Paula’s life after politics ‘I’M SCARED BUT I’M READY’
‘I was baking, but I had to stop or else we’d end up rolling out of the house’
As Woman’s Day arrives at Paula Bennett’s home on Auckland’s Te Atatu Peninsula, slipping off our footwear as we come in the door, the former Deputy Prime Minister’s distinctive voice calls, “Don’t take off your shoes unless you want to lose them!”
Half a second later, the reason for the warning becomes clear as the former MP’s 10-week-old Labrador puppy Charlie arrives to greet us with a leopard-print slipper hanging out of her mouth.
“I’ve stopped her biting my ankle, but she’s just discovered digging,” sighs Paula, 51, as she ushers us in. “I found her in my herb garden the other day and I wasn’t happy. I’m not a gardener, but I did some planting over lockdown and it’s the only thing I’ve ever
