We've just been into Helen Clark's electorate office on the off chance that she might be there, she's not, and her staff can't comment on her new job unfortunately, so we'll go next door and see if any of her neighbours might be a bit excited.
“As she walks past, she always has time to wave and say hi, she's very busy we understand so just her having time to say hi, and she seems very down to earth,” said Gail, owner of Papa’s pizza
Are you excited about the UN job? CampbellLive asked Gail.
“I think it's a great honour for like a Prime Minister from New Zealand to be represented in the UN, I think it kinda shows who we are in New Zealand,” said Gail.
Stephen Hoadley from the University of Auckland says she was selected from a panel of eighteen candidates.
“Helen Clark has the highest ranking credentials, Prime Minister for nine years is a hard record to beat, she's a woman, there's never been a woman administrator in the UNDP before,” said Hoadley.
“I think she'll be a breath of fresh air for the place actually, she's very direct versus task focused, she gets on with her agenda, and in the stuffy halls of the UN, you might find that she makes quite a difference quite quickly,” said Mike Munro a former Beehive staff member.
She'll be working for the United Nations development programme, with a multi billion dollar budget operating in a hundred and sixty six countries.
After nine years of meeting world's leaders her practised negotiating skills will be key to raising money for the poor while the world is experiencing tough economic times.
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