It may be still six months until the September election, but Paula Bennett estimates she is already pulling 90 to 100 hour weeks. On the day of her Australian Women’s Weekly cover shoot, we are appointment three in a schedule that starts in the early hours of the morning and finishes late at night, before she’s up at 4.45am the next day to do it all again. In a tightly packed life like this, all you need is one domino to fall over and everything gets out of whack. So it’s Murphy’s Law in action when, on the way to our cover shoot, Paula stopped to get petrol and, along with a group of others, got locked in the petrol station for 20 minutes after the automatic doors stopped working. They did get a free coffee for their trouble though, she jokes, sipping her flat white, so that’s something.
She arrives for the shoot like the energetic whirlwind she always is – Paula has one speed, and that speed is full-on. She’s particularly firing on all cylinders because, for the first time in about 10 years, she allowed herself to create a “politics-free zone” over the summer holidays. What does that entail? Well, in this case, it involved quality time with family, no technology and, on one occasion, a wig. “It became a bit of a family joke,” she laughs. “I didn’t watch the news religiously, I didn’t look at social media much.” Any time anyone mentioned something political, Paula and/or her family would shut it down by calling out “politics-free zone!”(she puts on a faux shrill voice, laughing). At one point, she decided she might extend this to heading out in public.
この記事は Australian Women’s Weekly NZ の March 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Australian Women’s Weekly NZ の March 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
PRETTY WOMAN
Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
The unseen Rovals
Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.
Great read
In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.
Winter dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.