Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern likely to miss out on extended parental leave

Name: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces pregnancy
Uploaded: 2017-01-20T05:00:00+13:00
Description: Ardern discovered she was pregnant just six days before she became Prime Minister-elect. Winston Peters announced NZ First would form a coalition with Labour on October 19.

NZ Herald

18 Jan, 2018 09:51 PM2 mins to read

Ardern discovered she was pregnant just six days before she became Prime Minister-elect. Winston Peters announced NZ First would form a coalition with Labour on October 19.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is likely to miss out on her government's planned extension to paid parental leave.

Ardern posted on her Instagram account today that she and partner Clarke Gayford were expecting a baby in June.

View this post on Instagram

And we thought 2017 was a big year! Clarke and I are really excited that in June our team will expand from two to three, and that we’ll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats. I’ll be Prime Minister AND a mum, and Clarke will be “first man of fishing” and stay at home dad. I think it’s fair to say that this will be a wee one that a village will raise, but we couldn’t be more excited. I know there will be lots of questions, and we’ll answer all of them (I can assure you we have a plan all ready to go!) But for now, bring on 2018.

A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern) on Jan 18, 2018 at 1:44pm PST

"Clarke and I are really excited that in June our team will expand from two to three, and that we'll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats.

"I'll be Prime Minister AND a mum, and Clarke will be 'first man of fishing' and stay at home dad," she posted.

But the timing of the baby's arrival means Ardern or Gayford will likely miss out on the increase from 18 to 22 weeks - which doesn't kick in until July 1.

The extended scheme will then stretch further to 26 weeks from July 2020.

Ardern is not the first leader of a state to be pregnant while in office.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had her second child in 1990, becoming the first modern head of government to give birth while in office.