New Zealand PM releases home video in which she says baby Neve has ‘no routine’ but is doing really well

Jacinda Ardern has said she will return to work as New Zealand’s prime minister in about a week’s time, issuing the announcement via a homemade video made during her maternity leave.

Ardern is only the second world leader to give birth while in office, and started maternity leave on 17 June before giving birth to daughter Neve on 21 June.

Ardern has been largely quiet while on leave, entrusting the running of the country to her deputy, Winston Peters, who – true to form – has courted controversy during his stint in the top job.

Ardern recorded the intimate Facebook Live video on Sunday afternoon – two hours after the opposition National party held its first national conference since electing as leader Simon Bridges, who released his own, pre-recorded, video. It showed him drumming with bandmates in a room decorated with fairy lights and vintage lamps, kissing his girlfriend and now wife, Natalie, at Oxford University – “I fell in love with a leftie,” he says – and playing snakes and ladders with his three children, the youngest of whom is just six months old, in what some New Zealand media have dubbed “the battle of the babies”

“The left think they have a monopoly on compassion,” says Bridges in the video. “It’s simply not true.”

Many political commentators thought the timing of Ardern’s video was planned to send a message that Ardern was still very much in charge, and would soon be back. Titled “A quick hello as we get ready to come back!” Ardern’s video was typically familiar and low-key, filmed in selfie-mode while she rocked daughter Neve in a nearby bassinet.

I can hear a chorus of parents laughing at the suggestion that you would ever have a routine with a five-week old baby. Jacinda Ardern

She said: “We’re all doing really well still, we have absolutely no routine to speak of. I can hear a chorus of parents laughing at the suggestion that you would ever have a routine with a five-week old baby but we’re doing really well nonetheless.”

Ardern’s pre-baby Sunday routine of reading government papers had been adjusted slightly to include her daughter: she now read while rocking her daughter gently in her bassinet – something the prime minister said was the biggest workout she’d had in the past five weeks. “I’m multitasking like every single parent I’ve ever met, so a big shout-out to all of them,” said Ardern.

She said her first week back would be spent focusing on issues that “really matter to me”, including mental health, the environment, trade-related matters and an “employment-related announcement” she said she was particularly proud of.

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Ardern said she would get back in touch with New Zealanders closer to her return to share “a little bit of what life will look like, because it’s obviously going to be a little bit different”.

“Ultimately, though, that first week I am going to be focused on getting straight back into it ... we’ll be hitting the ground running, as I know everyone will expect us to do,” said Ardern.

New Zealanders responded with overwhelming warmth to Ardern’s announcement of her imminent return to work, with many saying they were looking forward to having their prime minister back at the beehive.



“Love the multi tasking,” commented Joanne Johnson on Facebook. “Rock a cradle and run a country. Showing women can be mothers and leaders. 😁.”

“Will be good to have you back,” said Lydia Papadopoulos. “Sure you will be feeling a little apprehensive at leaving your wee girl, but I’m sure she will be in very good hands with her Daddy.”

“Welcome back!” wrote Phil Knowles.”The country has missed you 💗”

Ardern reassured New Zealanders that she had been receiving their gifts, and her staff had routinely tucked surprises in her “suitcases” of government papers, including a hand-knitted blanket stitched from possum yarn, which Ardern showed her viewers.



Ardern concluded the video by thanking her mother, who had spent a couple of weeks with Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford, when they first arrived home with Neve.

“What a new appreciation you get for mums after you have your own,” said Ardern. “A little thank you to my mum and all mums out there as well, including Clarke’s who is here helping us right now, too.”