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Photos of New Zealand’s parliamentary speaker cradling a colleague’s baby as he presided over a debate has gone viral on social media.   

Trevor Mallard, speaker in the country’s House of Representatives, shared photos of him feeding MP Tamati Coffey’s newborn son while in the speaker’s chair.

He captioned it: “Normally the Speaker’s chair is only used by Presiding Officers but today a VIP took the chair with me. Congratulations tamaticoffey and Tim on the newest member of your family.” The pictures have since been shared and liked thousands of times, with many hailing Mallard for taking on the babysitting duties.