‘I do totally believe in karma, and as I kept saying last week, decency prevails.’
Whoever it was that accused National’s Katie Nimon of being an idle MP has clearly never seen her double-parked at Pint of Order with a Coke and pinot noir. The former theatre kid and and first-term member for Napier has perfected the art of “yes, and…” so well that a conversation with her feels like a tennis match, as she hits quips and insights back and forth. She’s vivacious and very much a millennial, and can boast a rare feat: defeating a feared horseman of the apocalypse (otherwise known as the 2026 election).
But before we unpack all of that, there’s a few things you should know about Nimon. Her road to parliament was a unique one. Having grown up in Presbyterian household in the Hawke’s Bay, where she was raised “service to the core,” she started out in politics by working in the family bus business. While she has also worked in politics at a local level, serving as transport manager for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, she credits her time promoting public transport recruitment and tourism to the region in the bus business as her real introduction to community advocacy. She still doesn’t consider herself a politics tragic, just a “normie”.
She’s typically a low-key MP, but a week ago Nimon was thrust into the spotlight when her Napier electorate rival, New Zealand First’s Stuart Nash, labelled her the “laziest MP” after detailing (erroneously) the time she had taken off for parental leave. After Nash’s criticism (he later resigned his candidacy), it felt like every working mum, National MP and their dog banded around Nimon to essentially say, “what the hell, man?”
“What was super validating about the experience was everyone just being like, no, we know how hard she works,'” Nimon says. “I’m immediately gonna think poorly of myself, because it’s human nature, right?”
After becoming a new mum, Nimon spent six months away from parliament last year, though she returned to electorate work when her baby boy, Lochie (who was born on budget day), was ten weeks old. Lochie is now 14-months old, and it feels like every time Nimon goes back home, she discovers he’s hit a new milestone (“the more independent he gets, the more I love him”). But, Nimon admits, there were some lazy moments there; when she was “hardcore” in the middle of early breastfeeding, she was “couch bound” watching episodes of Ted Lasso and Shrinking. Unbecoming of a member of parliament? Possibly in Nash’s view but the electorate may forgive her.
A believer in astrology and a scorpio to boot, Nimon says, “I hurt when I’m hurt.” She says if she’s already experiencing self doubt, things can get hard when there’s a “trigger” but that it’s important to use your “big mum words” and keep in mind that some problems can solve themselves. Despite being all over the headlines, Nimon says she’s stayed calm during the Nash controversy. “I’ve been able to sleep really well at night knowing I haven’t gone down that [negative] road,” she says. “We do not sink down to that level; we rise above it, and we let people make their own decisions. But I do totally believe in karma, and as I kept saying last week, decency prevails.”
After Nash’s shot at her spectacularly backfired, Nimon says she’s looking forward to a fair fight for the Napier seat come election day. If nothing else, the saga has served an important reminder about what serving as an MP actually means. “Lest we forget that, maybe, MPs aren’t the loudest and most dramatic people,” she says. “We love to consume drama in our news and socials, yet I don’t think we love the drama when it comes to how we represent [our communities]. We need to disconnect those things, and take the foot off the drama pedal.”
THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A
How much should a pint cost?
My instinct is eight bucks.
Do you have a karaoke go-to?
It’s got to be a power ballad, and I’m a big fan of Celine Dion, so the song that came to me – not sure who I’d sing it with – is ‘The Reason’ by Celine Dion and Carole King. I always say to my husband, you don’t have to be a good singer to sing. If you enjoy it, do it. I’ve been in choirs all through school; I don’t think I’m amazing and I don’t think I could go and become a musician, but I love singing. I just love it.
Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?
Oh, she loves a drink by the water. So we’re gonna say The Gintrap, which is in Ahuriri in Napier. Any food or drink by the water just tastes and is better.
Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?
Tom Rutherford every day, for his sports knowledge. Vanessa Weenink: she’s so smart, and her retention of knowledge is insane. Of course, she can cover the science stuff, but she also knows so much more. And James Meager, knower of all things – he’s got sport knowledge, he’s got hunting knowledge, he’s got the legal stuff and the politics covered.
It’s a team of all-rounders – they’ve all got a niche, and I think that’s three people that would take it very seriously. Exposing myself a little bit: I actually love a quiz. I’m a general knowledge queen, but pop culture and movies and TV theme songs is also totally my vibe. We had a general knowledge test every year at school, and I always came second to my friend Natalie. Little bitter about it, but it’s OK.
Which MP from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?
I’m going to say Lawrence [Xu-Nan, Green MP]. You want to know the coolest thing? One day he was in Napier visiting his husband’s family, and he took a selfie outside my electorate office and sent it to my email. So I would love to catch up with him at The Gintrap; he’s a lovely person.
Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?
I don’t know whether it’s a law that needs to be changed, or just the way we need to approach things, but I would really rather that we have, kind of, more enabling laws that mean more people go to restaurants and venues than a bottle store. Now, this is not against bottles stores – or pre-loading, because, you know, I’m a millennial – but we need to support our venues, especially in Hawke’s Bay. We’ve got so many great restaurants and bars, so I think if we can facilitate things so that it’s easier to go out for a beverage than it is to grab a bottle and go home, that would be cool. I’m not really into punitive stuff like adding taxes.
What’s a policy area we’ve been nursing without finishing the glass?
Generally, all the work we do around the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. I think we’ve done awesome stuff, I just think we’re a bit afraid of fully cooking it. How do we actually rethink the way that we do the first 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 days, from conception through to a year after a child starts school? It’s so important for setting the tone for the rest of their life.
I read one baby book before I was pregnant, called Bringing Up Bébé; it talks about all the different ways French parents raise their children to everyone else in the world. They approach the first six years in a really holistic way, not fragmented. I think we’re so afraid of change as a country, and we’re also not great at change. But I think if we really want to change people’s lives, we could totally upend the way we deal with those first six years.
What qualities make a good drinking partner?
Somebody that wants to eat snacks. I love a cheeseboard and anything cheesy. I’m a Francophile sometimes.
Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?
Definitely the difference between 2020 and 2023 [elections]. In the 2020 election, I kind of just did what I thought I had to do. Not because somebody told me to post something because it was the topic du jour, but because I didn’t trust my instincts on what lands well for my community, and what doesn’t. Whereas in 2023, I was a lot more in tune with who I am as a quote-unquote politician – elected representative is how I see myself. I just felt so much more comfortable with the way I presented – not just regurgitating lines, but being myself.
Up next on One MP, One Pint: commerce and consumer affairs minister Cameron Brewer. Read more OMPOP interviews here.
