Jacinda Ardern reveals her post baby parliamentary return plans

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed her juggling act of reading government papers and caring for the baby | WATCH

Ardern is the second world leader to give birth while in office. Picture: Getty

Announcing her pregnancy soon after becoming New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern reflected on what had already been a “big year”. Now, with her maternity leave about to end and her first year as Labour leader coming to a close, “big” seems like an understatement.

Ardern — who turned 38 last week — took to social media over the weekend, in what was just her second public message since leaving hospital with daughter Neve in June, to reveal her post-return parliamentary plans. Rocking her five-week-old while speaking to the camera, she outlined her juggling act of reading government papers and caring for the baby. “We’re all doing really well and have absolutely no routine to speak of. I can hear a chorus of parents laughing that you would ever have a routine with a five week old baby,” Ardern said, before outlining some key policies areas she would be pursuing.

She will officially take back the reigns at midnight on Wednesday — almost exactly a year after she became leader of the Labour Party — and will return to the capital over the weekend with her family.

In July 2017, Ardern was the deputy of a flailing opposition party in a country of fewer than five million residents, insisting she had no plans to lead. A week later she was handed the top job in the opposition and the phenomenon dubbed “Jacindamania” took off, rocketing her to both domestic political triumph and the world stage.

Having negotiated a government coalition while suffering morning sickness, the former small-town Mormon has gone on to capture headlines across the globe as a left-wing political figure, while leading a program of steady reform at home. That’s on top of becoming the first elected world leader to take maternity leave.

While her fill-in, the 73-year-old deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, has for the most part had a settled stint in the hot seat, New Zealand’s politics has not been without drama during Ardern’s leave of absence.

Nurses have gone on strike, spats with Australian politicians have broken out and the everyday battles of domestic politics have persisted. Parliament also sits next week, meaning there’ll be no steady transition back into political life for Ardern.

“Ultimately though, that first week back, I am going to be focused on getting straight back into it,” she said.

AAP