And just like that, it’s 2025. I sincerely hope that you and your loved ones were able to get out and enjoy the best of what Auckland Central and Aotearoa as a whole has to offer and, if you were able, have some well-earned down time.
and Aotearoa as a whole has to offer and, if you were able, have some well-earned down time. My personal highlight was my annual kororā lifeguard duties at the one and only Waiheke Native Bird Rescue.
However, across the summer, Parliamentary politics didn’t stop. Submissions opened and closed for a number of divisive pieces of Government legislation, from the Treaty Principles Bill (which would rewrite our founding document), to the Regulatory Standards Bill (which would further entrench austerity in the public sector) and Boot Camps (which John Key’s former Chief Science Advisor, among all the other experts, make clear not only don’t work, but increase harm and offending potential).
While many New Zealanders turned to enjoy our beaches under the hot sun, environmentally disastrous Fast-Track consents for mining our land and seabed moved ahead without, and indeed against, community, mana whenua and conservationist concerns.
And now, so-called Government ‘leaders’ are pointing to the housing crisis, inequality, productivity decline and poverty that 40 years of trickle down economic thinking has created, asking New Zealanders to swallow more of the same poison that created this mess, by privatising our public services.
I first got involved in politics several years ago because I was frustrated that so many political decisions went in the opposite direction of what the evidence, community leaders and service providers knew worked. While the earnest belief in evidence remains, I’ve learnt in that time that it is, for better or worse, not actually the facts which tend to change peoples’ minds. It’s relationships and trust, and establishing the values we have in common — a foundation from which we can forge a shared future together.
That’s why, despite all the frustration and concern I’ve heard from many that the effort they’ve put into breaking records in Parliamentary submissions might be ignored by the incumbent powers that be, I have so much hope. So many people have engaged with our political system for the first time in their lives, not only seeing how straight forward it can be, but how you are just as entitled to engage with your representatives as the lobbyists with Beehive swipe card access.
Whether the current Government decides to finally listen or not, it has been meaningful for New Zealanders to spend time reflecting on the country we want to live in and actively articulating what that looks like through these submissions. I know that, in turn, has spurred critical, informed conversations around barbecues and dinner tables these holidays. Those ripples of engagement and education are necessary prerequisites for transformational, positive political change — which brings us right back to building those relationships and practising that change on a growing scale.
A wonderful opportunity for such relationship building around shared values arrives on our doorstep this February with dozens of events making up Auckland Pride. This year’s theme is Tētahi ki Tētahi: entanglement. It's about the connections we have with one another and the places we share. Such conversations and creativity can be messy and confronting, but what is love if not that?
I’ve also been hearing from and working with local hospitality businesses about some of the challenges that they’re having with their licences because of neighbours’ concerns about the noise from their venues. This to me seems like another situation which can and should be quite straight forward. Do we want Ponsonby Road to be a living, thriving hub of joy and local entertainment ? Or do we want to put a lid on it? Do we want to find a way to live in greater harmony in one of the inner-most, happening city suburbs?
This year, I would love to hear from you and I will continue to do everything I can to make myself as available as humanly possible as your local MP. You can find my electorate office at 3/1 Cross Street, or contact me any time via mp.aucklandcentral@parliament.govt.nz
(Chlöe Swarbrick)
Chlöe Swarbrick, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
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