Our Prime Minister

This post is going to be short, sweet, and not actually written by me. I almost never share "viral" pictures or articles, but this one came to my attention on Facebook, and it made me really proud, and I wanted to pass it on. I am so honoured to live in this country for so many reasons, and this is now definitely one of them. I highly recommend that you Google Jacinda, because she's doing lots of great things.

"This is The Prime Minister Of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. She's 37. She's the youngest female Head of Government in the world. She's also the first western woman to give birth while in this position of power. 2 days after the baby was born - with midwives, standard in NZ hospitals - she introduced her to the country during a press conference on the nightly news. It was really lovely. She named her Neve Te Aroha. Te Aroha means "The Love" in Māori. It represents ALL the names that were submitted (upon her request) from various tribes throughout the country, and was her attempt at capturing them all.

This is her and her partner, no, he's NOT her husband (gasp!), walking to the press conference. He's TV fishing show Host Clarke Gayford, and HE will be staying at home with baby Neve when his lady goes back to running the country in 6 weeks. Clarke sports a snazzy sweater he picked up at the op-shop (second-hand store) in Gisborne, and thinks its just kinda logical and he gives up his day job to stay home and look after the baby.

A week after the birth on July 1st Jacinda introduced a $5billion Families Package that she'd drafted on the floor of her friends house in Hastings - long before her pregnancy. It's based on the knowledge that the first few years of a babies life are the most important. The package gives an extra $60 a week to families with new babies, and an extra $700 to families for winter heating costs as well (it's cold as hell down there in the winter). It also increases the Paid Leave for new parents from 18 weeks to 22 weeks. She announced the details via Facebook live, from her couch, right after she'd finished breastfeeding the baby. Because Kiwis. Some of the most down-to-earth, no-drama-having, just-do-it kind of people you'll ever meet.

And because Women. We really do know how to lead, and to do it well."