The Green MP on her parody and satire bill, meeting a teenage Chlöe Swarbrick, and the Act minister she’d like to share a drink with.
Kahurangi Carter is the earthly, resourceful and indulgent star sign Taurus and, when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. In this corner of Pint of Order, Carter is the picture of natural luxury in a silky brown shirt, swirling a red wine and dabbing her spotless face with a homemade mixture of sunflower seed and essential oils. And, duh, she’s a member of parliament for the Green Party, a former national manager for the Māori-led zero-waste group Para Kore and worked in the arts as an actor for over a decade, even once starring in a play as the mother of her party leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
That’s how a 24-year-old Carter first met a 15-year-old Swarbrick, hanging around her house for rehearsals. About 14 years later, Swarbrick would shoulder tap Carter to run for the Greens in the Christchurch Central electorate in the 2023 general election, and Carter would end up in parliament on the party list. These days, their lives are all about caucus and the occasional concert (like Tyler, the Creator), but Carter has found that there are a lot of transferrable skills between acting and being a politician.
“You have this whole team that works together – you have your writers, but then you feed back into them and bring your own magic to it,” Carter says. “That’s what it’s like having a policy team, a comms team, an outreach team and the MPs. We all work together to share our message and spread our movement.”
Carter’s been pretty lucky as a first-term MP, having two member’s bills pulled from the biscuit tin in the two years she’s been in parliament. Her Drug Overdose (Assistance Protection) Legislation Bill was chosen a week after it was lodged in September, and would protect those who need life-saving assistance following a drug overdose from being charged with low-level drug offences. That followed another member’s bill being pulled last November, which would allow creatives to use copyrighted work for parody and satire.
“An integral part of being Kiwi is looking at people like Billy T James, and how he was able to shape conversations our whole country was having through humour, and tackling really difficult topics with a bit of levity,” Carter says on the kaupapa behind her Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill. “Parody and satire is a really important way for us to talk about what’s happening in the world. People are feeling overwhelmed, and it’s really easy to shut off from politics and what’s happening around you – which is scary because the more we isolate ourselves, the less connection we have.”
When she’s not drafting bills, Carter spends her time stretched across eight portfolios, including mental health, children, women and arts, and culture and heritage. She didn’t expect these first years in parliament to keep her so busy, but the government of the day clearly had other plans for her. With Christmas around the corner, the only gift Carter is wishing for is a little bit more time with her two teenage children – but having Olivia Dean’s new album on repeat in between yoga classes and the odd acupuncture appointment is enough to keep this Taurus grounded for now.
THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A
How much should a pint cost?
Like, $7-10. I’m a dreamer.
Do you have a karaoke go-to?
Easy: Natasha Bedingfield’s ‘Unwritten’. You can do a duet with me! The lyrics are so good, it ramps up and I love to sing it with somebody.
Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?
Probably my sister’s house. We both live in Christchurch and love being around our kids – she’s got little kids, so it’s just easier to be at home and do that. But there is a cool bar in Christchurch called Smash Palace – it’s a bus, the same kind of bus I used to live in with my kids and my husband.
Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?
I’d choose Ōtautahi MPs because we love Christchurch, and if we learn to work together, our city will thrive. Doing a pub quiz is a good way to build camaraderie and have fun, and we’d win the round on Canterbury. [National’s] Hamish Campbell, [Labour’s] Reuben Davidson, [National’s] Vanessa Weenink and Matt Doocey, [Act’s] Laura McClure, [Labour’s] Duncan Webb and Megan Woods.
Which MP from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?
Karen Chhour. I’m a natural bridge builder, and me and Karen Chhour both say the same things about children – that we care for their safety, that we care for their futures – we just have different ways of going about it. I think it’s really important that we keep communication open and we understand where people are coming from, because then we can move together as a country. And I reckon she’d be pretty fun, right?
Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?
Advertising around alcohol, especially when there’s no need for it. The most harm caused by an illegal drug [comes from] alcohol, so if we stop glamourising it and make sure that we have sensible laws around alcohol, it’ll make a big difference. We want to make sure we have sensible regulation – prohibition doesn’t work, it never has, so we just need to make sure we’ve got good laws around it.
What’s a policy area we’ve been nursing without finishing the glass?
I think we need to do child impact assessments for every law that comes into parliament, because then we can literally see how our laws will affect our next generation, their lives and the future of New Zealand. How does transport affect children? How does health affect children? New Zealand has to be a country where our children are our future.
What qualities make a good drinking partner?
Knows when to go to bed, but is also fun, likes music and doesn’t mind a side mission. I love a side mish.
Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?
It’s still early in my career yet, there’s still time to have some “uh oh” moments. Hopefully it’s just that I wore my shirt inside out or something like that, you know. We’ll see what happens.
Up next on One MP, One Pint: Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime. Read more OMPOP interviews here.
