60 MINUTES reporter Charles Wooley has hit back at claims his interview with Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was “creepy” saying Australia and New Zealand are “culturally different.”

Speaking to New Zealand radio station Newstalk ZB, Mr Wooley defended his questions to the PM about her conception date and description of her as “attractive”.

“It’s a bit Orwellian, you know I think,” he said. “You’ve got to be so careful now with newspeak and thoughtcrime and everything else. We suffer the same thing in Australia. It’s not a good time to be a journalist.

“If you say somebody is attractive, my thesaurus defines it as 50 choices from good looking to gorgeous to likeable, there is so many different meanings.”

He said his wife thought he was “too gushing” during the interview but the entire crew was “smitten by a wonderful Prime Minister”. He also defended the decision to ask about when the baby was conceived, saying “my executive producer would have sacked me if I hadn’t asked that”.

“This is a clearly shocking thing to say but Australian audiences aren’t very interested in minutae of NZ politics ... they want to see this wonderful couple. I thought it was a funny point, obviously it wasn’t. We’re culturally different.”

Mr Wooley came under fire for the interview with the 37-year-old and her partner Clarke Gayford, which aired on Channel 9 on Sunday night, slammed by viewers as “patronising” and “repugnant”.

“I’ve met a lot of prime ministers in my time, but none too young and not so many so smart, and never one so attractive,” Wooley’s introduction said.

Later in the interview, he said to the young PM, “One really important political question that I want to ask you, and that is, what exactly is the date that the baby’s due?”

After being told it was June 17, he added it was “interesting how much people have been counting back to the conception, as it were”.

“Having produced six children it doesn’t amaze me that people can have children,” he said. “Why shouldn’t a child be conceived during an election campaign?”

A seemingly taken aback Ms Ardern replied, “I should add that the election was done. It was over. Not that we need to get into those details.”

Mr Wooley later told New Zealand media he didn’t regret asking the question and said he had five children so knew they could be conceived in different situations.

“I’m not sexist. I’ve got lots of daughter who won’t let me be,” he said. “If you don’t have a thick skin you might as well go into some other business entirely.

With an unexpected - but very exciting - pregnancy, when @jacindaardern gives birth in June, she’ll become the first elected female western leader to have a child in office. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/mCB9rxeT81 — 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) February 25, 2018

Hey Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern,



If you would like to take a short trip to Australia to give our politicians some tips you would be welcome with open arms.



What an incredible woman. You are the type of politician our country needs. #60mins — Mad (@brownand_gold) February 25, 2018

Commenting on @jacindaardern's level of attractiveness, doesn't seem to be at all relevant to her ability as a nation's leader #60Mins — Emily G (@emily_a_george) February 25, 2018

I assumed #60mins would have a second half of the Jacinda interview after the break that talked about her policies and political achievements. But... nothing. All we got was sexist comments about her looks and baby talk. Ugh. Absolutely shitful journalism... *changes channel* 🙄 — Priscilla Sutton (@trisgilla) February 25, 2018

Meh some of these questions on #60mins to the NZ Prime Minister are so repugnant...then he makes a comment about how attractive she is...blurk x a million...I’m embarrassed that @jacindaardern & her husband had to endure them pic.twitter.com/xKKKdod8zl — benjamin (giggling) (@gigglingben) February 25, 2018

What's her attractiveness got to do with anything? The feminists won't be happy with that one. #60mins — ozboxfan (@ozboxfan) February 25, 2018

Users on social media were scathing. “I assumed 60 Minutes would have a second half of the Jacinda interview after the break that talked about her policies and political achievements,” Priscilla Sutton wrote on Twitter.

“But ... nothing. All we got was sexist comments about her looks and baby talk. Ugh. Absolutely s***ful journalism.”

Emily G wrote, “Commenting on @jacindaardern’s level of attractiveness, doesn’t seem to be at all relevant to her ability as a nation’s leader.”

2DayFM’s Benjamin Wasley added, “Meh some of these questions on 60 Minutes to the NZ Prime Minister are so repugnant ... then he makes a comment about how attractive she is ... blurk x a million ... I’m embarrassed that @jacindaardern & her husband had to endure them.”

Bernard Lagan described it as a “cringe-worthy car crash of an interview”. “Issues lost on 60 Minutes and Charles as they revert to ‘80s style. Er, make that ‘60s,” he wrote.

“Oh my a woman having a baby! Stop the presses,” said Jules Hope. “This report made me mad then sad. Apparently she’s attractive too coz that’s important if you are a (female) prime minister. Good luck @jacindaardern sorry for the patronising reporting.”

Ms Ardern, who became the world’s youngest female head of government last year after doing a deal with New Zealand First Party leader Winston Peters, revealed in January she was pregnant.

Immediately after the deal was announced, Ms Ardern was forced to bat away questions from local media about her baby plans, describing them as inappropriate.

After radio host Mark Richardson said New Zealanders had a right to know whether their PM would have to take maternity leave, she replied, “It is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace.

“It is a woman’s decision about when they choose to have children. It should not predetermine whether or not they are given a job or have job opportunities.”

Ms Ardern was asked about the 60 Minutes interview at her weekly post-Cabinet media conference in Wellington on Monday.

She told reporters the conception question “threw me a bit” but wasn’t “particularly fazed or offended” by it. “You’re assuming I haven’t been asked that question by NZ media,” she said, adding she had been asked the same question “in a roundabout sort of way” since she announced she was expecting her first child.

She said her memory of the interview wasn’t in line with headlines she had seen. “It would be going too far too say I was offended.”

A Channel 9 spokesman said in a statement, “In its 40 years on-air, 60 Minutes has always been renowned for its political interviews conducted without fear or favour.

“In interviews with various world leaders including Bob Hawke, Margaret Thatcher and current Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull, 60 Minutes reporters have always asked the tough questions which the public has been wanting to hear, while also showing the human side of these individuals that we rarely get to see.

“Charles Wooley came away from his interview with Jacinda Ardern in awe of her poise, intelligence and everyday charm, which was reflected in the full story.”

frank.chung@news.com.au