top of page
Helen Clark

Helen Clark

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark

Helen Clark is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was New Zealand's fifth-longest-serving prime minister, and the second woman to hold that office.

Clark was brought up on a farm outside Hamilton. She entered the University of Auckland in 1968 to study politics, and became active in the New Zealand Labour Party. After graduating she lectured in political studies at the university. Clark entered local politics in 1974 in Auckland but was not elected to any position. Following one unsuccessful attempt, she was elected to Parliament in 1981 as the member for Mount Albert, an electorate she represented until 2009.


The audio from this interview has not been uploaded. If you are keen to have a listen, we can source the recording from our archives and make it available on this page. Simply email info@reallife.net.nz and include the name of the guest you'd like to listen to. We will notify you when we've uploaded the recording.

Listen to the show
00:00 / 01:04
bottom of page