Helen Clark

By Kevin Norquay of NZPA

Wellington, Dec 31 NZPA - Just over a year after being voted out of office, former prime minister Helen Clark has been placed back on a pedestal, saying her elevation to elite New Zealander in the New Year Honours is a "privilege".

Our first elected woman prime minister, she has been appointed a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), a club restricted to 20 living people deemed to have given "outstanding" service to the country.

"There's some incredible people who have received the Order of New Zealand in the past, it's a privilege to be counted among them," she told NZPA from her parents' home at Waihi Beach, in the western Bay of Plenty.

The honour was not something she had aspired to in her nine years as PM, and she was surprised it had come so soon after she left politics for New York, to head the United Nations Development Programme.

"Obviously there's other former prime ministers in it, so it's not unexpected in that sense -- the only thing that would be unexpected is the timing."

Miss Clark headed the Labour-led government from 1999 until 2008, when voters opted for John Key and National. When she departed for New York, she had been in Parliament for more than 27 years.

She is the fourth prime minister to have been appointed to ONZ rank, following Jim Bolger in 1997, Mike Moore in 1999 and the late David Lange in 2003.

Mr Moore, who was PM for only two months in 1990, went on to head the World Trade Organisation from 1999 to 2002, the highest international appointment attained by a New Zealander, until Miss Clark joined the United Nations.

Being an ONZ member would not change the Clark family New Year's Day at Waihi Beach, where her father had holidayed since the 20s, she said.

"I'll probably have more texts to answer," she laughed.

She did not intend to tell her parents ahead of time, saying they would probably learn their daughter was one of the chosen ones when they fetched their morning newspaper.

Oddly, many in New York and several New Zealand diplomats already knew the news her parents have been denied, as permission was required and sought from the UN before the honour could be accepted.

"While you're an international civil servant you can't receive recognition for that work, that has to come at the end of the international career -- there is a clear dividing line."

While moved to be honoured by New Zealanders, Miss Clark did not seek to contrast her feelings now with her disappointment on election day 2008, saying that defeat was "just the swing of the pendulum".

"I don't think it's anything personal to it. I've had nothing but good will, really, since I left the position. I never thought it was personal, just that people from time to time want a change."

Nor was she prepared to accept being appointed an ONZ member was all about her. It was a team effort, she said.

"You'd want to record your thanks to all your colleagues and voters who made it all possible, really.

"As I said on election night it was a great privilege to be in for nine years, and really a great privilege to have 27-and-a-half years in Parliament, let alone more than 40 years in New Zealand politics."

She owed a great deal to cabinet colleagues, party members, strong supporters and "over nine years a tremendous number of voters", she said.

She became administrator of the United Nations Development Programme in April, the first woman to lead the organisation.

She also chairs the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues.

Known as a fearsome hard worker when in Parliament, she told NZPA was still working just as hard in her new job. In the past two months she has been to Copenhagen, for the climate summit, Japan, China and Kenya, a glance at the UN website reveals.

But for now, she's relaxing at the beach in New Zealand, without any expectation her ONZ status will bring swifter service when she pops down to the local dairy.