NZ leader finds new focus as a parent

Caring for baby opens her eyes to other perspectives

AUCKLAND: Feeding. Poop. Sleep.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said those are the things she has obsessed over the most as a new parent, and that the experience of focusing on such basic needs for her baby girl has helped her appreciate why people with young families may not find time for politics.

“So it’s our job to make sure that we are serving the needs of people, regardless of whether they have time to engage with what we’re doing or not,” she said.

“That’s something that’s been really amplified for me.”

Ardern spoke on Thursday at her bungalow in Auckland as she prepared to return to the capital, Wellington, after six weeks of leave following the birth of daughter Neve.

Ardern, 38, is just the second elected world leader in recent history to give birth while holding office, and her story has provided inspiration for working mothers around the world

Ardern said ordinary folk from as far afield as the Netherlands and India have written to congratulate her.

But she said that as she came to the end of her leave, she was anxious to demonstrate that she and her partner Clarke Gayford, who will become Neve’s primary caregiver, can create a routine that works.

That I will come back and do the job that I promised to do. Jacinda Ardern

“That I will come back and do the job that I promised to do,” Ardern said.

Asked if she felt pressure to be a role model as a working mother in such a highprofile job, she said that every new parent feels some degree of pressure.

“I just happen to be doing it publicly,” she said. “So I guess it’s different in one regard. But one day, hopefully, it won’t be.”

She said that becoming a parent hasn’t changed her views on specific government policies, other than reinforcing her view that there needs to be a clear and strong focus on supporting families.

She said her vision for the country was for it to live up to how people perceived it.

“We believe ourselves to be clean and green. We believe ourselves to be fair minded, to have a strong sense of social justice, and we think we’re innovative,” she said.

“Actually, we need to do a lot more to make that a reality.” — AP