The exasperated Greens co-leader reached the end of her tether as parliament debated nurses’ pay, homelessness, Palestinian statehood and voting rights.
Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus.
No one could ever accuse Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick of not caring about her job. The Auckland Central MP, who was first elected to parliament at the age of 23, has always had a passionate sense of justice. In many ways, that’s her superpower. But also… damn, try not to give yourself a heart attack. Caring deeply about things is hard work, and Swarbrick cares about a lot of things. It looks exhausting.
No MP puts more energetic fury into question time than Swarbrick – and she reached peak exasperation in Wednesday’s session. She shouted constant commentary at government ministers, righteous outrage boiling in her blood and steaming out of her ears.
Things kicked off with Marama Davidson asking the prime minister why Te Whatu Ora hired only 45% of nursing graduates, even though 16 health districts were understaffed. “Well, I’d just say they are all understaffed today,” Christopher Luxon replied. “Excuse me??” Swarbrick interjected. Luxon continued, emphasising that nurses’ pay had increased by 74% since 2011. “But what have you done?” Swarbrick shouted.
Davidson asked when the government would recognise Palestinian statehood, and Luxon replied with some generic words about diplomacy and dialogue and making sure Hamas releases hostages. “You know the hostages have been offered back,” Swarbrick chirped, leaning back against the keffiyeh on her chair.
When it was Swarbrick’s turn to take the stand, she grilled Luxon on Auckland Council data that showed a 90% increase in rough sleeping since the government’s changes to emergency housing. She asked whether he could come to Auckland Central and “meet the people that he has made homeless”. Luxon pivoted to blaming the “previous Labour-Greens government [when] homelessness went up 37%”.
When Luxon finds himself stuck or short-circuiting into NatGPT mode, ministers will often try to dig him out with a friendly question. Winston Peters took the first crack: “Could the prime minister name just one thing the local MP in Auckland Central is doing about homelessness?” Government MPs giggled, and Swarbrick’s rage grew. Her head almost looked like it was vibrating. Before Luxon had a chance to respond, she jumped to her feet in indignation and sought leave of the house to answer the question. Multiple National MPs objected, and speaker Gerry Brownlee dropped it.
‘I’d like to seek leave of the house to answer that question’
Tama Potaka took a second crack, asking the prime minister to confirm a housing report that found that “the increase in homelessness cannot be attributed just to changes in the emergency housing gateway and they may actually be reflective of broader economic and social contexts”. “Yeah, you!” Swarbrick gestured at the government benches, “they blame you!”
Brownlee gave her a wee telling-off – “you cannot yell out across the House like that. If it continues, it’ll be an early afternoon” – but nothing was stopping the Swarbrick rage train.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer asked Luxon about whether he would expel the Israeli ambassador. Luxon gave a bland answer about the importance of maintaining diplomatic relationships. Swarbrick heckled “just words” and “you heard of Russia?” (While in opposition, National called for the government to expel the Russian ambassador over the invasion of Ukraine.)
Ngarewa-Packer turned her focus to the government’s proposed electoral reforms that would end on-the-day voting enrolment. Luxon defended the policy, saying people would merely have to enrol 13 days before the election, which is half of the 26-day deadline in Australia. “They have compulsory voting!” Swarbrick yelled, “Who do you work for?”
Ngarewa-Packer raised allegations that hundreds of Māori voters appeared to have been removed from the voting roll in the past 24 hours. Luxon again insisted that anyone, Māori or non-Māori, just needs to register 13 days before the election. “Did you listen to the question?” Swarbrick asked.
Once again, Luxon referenced the shorter enrolment period in Australia, and Swarbrick, even louder, yelled, “They have compulsory voting!” With the final question, Ngarewa-Packer asked if Luxon would commit to delaying the reforms until he could ensure “that he will not disenfranchise hundreds of thousands more Māori and Pasifika voters who have followed all the correct procedures?” Luxon dismissed her concern. “I reject outright the characterisation of that question.”
Across the room, on the verge of pulling out her hair, Swarbrick harrumphed: “You don’t care.”