Azaria Howell: Newstalk ZB political reporter on ACT's Brooke van Velden announcing a pregnancy

ACT's Deputy Leader Brooke van Velden has announced she is pregnant.

The Tamaki MP in March revealed she would leave Parliament this year and won't be standing at the election. 

She explained that this isn't why she's standing down, but she says it seems like it was meant to be - and she is thrilled to be starting the journey into motherhood.  

Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Howell says the baby is due within days of the November election. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is time to talk politics and I'm joined by
News talks 'b senior political reporter Azaria how Good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Good morning, good to be with you.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
We got some lovely news this week. Brook van der
Velden has given more details on why she's leaving politics.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah. Brook van Velden, the MP for Tamaki, act's Deputy
Minister of Workplace Relations Internal Affairs as well, has announced
some great news. She's pregnant. She's expecting to be a mother.
Brook van Velden has done an interview with The New
Zealand Herald announcing the news, and she said that the
baby is actually due around the same time as the election.

(00:48):
She's told ACT leader David Seymour after they essentially had
a catch up at the pub and Seymour noticed that
she was on the ginger beer instead of the wine.
Brook van Velden also sort of spoke to the Herald
about the news, including how her life will change. She
also said this is not why she is resigning from politics,

(01:09):
so she has had that made that distinction clear. She
says she didn't think it would be a good career
move to announce that she was retiring because she's pregnant.
She just says a good alignment. She also said as well,
she's had some strange cravings for very cold, icy water
and also crackers with marmite on them, which I will

(01:30):
say is not that strange in terms of pregnancy cravings
that I've heard from other people. But she's also talked
about how this is going to change her life. Have
a listen to what she's said and how she describes this.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
There's no way that I could have planned for this
timing to happen. And I think for anyone who has
tried to start a family, they will know that you
can't just peck a date and say that's when it's
going to happen. It will happen on its own time.
It just does seem like it was meant to be
in some ways. This is all aligned to be due

(02:05):
at the same time as the election. So while all
my other colleagues will be really excited to know what
the results are happening on election night, are we getting
really excited for something else?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
So some big, big news there for Brooke Vanvelden she
is also aiming to work for really as long as
she possibly can. She's expecting the baby in early November.
Election November seventh, so it is a very very sort
of soon in terms of that time frame. We're obviously
wishing her all the best, and meanwhile Actors looking for

(02:38):
a new deputy leader. They've also announced that James Christmas
will be contesting the Tarmicky seat that she holds. That'll
we want to keep an eye on because it was
maybe a surprise to some that she won Tarmacke last time.
So we'll see if it stays Pink this election.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yes, absolutely, And there are no other sort of murmurings
about who might take on that role of deputy leader.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Not really, I mean there are sort of questions in
terms of when that might happen. I mean we would
be expecting probably to have that be in place before
the election, so the likes of sort of if James
Christmas gets that role, it seems unlikely, but we'll see.
I mean act has some depth now. I mean it

(03:23):
used to be obviously a party with one MP for
some time, but now they have people who've been there
for a while, people who are ministers, people who are
quite outspoken, so they do have quite a selection there.
But I haven't heard any sort of further rumors in
terms of who that may be, but I'll keep you
in the loop.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Thank you very much, Azariah. It's been confirmed the government's
changing up treaty references and legislation.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, the government's agreed to change or scrap references to
the Treaty of Whiteitungy in nineteen laws. The Justice Minister
Paul Goldsmith has confirmed two references would be amended, seven
would be repealed, and in ten laws it would essentially
be specified further sort of scaled back to take into

(04:07):
account the Treaty principles rather than honor or give effect
to that sort of the specific wording in those laws,
and it makes good on a coalition agreement between National
and New Zealand First. However, actor is also using it
to campaign, which is I suppose not unexpected given it's
an election year. David Seymour says it demonstrates why the

(04:29):
country needs clear definitions of the Treaty principles, essentially again
making the case for the quite contentious Treaty Principles Bill. Meanwhile,
the Waititangi Tribunal has actually been probing the Crown over
the Education Treaty Clause review. So we are expecting the
debate around this one to be quite a significant one.

(04:49):
It could be contentious as well, because, as you'll remember,
with the Treaty Principal's Bill, although this is different, people
had some quite strong views about that one. So we
are looking forward to a robust debate in Parliament, shall
we say, and potentially some protests as well out there
side Azariah Hell.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Thank you very much for your time and enjoy the
rest of your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.