Holmes and Millie reconcile

Broadcaster Paul Holmes and Millie Elder at popular restaurant Sale St in Victoria Park, Auckland. Photo / Jason Dorday

Broadcasting star Paul Holmes has met his daughter Millie Elder for the first time in a year, as the pair work to repair their broken relationship in the wake of Elder's drugs charges.

Holmes and Elder lunched together at one of Auckland's most-popular eateries, Sale St, on Friday - "suddenly we have some hope again", Holmes said when approached by the Herald on Sunday after the newspaper learned of the meeting.

He said the lunch made him realise how much he missed his 21-year-old daughter.

"Yes, I had lunch with Millie, and it was lovely. It was tentative. It was our first meeting for a very long time. I sense there is some real growth and self-awareness there. I also found that she had some real awareness of where this thing has taken her."

Holmes was wary of commenting on the details of the meeting, and what they spoke about, saying he did not want to build "too many expectations".

He said he had been anxious to see how his daughter was feeling and coping.

"I picked her up. She seemed very good indeed - good weight, nicely dressed and hair and face beautiful. Interestingly, she was adamant it was [Elder's boyfriend] Connor who insisted she get in touch."

Holmes has been critical of Connor - whose father is a Headhunter gang member - in the past, but he said yesterday "nothing is as at seems, necessarily".

He said he spoke to his daughter about her recent arrest. "I think she is really trying, and I think there has been some real knowledge developing now where this thing has taken her."

Elder is expected to stay with Holmes and his wife Deborah at their Hawke's Bay farm this week. "This is a big step for all of us."

He still considered Millie his little girl. "I phoned her later and said I'd been thinking about our lunch all afternoon, and she said she had been too and she sounded so happy."

Elder appeared in court last month, to face five charges, including possession of methamphetamine, possession of a pipe and possession of cannabis.

She was also charged with obstructing police and breaching a liquor ban on Hobson St. In her second court appearance, last week, she entered not guilty pleas and was further remanded on bail to reappear on March 1.

Elder has been in and out of the headlines for the past two-and-a-half years.

In an interview with the Herald on Sunday in 2007, after her first arrest, she described herself as a "daddy's girl".

She said Holmes was the "rock in my life - he's so important to me".

"Before this I've only see him cry once - this has rocked him. My little brother ... I feel so sorry for him, he's got into fights defending me. He got into a punch-up at school.

"A boy called me a 'crackhead' at a rugby game, he got into trouble for that, and my mum got really upset.

"They are all going through their own problems and it's not fair that I have pushed my s*** on to them."

Over the past two years, Holmes has campaigned against P, using his own personal experiences with his daughter to try to make politicians and the public more aware of the scourge of the drug.