Chlöe Swarbrick: Her first year as leader, the tough times and what lies ahead
Saturday, 7 December 2024
It’s been a year for the Green Party. A hell of a year.
The frustration on the face of co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was always evident as nearly every media scrum in 2024 turned to questions about the party’s internal politics.
No politician likes that. But for most it lasts for a media cycle - about a couple of weeks.
For the Greens, it never ended.
Only once or twice Swarbrick snapped - naturally wanting to talk about poverty or the climate emergency instead. But, that’s not a luxury politicians get when their own house is on fire.
A quick recap: The year’s political scandals started with high profile Green MP Golriz Ghahraman’s shoplifting charge. Then in May, on the night of James Shaw’s valedictory speech when the who’s who of the party were out celebrating, MP Julie Anne Genter crossed the House to remonstrate with National’s Matt Doocey, sparking a privileges complaint and unsurfacing other claims about Genter’s behaviour.
And in March, a Stuff investigation revealed exploitation claims against the e-bike business owned by new MP Darleen Tana’s husband. What followed was a drawn out, expensive, messy process, that included internal fractions, court proceedings and altering the party’s historical stance on the waka jumping law.
In a first for this version of the party-hopping law - as well as the party - Tana was kicked out of Parliament in October, seven and a half months later.
And that doesn’t even begin to touch the most painful moments.
‘Cancer is tough, but so … is Marama Davidson’
In June, a visibly emotional co-leader Marama Davidson stood in the grand Legislative Council chamber, once New Zealand’s upper house. She told media, with her colleagues standing around her, she would be spending time with family before a scheduled surgery for breast cancer, a partial mastectomy.
“Yeah, she’s a fighter, man,” Swarbrick said this week. “Cancer is incredibly tough, but so too is the honourable Marama Davidson.”
Davidson herself posts updates occasionally - one of those times during the recent hīkoi to Parliament opposing the Treaty Principles Bill, saying while her energy and immunity may not have been up to it, ”I am with you ā-wairua“.
And again at the news of former National minister Nikki Kaye’s death. Kaye was first diagnosed with breast cancer at 36.
“You knew about my diagnosis long before the public knew and even before most of my own whānau,” Davidson wrote.
“You put your lunch down, stood up and just walked over to the other side of the table and hugged me silently for what seemed like the longest of time.”
Despite being on leave, Davidson is always at the end of a phone, Swarbrick said.
“Obviously she is interested in being across what's occurring in our caucus.
“Her whanau are grateful for the fact that we continue to remind her that her job right now is to rest - because rest is indeed resistance.”
And of course, the death of Faʻanānā Efeso Collins in February is still raw.
A book dedicated to remembering Collins’ life is displayed in the Greens’ caucus room. It’s where the party’s most important items are kept.
The picture of his empty seat in Parliament is included in the pages. It’s a recent reminder of the ripple his tragic death had. On each side his fellow MPs - Scott Willis looking bereft, Celia Wade-Brown with her head in her arms.
The topic changes from climate change to Collins. It’s a quick change, and as much as Swarbrick is ready to talk about it, her eyes glaze over and her voice breaks slightly as she speaks about him and his legacy.
“Grief is a funny thing,” Swarbrick said.
“We were so excited when we got him into Parliament, and the man was only just getting started.
“There was an utter shock and tragedy when we lost him, and that, that,” she pauses, “… experience of grief, especially as a collective, I've done a lot of reflecting upon it”.
The caucus was “really straight up about how tough that was”.
“Giving ourselves grace, the same kinds of things that we'd all expect of regular human beings when we suffer the loss of not only a colleague but a dear friend and someone who we all really admire,” Swarbrick said.
“I think the fascinating thing about grief is that it's basically a different manifestation of love, right? We still hold a lot of love for Fes.
“And I think what that looks like in practice is honouring his legacy.”
A year holding the reins
On February 2 Swarbrick threw her hat in the ring to replace outgoing co-leader James Shaw. She wore loafers with white, above-ankle socks, a roll of duct tape sitting just under the podium she was speaking from. It wasn’t a flash affair, but the politician pipped to become leader from day one easily slid into the role alongside Marama Davidson.
