Return to work for New Zealand PM

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has returned to work after six weeks of parental leave with her newborn daughter.

At the star t of a Cabinet meeting yesterday, she thanked her colleagues and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters f or keeping the government operating while she was away.

“The last six weeks have been wonderful, not only because of the birth of our healthy daughter, but because we have been gifted by this cabinet, by the people of New Zealand, this time together.”

The birth of her daughter Neve on 21 June made Ardern just the second elected world leader in recent history to give birth while holding office.

Ardern said the experience of focusing on her daughter’ s basic needs helped her appreciate why people with young families may not find time for politics and that it’s the government’ s responsibility to serve people, whether they are engaged politically or not.