New Zealander in NY

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, now in the role of administrator for the United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP), talks candidly to TV1’s Breakfast show host Paul Henry in New York about “fitting in” as a New Zealander in the Big Apple. Helen Clark admitted that she doesn’t miss the “bubble” which is New Zealand. She loves the fact that she no longer makes the front page of the newspaper if she trips over in the street. Clark said her job would not be completed in her lifetime but she had a positive attitude and expected to make a difference. “In the end what matters is what results you get on the ground.” Asked about the slow moving nature of the UN Clark said it was understandable. “I’ve come to appreciate that what happens in… the general assembly and the security council, it’s a democracy of 192 countries so we are sometimes frustrated that the UN can take its time reaching a decision but it’s very difficult to corral 192 countries or the 15 on the Security Council from a wide range of countries for that matter.” Clark became the first woman to lead the UNDP on April 17.