“To be perfectly honest with you, I had absolutely no idea what to expect,” Swarbrick said.
“I mean, I had a pretty strong theory when I got into Parliament at the end of 2017 that all of this stuff was made up.
“That when you're a kid, and you look at adults, you kind of have a theory that when you grow up, maybe you might have an idea of how the world works, who you are, and what your place is in it.
“Then you grow up and realise maybe your parents didn't necessarily know what they were doing when they raised you, which I don't mean in the pejorative sense.”
Swarbrick is obviously driven. No political leader could hold a place in Parliament and not be.
“Do I have goals? In terms of, the day to day politics, and what it is that we're trying to achieve, the Green Party in our Parliament is the parliamentary wing of an activist movement that has decades worth of experience in terms of mobilising people for outcomes that improve the lives of people and the planet.
“So my goal, and the goal of the Green Party, is to gain political power to institute that change, and we do that however we can,” she said.
Sowing the seeds
The Green Party is already sowing the seeds for the 2026 election - and it’s easy to read between the lines that a continuation of targeting electorate seats is on the cards.
While the party is still in the middle of developing the plan, Swarbrick said, “it makes sense that we are going to continue to look at really strong contenders in electorates all across this country”.
“That was part of the reason that I thought it was really important to run a strong campaign in Auckland central back in 2020 and that we got that historic win.”
That continued in 2023, with Tamatha Paul picking up Wellington Central and Julie Anne Genter winning Rongotai.
She said while it was “crucial that we do this fight in here for the systemic change that is necessary” using the “privilege” of an electorate position to organise directly within communities would give the public a view of change occurring street corner by street corner.
But it may mean going after areas out of the Green Party comfort zone.
“Something which I committed to when I stepped up to the mantle of co-leader, was to reach out to communities that haven't always historically heard from or had relationships with or trust in the Green Party,” Swarbrick said.
“A few months ago, I went down to the West Coast of the South Island and met directly with coal miners.
“I think that it's really critical that we are engaged directly with those whose lives are going to be transformed by climate change or far more progressive and intentional policies that look after people in the just transition.”
Do climate and environmental policies have the same cut through in times of economic hardship? Public opinion polling often sees sentiment falling as cost of living concerns rise.
“I think that New Zealanders are way smarter than most politicians give them credit for,” she said.
“While I completely acknowledge the fact that when people are struggling to put food on the table or provide for their whānau, then it's really difficult to see past the immediate present moment… But also those same problems which see the cost of [kai, rents and bills] escalating … are produced by the same system, by the same corporate players who are polluting our natural world and expecting the rest of us to pick up the bill for it.
“People know it, and they intimately understand it, but sometimes it's just a matter of kind of getting those words and knowing how all of these dots are ultimately connected.”
What next?
Swarbrick looks visibly more relaxed at her end of year interviews than she has all year.
She’s excited for summer - but she’s not switching off.
“The experience of the Auckland anniversary flooding at the start of last year, it was very fresh in my mind. I want to be available if necessary.”
Amongst that, leaving behind the year that was 2024, Swarbrick plans to eat, sleep and exercise in a quiet Auckland for the summer.
Within the party, there will definitely be change before the next election. The Green Party has been reviewing its candidate selection process after Swarbrick admitted in July the Darleen Tana saga prompted questions over whether it should be tightened.
The Green Party’s 34 page document outlining how it picks its candidates suggests the committee and Te Rōpū Pounamu have discretion as to how much scrutiny each candidate comes under. [They] “have at their discretion the ability to modify the level of scrutiny applied to any applicant, and the ability to consider any information that it deems relevant”.
The party does not carry out police checks, but prospective candidates are asked to disclose criminal offences, convictions and civil law litigation.
“There will definitively be change,” Swarbrick said. “I mean, there's change after every election cycle, where we learn from experiences that we have had and we look forward to the future. So yes, there will be change.
“We're still in process with a number of different moving parts in terms of reflecting on that campaign review, and also with the party gearing up for local body elections next year.”
The Green Party executive will be meeting in the next week or so, Swarbrick said.