viewing the rollout of vaccinations, and were speaking to media this afternoon.

Ms Ardern was answering questions from reporters, saying that she had seen multiple people getting vaccinated.

She was being heckled throughout the press conference by a female member of the public, as well as having her answers interrupted by an unidentified man claiming to be a journalist.

Jacinda Ardern shuts down press conference after being hammered with questions by a non-accredited member of the media about why the vaccine wasn't working in Israel. pic.twitter.com/D5koyyQy63

— Viewspot (@viewspotnz) November 2, 2021

“Sir, I’m going to answer the questions of the accredited media,” Ms Ardern said.

The man continued interrupting, asking Ms Ardern, “Why is the vaccine not working in Israel? And you are still pushing it.”

“Sir, I will shut down the press conference if this continues,” she said.

Ms Ardern then told him he was being rude, to which the man responded, “It’s rude to lie to the public of New Zealand.”

Ms Ardern then ended the press conference.

Jacinda Ardern said the man was being rude.

“For our members of the gallery here, we might move to an inside venue,” she said.

“Unfortunately, we have someone who is disrupting your press conference. So, we might reconvene.”

Ms Ardern and Mr Davis then left the press conference.

The man, who said he worked for a little-known website claiming to be “a facts and evidence based platform … covering the stories that many mainstream media outlets will not”, continued to make unsubstantiated claims about the government’s Covid-19 response and vaccine mandates.

He was then asked to produce his media accreditation, before flashing a card.

Ms Ardern is in Northland to support vaccination efforts, with the region having one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

She is accompanied by Mr Davis, who announced an extra $NZ23.3 million for eight Māori organisations and tribes aimed at boosting Māori vaccination rates, through the new $NZ120 million Māori Communities Covid-19 Fund.

This article originally appeared on NZ Herald and was reproduced with permission