Former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern made a rare public media appearance on Friday as the Government's Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call.
And Thursday's shooting was brought up during the discussions on countering hate and promoting tolerance.
Meet Dame Jacinda, the diplomat.
"I think we absolutely share the goal of building and strengthening a culture of respect, peace and cooperation," she said.
She made a rare public appearance on Friday to hold talks with Douglas Emhoff, the husband of US Vice-President Kamala Harris, and the Second Gentleman of the United States.
On a five-day trip to New Zealand, he heaped praise on his wife and our former Prime Minister.
"You're both incredible role models, so thank you for everything," Emhoff said.
It was only a year ago when Jacinda Ardern met US President Joe Biden at the White House as Prime Minister.
But since stepping down from the role in January she now holds diplomatic titles including Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call. That's a global initiative against online extremism she created in the wake of the 2019 terrorist shooting that claimed 51 lives.
As the first Jewish spouse of a vice-president and campaigner against anti-semitism, Douglas Emhoff said it resonates with him.
"This Christchurch Call is an excellent role model of coalition building that brings all of society together to combat hate," he said.
The talks took place at the Auckland Policy Office at the end of Queen Street in the central city, which is just across the road from where the deadly shooting took place on Thursday at Commercial Bay.
Newshub has told that the shooting was part of the discussions at the high-level talks on Friday.
Because while police say the shooter wasn't politically motivated, the Second Gentleman talked at length about a global rise in violence and hatred.
"This hate, it's all interconnected it's against everyone, and it affects everyone so we need to make sure that first and foremost, our communities feel safe and all people must be able to live and worship without being subject to violence," Emhoff said.
Violence that's so often manifested in shootings that the US is all too familiar with and now not so foreign to us.
