Family time in NZ key for Ardern
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says family time will be more important than ever this Christmas after revealing her father has had treatment for cancer this year.
She told the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly her father, Ross Ardern, has had a “good” recovery from cancer but is not as active as he would like.
Ardern says surgery to his kidney as part of his cancer treatment has left him with a surgical hernia.
“That’s limiting for him and how active he can be,” she told the magazine, adding it’s not a great situation for a man who is “always on the go”.
Ardern says her father’s treatment has put everything in perspective.
“We’re a very tight-knit family and that was certainly the case for our family recently.
“It just reminds you what’s really most important and that’s to spend as much quality time together as you can. That’s the enduring lesson for me.”
Ardern’s mother had breast cancer “years ago” and is fully recovered.
She said she was planning to spend summer in New Zealand with family. “One of the things that Covid really showed me was how much I enjoy having summer in New Zealand,” she said.
She did not mention if those summer plans included her rescheduled wedding to Clarke Gayford after their nuptials were called off due to the Omicron outbreak in January.
Ross Ardern was the administrator of Tokelau, based in Auckland, from 2018 to 2022. Before that he spent many years serving New Zealand in the South Pacific, including roles as High Commissioner in Niue, the NZ Police liaison officer for the South Pacific, based in Samoa, and as Niue’s police commissioner. — NZ Herald