Jacinda Ardern addresses Alan Jones comments amid fresh outrage over ‘backhand’ audio

The NZ leader delivers a serve of her own amid fresh outrage at comments made by Jones.

Jacinda Ardern has addressed the controversy surrounding comments made by Alan Jones.

Alan Jones has dispelled a report that he made a fresh attack on Jacinda Ardern, as the New Zealand prime minister threw cold water on the saga surrounding Jones’s “shove a sock down her throat” comments.

“There is a story around today that fresh audio has emerged of me criticising New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern which is not the case.” Jones said this morning during his 2GB radio show.

“I’ve not made any new remarks about Prime Minister Ardern. The audio that they’re playing was contained in the same broadcast last Thursday.

“On Friday I apologised unconditionally for those comments.

“I wrote to the prime minister privately to indicate that of course I meant no harm to her.

“Her office has replied most courteously to my letter.”

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Jones addressed the issue as Ardern broke her silence on his comments that Scott Morrison should “backhand” her and “shove a sock down her throat” at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu last week.

In a radio interview in New Zealand this morning Ms Ardern said she didn’t “have an opinion on every single person that says something about”.

“I am a politician, I am open for criticism and of course, we should all be held to account and the idea that any politician could or should be protected, I absolutely rally against that,” Ms Ardern said.

“You should see my social media. We sign up for that when we are politicians. I have tried very hard, specifically on this Alan Jones comment, you won’t find me having particularly reacted or responded,” Ms Ardern said.

“I don’t have an opinion on every single person that says something about me, particularly given this is an Australian commentator.

“We have enough of our own to occupy my time.”

She also attempted to sledge Jones, saying: “I understand he used to be closely linked to the Wallabies, so let’s just say that revenge is best served through a Bledisloe Cup.”

Ms Ardern comments comes after Jones was forced to apologise twice over his original attack on the leader at the end of last week.