Kiwis called out for protecting Jacinda Ardern amidst sexist interview claims

The fallout over an Australian 60 Minutes interview with Jacinda Ardern has provoked broadcaster Mark Richardson to tell people to "stop protecting" the Prime Minister.

On Newshub's The AM Show this morning Richardson said: "Can we stop protecting Ardern. She's big enough, and apparently not-so-ugly enough to look after herself".

The comments came after a 60 Minutes interview with Ardern aired on Sunday, and reporter Charles Wooley was criticised for being "patronising" and "repugnant" after he called Ardern "attractive".

This morning, Richardson suggested the outrage was unprecedented - and said it was time to stop protecting the prime minister.

"It doesn't matter that Shirley of Timaru is outraged, and all of a sudden there's a big story about it," he said.

Newsreader Amanda Gillies said the interview was "creepy and inappropriate", but pointed to the fact that the question of Ardern's conception had been on many people's minds.

"We are all guilty of that though because everyone's going 'I wonder when it happened, was it in the election, was it before the election'," she said.

"Look, it's not right, it was creepy, even Clarke looked at the guy, was just like 'eh, what', but Jacinda has just come out and said ... she doesn't care."

Yesterday Ardern said she was taken aback, but not offended by the controversial interview.

Wooley has come under fire for questioning the young leader, who is pregnant, about her due date.

"One really important political question that I want to ask you, and that is, what exactly is the date that the baby's due?" he said.

When Ardern told him it was due on June 17, Wooley said: "it's interesting how much people have been counting back to the conception date".

Ardern initially appeared shocked, before laughing off the comment.

Last year Mark Richardson's comments also made the news when he questioned Ardern about her desire to be a mother and the right to take maternity leave as a Prime Minister.

"I think this is a legitimate question for New Zealand, because she could be the Prime Minister running this country - she has our best interests at heart so we need to know these things," Richardson said.

"If you are the employer of a company you need to know that type of thing from the woman you are employing ... the question is, is it okay for a PM to take maternity leave while in office?"

Ardern pointed at Richardson as she said in 2017 it was "totally unacceptable" to say a woman should have to answer that question in the workplace.