The speaker of New Zealand’s parliament has cradled and fed a colleague’s baby while he presided over a debate in the House of Representatives.
Trevor Mallard tweeted a picture of himself feeding MP Tamati Coffey’s baby boy in the speaker’s seat.
He captioned the touching moment saying: “Normally the Speaker’s chair is only used by Presiding Officers, but today a VIP took the chair with me.
“Congratulations Tamati Coffey and Tim on the newest member of your family.”
Mr Mallard has received an outpouring on praise online for the sweet moment, as the tweet has been shared and liked hundreds of times.
"New Zealand....you might be a small country, but you have a huge lesson to teach the world!", one Twitter user said, while another added: "That is the most beautiful thing I've seen in years."
Mr Coffey's son was born via a surrogate to him and his partner Tim Smith in July.
Other MPs also rushed to praise Mr Coffey for bringing the baby into the parliament chamber and shared an image of him holding his son.
Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman wrote on Twitter: "Who needs to see this today? Every single last one of us, that's who. Here's a brand new papa holding his new born in our House of Representatives right now."
"Lovely to have a baby in the House, and what a beautiful one," said fellow Green Party MP Gareth Hughes.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made history last year by becoming the first female world leader to bring her baby to the United Nations general assembly.
And in the UK, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson cradled her baby on Parliament's famous green benches in January - in what was thought to be a first during a Commons debate.
