NEW ZEALAND – New Zealanders have criticised an interview with their prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, as “creepy” and “sexist”.

In the opening segment of the Australian current affairs show 60 Minutes , which aired on Sunday night, the veteran reporter Charles Wooley described the 37-year-old Ardern as “attractive”.

“I’ve met a lot of prime ministers in my time,” says Wooley, filmed strolling the corridors of Parliament House with Ardern, the camera pulling in for a close-up on Ardern’s smiling face. “But none so young, not too many so smart, and never one so attractive.”

Wooley goes on to say that like the rest of New Zealand, he is “smitten” with their prime minister, with Channel Nine describing the interview in promos as a behind-the-scenes special with a world leader “like no other”, who is “young, honest and pregnant”.

“Admittedly, although somewhat smitten just like the rest of her country, I do know, that what’s really important in politics has to be what you leave behind,” Wooley says.

The interview was immediately met with derision from many New Zealanders on social media, who leapt to the defence of Ardern at having to endure the overly personal line of questioning, and dismissed Wooley as misogynistic and inappropriate. Other viewers said the interview was “repugnant”, “creepy” and “painful”.

“How did a nice person like you get into the sordid world of politics?” Wooley asked Ardern.

“Nice people go into politics,” replied Ardern, smiling.

Wooley’s questions about her pregnancy appeared to make her and her partner, Clarke Gayford, rather uncomfortable.

“One really important political question that I want to ask you,” Wooley said. “And that is, what exactly is the date that the baby’s due?”

Ardern replied that her baby was due on June 17, to which Wooley replied: “It’s interesting how many people have been counting back to the conception – as it were,” which made Gayford blush and laugh uncomfortably, responding: “Really?”

Wooley continued: “Having produced six children it doesn’t amaze me that people can have children – why shouldn’t a child be conceived during an election campaign?”

At this, Ardern appeared to roll her eyes, responding: “The election was done. Not that we need to get into those details.”

Wooley’s interviewing style obviously irked Gayford, who later alluded to the programme when he tweeted about great places in New Zealand where you could “escape for 60 Minutes or longer”.

Wooley defended his comments to saying he did not find his line of questioning or commentary off colour.

He said he hadn’t question Ardern about domestic issues such as housing or tertiary education because those topics wouldn’t interest his Australian audience.

“If you say somebody is attractive, my thesaurus defines it as 50 choices from good looking to gorgeous to likable, there is so many different meanings,” Wooley told Newstalk ZB, adding that the segment rated well, though his wife had accused him of “gushing” over Ardern.

“It’s a bit Orwellian you know I think you got to be so careful with newspeak and thought crime and everything else, we suffer the same thing in Australia.”

“On 60 Minutes they want to see this wonderful couple. I just loved being with them, I thought they were so much fun, such a breath of fresh air, you know it was just terrific to be with them.”

In her weekly media standup Ardern said she did not find the interview offensive though she was initially taken aback by the question concerning the conception date of her child.

She toldNew Zealand media she was“not fazed” by a the interview that has been widely critcised as sexist and inappropriate.

Ardern admitted that the question threw her, but she said it would be going too far to say she was offended.

She said it should be “put under the heading of too much information”.

“Maybe I’ve lost all my sensitivity, maybe it’s just that I’m from Morrinsville,” she told reporters on Monday afternoon.

“It’s fair to say that I couldn’t recall there being anything from the interview that particularly stood out to me.”

Wooley’s comments about her attractiveness were also not new, she said, and she was “not particularly offended or fazed by the interview as a whole”.

60 Minutes has defended itself in a statement.

“In its 40 years on-air, 60 Minutes has always been renowned for its political interviews conducted without fear or favour,” a spokesperson said.

“In interviews with various world leaders including Bob Hawke, Margaret Thatcher and current Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull, 60 Minutes reporters have always asked the tough questions which the public has been wanting to hear, while also showing the human side of these individuals that we rarely get to see.”

“Charles Wooley , the journalist came away from his interview with Ardern in awe of her poise, intelligence and everyday charm, which was reflected in the full story” according to the statement. - PNC