The former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern is living in Australia with her family, a spokesperson has confirmed.

“The family has been travelling for a few years now,” her office told the Guardian.

“For the moment they’re basing themselves out of Australia – they have work there, and it brings the added bonus of more time back home in New Zealand.”

Speculation that Ardern was considering a move to Australia emerged on Thursday, after reports in Australian media that she and her husband, Clarke Gayford, and their seven-year-old daughter, Neve, attended open home viewings in Sydney’s northern beaches.

The high-profile family’s move to Australia could hit a nerve within New Zealand, as the country grapples with record numbers of citizens leaving the country because of a weak economy, high living costs and high unemployment.

More than 60% of those moved to Australia, where average weekly incomes are higher and New Zealand citizens have work and residency rights.

The spokesperson did not elaborate on when the family arrived in Australia nor what kind of work they were doing, but noted it was not unusual for former leaders to spend time overseas after leaving office.

In 2017, Ardern became the world’s youngest-serving female leader, aged 37, and went on to make history as the second woman to give birth while holding elected office.

Over the next six years, her leadership was defined by a series of national and international crises including the Christchurch attack and Covid pandemic. At a time when major western powers were lurching to the right, Ardern’s brand of politics made her a global icon of the left.

Towards the end of her time in office, Ardern’s legacy at home became more complicated, and she faced criticism over her government’s failure to make headway on its promises to fix the housing crisis and meaningfully reduce emissions. As the pandemic wore on, a small but vocal fringe of anti-vaccine and anti-mandate groups emerged, leading to a violent protest on parliament’s lawns and threatening rhetoric directed at Ardern.

In January 2023 she announced she was stepping down as prime minister because she no longer had “enough in the tank”.

Since leaving office, Ardern has taken up dual fellowship roles at Harvard University, continued her work on the Christchurch Call – a project she established to combat online extremism, after the Christchurch mosque shootings – and joined the board of trustees of Prince William’s Earthshot prize.

In 2025 she released a memoir, shortly after a documentary traversing her leadership and personal life premiered at Sundance.