‘Even though I’m in politics, I hate labels.’
She’s a twin already, but first term Green MP Lan Pham is adopting me as hers. While the rain lashes against the windows of Huxley’s, we’re bundled up in matching red turtleneck and brown coat combos, not doing much to beat the allegations that Wellingtonians are all hipsters (do people still say that?) in vintage clothing. And despite the glumness outside, the Kenepuru candidate has one of those smiles that could light up this whole town, as one of her favourite singers Taylor Swift would say. No, it’s not a drunken glow – Pham’s sipping a bitters.
In opposition against three parties who are “just governing on vibes,” Pham reckons her biggest achievement this term is “continuing to be a living, breathing, feeling human being”. After all, parliament has a habit of being able to chew people up and spit them out – the Greens would know that better than most. “The amount of especially bad stuff that [the government has] been doing, it can just like cripple you in terms of like totally overwhelming because you feel such a sense of responsibility,” Pham says. “Yet it’s just not possible to fight everything. I really feel like the biggest achievement just comes from trying my best and making the most of it.”
It’s an attitude instilled in her by her parents; her mother was a social worker and teacher, and her father fled Vietnam during the war to pursue a scholarship at the University of Auckland (Pham is parliament’s first MP of Vietnamese heritage). “My mum actually died when we were quite young of skin cancer, quite suddenly over three months,” Pham says. “I think we’re all just totally aware that life is short, so get stuck in and do what you can and try to enjoy it as well,” The Phams went on a “massive” family holiday over the summer break to Vietnam, which she says was “hugely formative”. “I learned so much about my family history there, and the fact that there’s so much connection and mirroring between indigenous people around the world where they’ve been screwed by other countries who think they can take control.”
Parliament isn’t Pham’s first brush with politics. In 2016, she campaigned for Canterbury Regional Council and won with the most votes (and was the third highest polling candidate in that year’s local elections) despite spending her entire campaign about 2,000km away on the remote Raoul Island. Only accessible via a five-day boat ride, the island is a volcanic rock sitting between Aotearoa and Tonga, where Pham worked as a biodiversity and conservation manager and watched humpback whales leap from the sea.
“It was there where I was like, far out, this is what nature actually looks and feels like,” Pham says. “I was reflecting on just how much we’ve lost – not in a downbuzz way, but [thinking that] we are nature and we can make nature normal and re-wild our cities. I realised the boat would get me back to Ōtautahi before the local elections, so I was like, I’m gonna run for council.” It’s amazing how time in isolation can inspire a person to be in politics. “Too much seawater,” Pham jokes.
Speaking of the wai, it’s one of Pham’s favourite things. Her background is in freshwater ecology, having worked in the field with the Department of Conservation and serving in the office of the freshwater commissioner. Seeing as she’s a Pisces as well, surely Pham has a pick for New Zealand’s greatest-of-all-time fish?
“It absolutely has to the lowland longbow galaxias,” Pham says. These “squiggly little guys” live in braided river environments but are difficult to spot due to their pale scales, and are the “the kākāpō of the freshwater world”, meaning there’s only a handful of them. “They’re literally named after the stars because they have these crazy, beautiful, glitter gold fins. Some of them look like they’ve got gold eye shadow.” If Forest and Bird ever decides to rebrand as Forest, Fish and Flight with a fish of the year campaign, you can expect Pham to be on the team lowland longbow galaxias frontline.
THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A
How much should a pint cost?
Like, $10-12. If I’m buying beer, it’s usually for my husband.
Do you have a karaoke go-to?
Look, I can’t really sing in tune, but I don’t let that stop me. I’d say ‘Valerie’ [by Amy Winehouse/The Zutons] is a classic. I do also take on ‘I Will Survive’ [by Gloria Gaynor].
Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?
Anywhere my family is.
Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?
What would be necessary right now is for Chris Bishop, [Act’s] Simon Court, [Labour’s] Rachel Brooking and I to get together for that quiz, and then hijack it so we can hash out an actually functional resource management system.
Which MP from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?
I would say (National’s) Penny Simmonds, who was minister for the environment [until a few weeks ago], to be like, girl, are you OK? Like, what are you doing? But she’s passed that onto Nicola Grigg. So maybe Andy Foster, because I know him a little bit from local government, but he’s in New Zealand First, right? There’s some real gross stuff coming out of New Zealand First, but I feel like he still manages to maintain his humanity in that somehow. I don’t know how, so I’d be interested in how he’s finding it.
Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?
Anything that helps people and whānau with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder [FASD]. There’s so many barriers to actually helping our young people [with FASD], and helping people [with FASD] who have interacted with the justice system. I think it’s getting better, but not with this government.
What’s a policy area we’ve been nursing without finishing the glass?
We’ve just completely failed and forgotten to actually protect our environment. We can’t keep doing that, it’s been an ongoing thing and it’s currently getting way, way worse. And I don’t think disestablishing the Ministry for the Environment is going to help with that.
What qualities make a good drinking partner?
Humanity. Even though I’m in politics, I hate labels. I hate the political labels about where on the spectrum you are, and what’s your ideology. Ultimately, I do think humans care and I think we’re failing ourselves by trying to deny that. So anyone who’s wiling to go out there and be themselves and be open and admit to their humanity, I’m all about it.
Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?
You know what, I haven’t – yet. I know I’m a human being and mistakes happen all the time, but I haven’t had a major fuck up. I shouldn’t say that out loud; touch wood.
Up next on One MP, One Pint: Labour MP Tangi Utikere. Read more OMPOP interviews here.
