KEY POINTS:
If Helen Clark was expecting an easy ride during question time from children at Owairaka Primary yesterday morning, she was wrong.
The first question from the 10 and 11-year-olds in Room 19 about the merits of the dole was followed by queries on the rising cost of basic
foods, Government funding of schools and housing affordability.
Helen Clark, wearing a label reading "Hello my name is Prime Minister" and sitting on a chair in front of the 25 cross-legged pupils, did not sugarcoat her answers for the young audience.
In response to a question on what can be done to keep communities safe in light of an attempted robbery at the dairy next door, the PM wove drugs, gangs and jail time into her answer.
"We have to be working in lots of ways. Number one: why does someone go and hold up a dairy?," she said.
"There might be drugs. It might be they've got a drug habit, like P - which is a horrible thing."
The lesson continued on how gangs were in the area and how some teens and children were seen as recruits.
"It's not exciting," she said of the gang lifestyle. "We need to be working with our schools and our families to show there's lots of fantastic things you can do without joining a gang, getting hooked up with the drug trade."
The session - dubbed a Kiddie Conference and recorded to air on The Breeze radio station - ran for about half an hour. The pupils gave Helen Clark their almost undivided attention while she was in the class, but after she left at least one seemed more interested in the TV stars that had been in their midst.
"It was the lady from Target," said one, in reference to TV show and Breeze announcer Jeanette Thomas, who also took questions.
Helen Clark's first public engagement of the day with the young audience was in contrast to her second engagement about the New Zealand Innovation Centre - where the crowd was described by one speaker as "old enough to remember when food was wrapped entirely in paper [and] children's toys were made of tin".
The children, however, seemed keen to follow in the footsteps of their famous visitor.
At least six put their hands up when asked who wanted to be Prime Minister when they grew up.