On pub quiz night, National MP Rima Nakhle can provide the food and drinks, you just need to bring the brains.
Rima Nakhle will not rest until she’s fed every single person in Pint of Order, ordering the table next door to us two bowls of chips despite their assurances they’re all good. As the first-term Takanini MP will come to remind me a few times over a glass of orange juice (for Nakhle), a Panhead (for me) and a bowl of fries (for us, but mostly for me), being Lebanese is all about hospitality. “I find a lot of similarities with Māori and Pasifika families,” Nakhle says. “Growing up in Australia, I know some people who’d get embarrassed to say they were Lebanese. But they don’t define me; my Lebaneseness is manaakitanga.”
The thing that truly sets Nakhle a part from her caucus colleagues? The vast amount of goods she owns with her name and face on them. Her husband Roger – whom Nakhle met in an online Lebanese politics forum – moonlights as Nakhle’s unofficial merchandiser and has plenty of ideas on how to get his wife’s name and face out there. There are the Nakhle Christmas baubles which prime minister Christopher Luxon hung on his tree last year, magnets, notebooks, card holders, posters, pens and the keychain which now hangs next to my front-door key.
Those Nakhle-branded bits and bobs will likely be seen around Takanini again very soon, with the backbencher confirmed to be standing for the National Party in the electorate at next year’s general election. Takanini captures not only its southern suburb namesake, but also areas of Manurewa, Flat Bush and Papakura, and Nakhle says around 50% of the constituents in her electorate were born overseas, with the highest Indian population in Auckland. She says the biggest issue her local office is asked for help with is immigration – in this corner of Auckland, repping your Lebanese background with pride can make the difference between being a MP who listens, and one who really gets it.
Breaking OMPOP development: Rima Nakhle is the first MP to stand for a pic.
Nakhle also has strong roots in Takanini, the suburb, where she worked as the executive manager of Te Mahia Community Village, a transitional housing space. “My whakaaro at one point was: ‘why are people spending all their money on drugs and alcohol?’ But then it became [clear that] it’s actually hard for these people to break these cycles,” Nakhle says. “I realised very quickly that my parents raised me to believe in myself … A lot of the people we came across were from a home where their parents were too preoccupied with [other] issues to build confidence.”
A final, important question for Nakhle. Does she identify with the honourable title of “diva”, bestowed upon her by her former Māori affairs select committee co-member Benjamin Doyle? “The kūmara does not speak of its own sweetness,” she tells me with a grin.
THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A
How much should a pint cost?
Whatever the business owner paid for it, times two.
Do you have a karaoke go-to?
If it’s a private party, at home or at a cousin’s place type of thing, then Tupac or Toni Braxton. But if I’m in a bar or pub, I love Dean Martin – I’ve been obsessed with the song ‘Kiss’. When I sing it, all I do is think of Roger.
Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?
Château Nakhle: my home has a nice little bar trolley, and you can choose from quite a few Kiwi gins and whiskey and whatever. For me, I love when I open my home to someone; I’m opening my heart to them. You know, there’s a Lebanese saying, “baynatna khubz wa milah”: there is salt and bread between us. Because we’ve shared kai, there should be a different level of respect – so before you rubbish me, think twice, and vice versa.
Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?
Lyric, look: all of us have competitive streaks. I’m in my 40s now, and I’m very laid back about a lot of things, but with a pub quiz I will not be in a team that is not featured in the top two. A long time ago, I realised I’ve got a rep to protect when it comes to a pub quiz – not just as an MP, but as a person. I’ll provide the drinks, the food, whatever, but I’m no awesome person at a pub quiz, so I need the team.
I put a poll in a group chat with my class of 23 colleagues: are you excellent at a pub quiz, or do you prefer to be moral support? Tom Rutherford is going to provide us our sporting answers, and I found a dark horse: Miles Anderson, one of our farmers. I tested him about some rugby league, cricket, but Miles also has the history aspect, and he’s not too bad at geography – he said the only thing he’s not good with is the new age music. He passed my test when I asked him “what’s the word for the phobia of the number 13?”, and he knew it.
And James Meager. Look, I just have a feeling Meager is good for a lot of things. But he’s told me he’s good with history. Now, I’m very aware there’s no women there, but the women haven’t got back to me.
Which MP from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?
Hana Rawhiti just does things to my heart. I love her a lot and I always love time with Hana, so she’s kind of a given. But I had a think about this, and this is really gonna give him a big head, but I’ll say it anyway: Reuben Davidson. When he lets go of his tribal Labour bravado, he’s very funny, very witty, and he cracked me up a few times when we travelled to Australia together.
Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?
If someone has caused a death by drink driving, I wish that more people would be getting the maximum 10-year penalty, as opposed to two or three [years]. Or there’s a $20,000 fine, but I don’t think there should be an “or” – for me, when you’ve got a true victim, how much weight are we putting on the fact that a life has been lost? You don’t put a price on a life. People are repeatedly drink-driving and they’re getting, in my opinion, slaps on the wrist.
What qualities make a good drinking partner?
Someone that is there for a good time, not a wild time. Some people get aggressive when they drink, and that’s when it becomes that wild, crazy-eyes type thing. You need someone who’s in control.
Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?
I am quite careful, maybe a little too careful at this stage but, you know, I’m a newbie. There’s a few blonde moments; last week I was on Zoom in select committee, and we were listening to submissions, and when the sound is off I feel like it’s OK to make my comments, like: “yeah, whatever, hah!” But the mic was on.
Up next on One MP, One Pint: Greens MP Kahurangi Carter. Read more OMPOP interviews here.