The Act Party minister is happy to give you a lift home, but please try not to throw up in her car. 

Act’s Karen Chhour is the kind of person you could imagine yourself drinking with in someone’s garage, spinning yarns about life in the state system over the low hum of a beer fridge. She’s also a rum and coke kind of lady, but specifically white rum, and specifically Bacardi – but because there’s none on the shelf at Pint of Order, Chhour settles for the New Zealand-owned Stolen brand. As a second-term MP and first-term minister, Chhour is aware by now that around here, sometimes you have to compromise.

Sitting on a green leather couch at the back of the almost-empty bar, Chhour admits she isn’t much of a drinker at all, really – you’re more likely to see her at the end of the night, behind the wheel, as the sober driver. She gets her kicks from the simple pleasures in life: knitting was her main method of self-care in her past life as a machinist, and these days, being around family and getting teary-eyed at a good film is enough to fill her cup. “My children make fun of me all the time because I’m a crier,” Chhour laughs. The last one that made her eyes water? Tinā, of course.

Sensitivity probably isn’t the first trait one may think of when imagining the ideal politician. But being the minister with the children and prevention of family and sexual violence portfolios, it certainly comes in handy, especially when you can personally relate to the stories you’re hearing on the ground. Chhour was nine years  old when she had her first experience with the state care system, and still remembers how the caregiver who changed her life, Donna, lent an ear “to that young girl who wasn’t OK – to just ask, ‘Are you OK?'”

“Those three words changed my life … She opened up avenues for me, she gave me voice,” Chhour says. “I showed up on her doorstep a couple of days later in a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, and she didn’t judge, she just opened the door to help and helped me navigate a difficult system.”

As well as Donna, Chhour finds inspiration in her husband’s grandmother, who fled a Pol Pot-led Cambodia with five children to a refugee camp in Thailand before settling in New Zealand. “She literally went through hell and back, and came out the other end still smiling,” Chhour says. She and her husband Menglin, whom she met in intermediate school and worked with at a McDonald’s, share four children together. “My biggest achievement in life are my children – they’ve grown up in a home where they feel safe, loved, and they’re the best versions of themselves. This [job] is just a bonus.”

With her rum and coke polished off, Chhour has to head to her te reo Māori class – she’s trying to strengthen the skills her foster mother always excelled at. Between that, getting around to visiting the last of the 70 Oranga Tamariki sites across the motu (she’s visited 65) and being a parent, life is pretty full on for Chhour. But, “I’d like to think that, coming here and knowing my background, that if I can inspire one young person in seeing someone like me sitting here, that they’ll know they can achieve absolutely anything they want to,” Chhour says.

THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A

How much should a pint cost?

I’m not really a beer person, but I was thinking anything over $11.50 is a bit egregious.

Do you have a karaoke go-to?

I haven’t done karaoke for a long time, but when I did, my slow song was ‘Eternal Flame’, which was done by the Atomic Kittens and The Bangles. And then my fast song would be ‘Waterfalls’ by TLC.

Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?

The place I’ve been to most is probably in my local area in Auckland: Smales Farm. It has restaurants and bars and is where my husband is after work, when I’m joining him as the sober driver and taking everyone home.

Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?

First of all, I would apologise to the three people on the pub quiz team, because I’m the one you don’t want to pick. But I would probably pick David Seymour, because he’s got knowledge about a whole lot of areas, and once he gets a fact, he remembers it. Then I would look at [Labour’s] Peeni Henare for sports, because he’s got posts up on his Facebook at the moment where he’s commentating on sports, so he obviously loves it. And Goldie [Paul Goldsmith], because I think he’d have good cultural knowledge; he likes to read, and he’s also got the arts, culture and heritage portfolio, so he’d be helpful in that space.

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

Probably [Labour’s] Barbara Edmonds. I’ve always found her easy to sit down with and have a conversation with. I can also relate to her, because I’ve sat across from her in panels where we’ve talked about being women in politics and mothers in politics, and she’s got double the children that I do. She has that understanding of what we actually sacrifice to come to this place, and I know she’s truly passionate – whether we agree or disagree on policies, I know she’s here for the right reasons.

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

Probably the Easter trading laws. I’m not sure how many people have spoken to that, but we need to be a bit more relaxed in that space. Drinking culture has changed in New Zealand, and many people go out just to have a good time and not go overboard; we can’t stop everybody for the few that misbehave.

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

Devolution; not just within Oranga Tamariki, but across the board. Working closer with community, and allowing community to take ownership of some of the issues that are going on in their areas, rather than it always being up to the government to solve people’s problems. I think the work programme that I’ve taken on – and that we’re expanding on and trying to get moving a lot quicker than it has been – is definitely about that partnership of community.

What qualities make a good drinking partner?

Knowing when to say “no”. But also, as a sober driver, I would say the best drinking partner would be someone that doesn’t throw up in your car on the way home. I shall not say who, but people reading this will know who they are.

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

I go through a lot of remorse over being a bit naive to what was going to come my way [in this role]. And, I mean, it’s a bit weird having a foot in both worlds, right? I’ve got a foot in the world of being through the system, and knowing what it’s like when the system doesn’t work the way it should, but I’ve also got a foot in the world where I’ve got an opportunity to fix that system.

I’m taking ownership for things that happened before I was born, and for past governments’ mistakes. We talk about the abuse in care inquiry, and sometimes that’s quite heavy and taking it on can be confusing at times, too. I remember being at the apology and not realising how much it would affect me. I was sitting there on the government side, listening to the apologies, but half of me was also listening to it as an apology to myself. I underestimated how much it would affect me.