When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s commerce and consumer affairs minister Scott Simpson.

Unassuming and softly spoken, Scott Simpson may not have the same name recognition as other ministers in his party, but that doesn’t mean he’s any less of a politics nerd. Really, Simpson has been engaged in politics since he was a school boy-aged member of the National Party, who used to listen to budget day announcements over the radio and once shook hands with Robert Muldoon. For the youth reading this, this is like when you sign your name on a form at a party stall during O-Week at uni, share a few infographics on your Instagram and maybe at some point snap a selfie with Christopher Luxon.

Over a zero-alcohol beer for Simpson and a full-alcohol lager for me on some sofas in a corner of Pint of Order, Simpson gets to telling me about the best bits of the Coromandel, his hometown and the electorate of which he’s been MP since 2011. The Simpson family is almost synonymous with Coro, with Simpson’s great-great-great grandparents settling in Kūaotunu in 1880s, a township that remains his favourite place in the world to get sand between the toes, and listen to the “lyrical, magical and lovely” ocean waves (even better enjoyed at Simpson’s Beach, in neighbouring Wharekaho). He speaks with so much awe for his area’s back garden that you wouldn’t be surprised to find out Simpson once headed the Bluegreens, National’s environmental advisory group.

Just before he entered politics, Simpson was the CEO of Make-A-Wish. He began the job fresh from a marriage breakdown, with his children on the edge of adulthood, and “I got to a point where I thought, you know, the corporate life is interesting and what have you, but there’s got to be a bit more to life than just that”. It was a significant change in pace for a man who had mostly been in business spaces, but “in terms of personal professional fulfilment, it was off the Richter scale”.

The most memorable wish made true was for a nine-year-old with cancer, who was gifted a signed jersey from his favourite rugby team, his old naked spring trampoline replaced with a new covered one, and, best of all, was given 10 handwritten vouchers from the local dairy owner, entitling the young boy to free ice creams. “When you’re nine, that’s worth more than rugby gears,” Simpson says. “There was an inverse sense of the dollar value … I just remember this kid being beside himself by the fact that the dairy man had written him these vouchers. That’s powerful. That one sticks in my mind.”

Simpson wouldn’t be a proper politician if he didn’t link making wishes come true via Make-A-Wish to answering the wishes of his constituents. “I haven’t necessarily been able to translate my job skills from Make-A-Wish to parliament,” Simpson jokes. “But in a way, parliament is about trying to fulfil the dreams, aspiration and goals of New Zealanders. It’s a different kind of wish factory.” Simpson pin points that sweet spot as an MP, where you can make change in parliament that uplifts your own electorate. “The wish happens where those two orbits intersect: if you can do something in parliament that has a positive impact on your patch, like the Hauraki Gulf protection bill, then that’s pretty cool.”

THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A

How much should a pint cost?

There’s a Coromandel price and an Auckland price, and I prefer the Coromandel price. 

Do you have a karaoke go-to?

I’m in the business of trying to win votes, and if I sing, I lose votes. But I have given it a bit of thought … [maybe] the 70s sort of stuff – my music, I’m sure your grandparents would have told you about it. There’s one record my father used to play often, he was a great fan of Dean Martin. You probably don’t even know who Dean Martin is, he’s an old crooner. Anyway, my father used to play this particular LP, it was ‘That’s Amore’.

Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?

Sitting on the deck watching the sun and water at Kūaotunu. I would much prefer to be there than in any other bar anywhere in the country.

Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?

I’ll tell you who has a very big intellect and would be good on a whole range of stuff: Dr Shane Reti. He’s a good man, Shane, and a very good doctor – he once gave me a consultation in his parliamentary office and sent me off to the chemist with a prescription to fix a bung eye. Chris Bishop’s really good on sports, and [Labour’s] Rachel Brooking’s got an intellectual brain, she’d have good general knowledge across a range of subjects.

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

I’d have another whisky with [Greens’] Steve Abel. He used to be a regular attender [of our Bluegreens meetings] when he was working at Greenpeace. I remember drinking whisky with him late one night on a balcony at a ramshackle hotel in Raglan. That was great.

Many people don’t see the stuff behind doors, like the friendships that get made in the parliamentary cricket team or the select committee, which is a great jewel in the crown of New Zealand politics. I was chairing the environment committee with Rachel Brooking and, you know, we have some different views on environmental matters, but I think it’s fair to say that we both share a passion for our environment and trying to create legislative and regulatory frameworks that are going to achieve the outcomes we want.

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

We have some restrictive trading laws like Easter trading, for instance, which impact businesses in my part of the world, where people want to go away for a long weekend, be able to shop and have a good time. It’s not just Coromandel, it would be Northland, Queenstown, Rotorua, Taupō, all those places.

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

Having spent a few years in this place, there are a few things that we need to agree on as a nation, and as a parliament, and lock them in. And one of them is that we have to have a sensible, agreed position on superannuation at some point, not so much for my generation, but for your generation.

What qualities make a good drinking partner?

Being able to talk a good yarn. There’s an art to conversation, it’s a practised skill. Humans are social creatures, and we like spending time with other humans by and large, so that ability to converse, have a sense of humour and have a reckon or two. That’s all a part of it, but [drinking together] is best held under a pōhutukawa tree on a summer’s evening, on a Coromandel beach. That’s the best place for a yarn and a beer.

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

There are probably too many cases where I’ve got things wrong, but I tell you what, if you don’t make mistakes in life, you don’t learn.

Up next on One MP, One Pint: Labour MP Arena Williams. Read more OMPOP interviews here.