Jacinda Ardern, seen here with her father Ross Ardern, told the NZ Woman's Weekly his cancer diagnosis has 'put everything in perspective'. Photo / Getty Images

‘It reminds you what’s most important’: PM reveals dad’s cancer battle

Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2022, 2:21PM

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says family time will be more important than ever this Christmas after revealing her father has had treatment for cancer this year.

Ardern told the New Zealand Woman's Weekly her father, Ross Ardern, has had a "good" recovery from cancer but is not as active as he would like to be.

Ardern says surgery to his kidney as part of his cancer treatment has left him with a surgical hernia.

"That's limiting for him and how active he can be," she told the magazine, adding it's not a great situation for a man who is "always on the go".

Ardern says her father's treatment has put everything in perspective.

"We're a very tight-knit family and that was certainly the case for our family recently," she told the Weekly.

"It just reminds you what's really most important and that's to spend as much quality time together as you can.

"That's the enduring lesson for me."

Ardern told the magazine her family has been especially tight-knit this year. Photo / Supplied

Ardern's mother has breast cancer "years ago" and is fully recovered.

Ardern told the magazine she's looking forward to Christmas as it's the only "proper leave" she gets all year.

She said she was planning to spend summer in New Zealand with family.

"One of the things that Covid really showed me was how much I enjoy having summer in New Zealand," she told the Weekly.

The Prime Minister did not mention if those summer plans included her rescheduled wedding to Clarke Gayford after their nuptials were called off due to the Omicron outbreak in January.

Ross Ardern was the administrator of Tokelau, based in Auckland, from 2018 to 2022.

Before holding that role he spent many years serving New Zealand in the South Pacific.

He was High Commissioner in Niue from 2014 to 2018 and was previously in Samoa as the NZ Police liaison officer for the South Pacific from 2009 to 2013. He was Commissioner of Police for Niue from 2005 to 2009.