She’s stood for the party in every election it’s contested, resisting advice to jump ship. But Opportunity’s third-ranked candidate reckons this one feels different.

When Opportunity’s Wellington North candidate Jessica Hammond walks into Otto, a downtown pub in the capital, it feels wrong that there’s no flurry of forest animals trailing behind her à la Snow White. Her gait is graceful and her hair a glorious blonde bob, no signs of battle scars incurred by losing every election since 2017. Forgive her for sounding like a Wahs fan, but Hammond is almost certain it’s Opportunity’s year.

Hammond is the only Opportunity OG who’s still there, having stood for what was then The Opportunities Party when it contested its first election nine years ago, when it was best-known for being a bit anti-cat. It’s been a long four election cycles, but this year’s race already feels “wildly different” compared to campaigns of yore. A rise in name recognition has led to an influx of members, donors and volunteers, and for the first time ever, “people think it’s worth the time to lobby me”. “It feels like pushing open a door, rather than shovelling shit uphill,” smiles Hammond, who is number three on the party list.

A weaker candidate may have jumped waka, or given up on politics altogether. She’s been told by many – even the likes of former National minister Chris Finlayson – to take her capabilities to a major party, but Hammond has no dreams of being a career politician. “The point is to change the country for the better,” she says, and though Opportunity has yet to make it into parliament, it’s better than not being part of the conversation at all. “I would find it really hard to sit on the sidelines knowing there’s a chance we could get in and do something that feels really important,” Hammond says. “I feel like it’s either this, or rocking in a corner crying.”

Hammond reckons it makes sense that Opportunity is getting some cut-through this year. She likens the one-size-fits-all policies put on the table by the major parties to the difficulties of catering to her two teenage daughters, who both live with severe food allergies: you can’t really feed a whole community the same thing when you have to consider different dietary needs. “You have to water things down to the point where it’s like, do you want white rice, or white bread?” Hammond says. “I think the small parties bring the spice, I suppose because we don’t have to appeal to 50% of the population.” Tax reform is Hammond’s ultimate passion, and she worries that what she calls the “scaremongering” approach taken by the likes of National will see New Zealanders stuck in a system that “drives investment away from the productive economy” and into property.

The personal road here hasn’t been easy: Hammond was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, but the cancer was caught in its early stages and Hammond was able to avoid chemotherapy and head back to the campaign trail. Around the same time, her father died, something that added more weight to her desire to change the way the country operates. “He was 87, Labour and National had been in charge for 90 years, and Winston Peters has been choosing governments for the last 30 years,” Hammond says. “Are we really going to have another 90 years of the same thing?”

Hammond has spent her whole adult life working on policy as part of the public service, but she does have interests outside of politics. Her beloved Kobo helps her deal with her insomnia, and her children enjoy curling up on the couch with her for reruns of Supernatural and Survivor. She has a love of community theatre, with her favourite roles so far being Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Political theatre should be child’s play compared to that.

THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A

How much should a pint cost?

Hospitality joints are going to charge how much they need to survive. I don’t drink beer, so it doesn’t really hit me.

Do you have a karaoke go-to?

I love karaoke. My enthusiasm is probably not matched by talent. I view it as a performance; I’ve tried to do ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ because it’s such a dramatic song, but I don’t have the vocal range. So my go-to is ‘Like a Prayer’ by Madonna. We held our 2020 election night party in a karaoke bar, and I sang ‘Like a Prayer’ that night. And Geoff Simmons [former Opportunity leader] and I sang ‘On Top of the World’.

Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?

I really like the vibe here [at Otto], and I really like my local 1841 Bar in Johnsonville. Jonno, the owner, has been really good to us in letting us hire out rooms and campaign. They’ve got good food, and non-alcoholic options.

Which three candidates would be on your pub quiz team?

Our Hutt South candidate Ben Wylie-van Eerd, who is a physicist and has the most incredible memory. I feel like there’s a lot of facts in his brain. And, because you cannot win a pub quiz without a sports person, [National’s Hutt South candidate] Chris Bishop. I gather that Bish is quite a sports nerd. And then I was wondering about [Labour’s Kenepuru candidate] Barbara Edmonds; I was working in the public service when she was Stuart Nash’s political adviser, and he was my minister. Seeing them sitting next to each other, I thought, “one of these people is very, very smart”.

Which candidate from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?

Can I choose two? One who I am due for a drink with is [Labour list MP and candidate for Epsom] Camilla Belich, because we used to do karate together when we were kids. She’s reminded me of that when I’ve seen her on panels, and I always think we need to have a drink together and catch up.

And mental health minister Matt Doocey. I want to pick his brain on how you get a cross-party committee on an important issue like mental health, and why does mental health interest him?

Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?

I stopped drinking a couple of years ago, partly because it just wasn’t making me feel good, and partly because I found out it’s a group one carcinogen, like nicotine and asbestos. That’s actually really bad; we used to hear that wearing an underwire bra gives you cancer, but this is something scientists are certain causes cancer. I feel like I didn’t really know that, so I would like to see labelling [for it]. People can choose to do with that information what they like, but I feel like we should have that information.

What’s a policy area we’ve been nursing without finishing the glass?

One that I’m very enthusiastic about is lobbying and donation reforms. This is a fox in charge of the henhouse sort of thing… Lobbying is an important part of our democracy because it’s listening, basically, and that’s OK. But it should be transparent and there should be rules, and it shouldn’t come with big stacks of cash.

What qualities make a good drinking partner?

It’s someone who doesn’t feel that me not drinking is a judgment of them.

Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?

I think it was 2020, and we were doing a policy launch about cannabis law reform. I was caught on a hot mic – now, the context is that my mum has chronic back pain. But what the hot mic picked up was basically me saying that I can score my mum some weed. And then that was reported on the six o’clock news. Mum thought it was quite funny.

Up next on One Candidate, One Pint: Sophie Handford, Kapiti candidate for Labour. Read more One Candidate, One Pint interviews here.