Musician-turned-Greenpeace-guy-turned-politician Steve Abel could\u2019ve had a master\u2019s degree by now.<\/p>\n
Slumped in a corner of Pint of Order, Steve Abel sips a Monteith\u2019s cider and sets aside the wide-brimmed felt hat that makes him one of parliament\u2019s most identifiable characters. The first-term Green MP has worn plenty of p\u014dtae in his career as an activist who chained his neck to a logging helicopter and spent 245 days leading a live-in tree protest, the musician who once won Berlin\u2019s saddest song contest and ran an independent record label, and the campaigner who tried to get National MPs interested in the environment over glasses of whisky. But Abel doesn\u2019t mind if you just know him as the stylish and mysterious guy from the Greens.<\/p>\n
The 55-year-old thinks of himself as more of a musician than an activist, but he\u2019s not a \u201cmusician\u2019s musician \u2013 I\u2019m like a songwriter, really\u201d. He plays guitar, his favourite artist is Bowie, he\u2019s still pissed off that Morrissey ruined The Smiths, and when he\u2019s making tunes, that\u2019s when Abel is in his \u201ctrue happy place\u201d. And some good news for the Abel stans: he\u2019s been writing a new album, a follow-up to 2016\u2019s Luck\/Hope, but a release date will probably depend on whether the Greens get into government next year.<\/p>\n
But, while music chat is the thing that perks Abel up the most, it\u2019s the political side of his life that brings us here. He credits his interest in politics to his 80s upbringing and the era\u2019s \u201cstrong format for political change\u201d, when Auckland boroughs would welcome you to a \u201cnuclear-free Mt Eden\u201d and everyone seemed to have an opinion on politics in sport. \u201cIt was all present, Herbs were getting hits on pop radio about nuclear, you couldn\u2019t get away from it,\u201d Abel recalls. \u201cWe all saw that effort and activism come to fruition and ended up with positive tangible results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oldheads will remember when Steve Abel only made music.<\/p>\n
Abel kept that energy in his over-a-decade stint as a campaigner for Greenpeace, trying to urge politicians to give a shit about the climate. He decided in his 50s that he wanted to be one of those people he had been nagging for years, and ran in the 2020 election but narrowly missed out on a seat \u2013 though when it looked like he was going to make it in, he did get through a bit of parliamentary MP training alongside a then largely unknown Christopher Luxon.<\/p>\n
So, now that he\u2019s on the other side, can Abel get the job done? \u201cI spent so long trying to convince politicians to stop cutting down trees, stop oil and gas drilling,\u201d Abel says. \u201cWhether I\u2019ll ever have that impact in parliament, I don\u2019t know, but why don\u2019t I see what it\u2019s like to be on the other side of the table?\u201d There\u2019s certainly an air for change, he reckons: \u201cThis government has forced tangata Tiriti to come to the fight and say, do we stand for a nation founded in the profound and visionary base upon which to build a country, in the words of Moana Jackson? If we do, we better turn up and say so.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A<\/p>\n
How much should a pint cost?<\/p>\n
When I was pulling beer in London in 1992, it was a pound for a pint \u2013 which is three times the New Zealand dollar, so it was about $6. But I reckon it should cost $9. When it first got to $10, we were like, this is fucking outrageous. $10 for a beer! Outrageous!<\/p>\n
Do you have a karaoke go-to?<\/p>\n
It used to be \u2018Delta Dawn\u2019, which no one knows, but now I do a duet with my partner: \u2018Islands in the Stream\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?<\/p>\n
It used to be Pickwicks [the old parliament bar], when it was here. I\u2019m going to say a place that\u2019s transformed into another place: the Wine Cellar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?<\/p>\n Controversially, I\u2019d maybe have Shane Jones on my team. He\u2019d be a riot, but I\u2019m appalled by his attacks on immigrants, the environment, the retrograde attitude to mining and oil and gas drilling. And someone who knows about sports? I\u2019ll probably go for Chris Bishop on sports.<\/p>\n But actually, as much as I respect elements of their intellect, I keep thinking, more than Jones and Bishop, I\u2019d prefer to be on a quiz team with Arena Williams<\/a>, Tamatha Paul<\/a>\u00a0and Francisco Hernandez.<\/p>\n Which MP from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?<\/p>\n [National\u2019s] Barbara Kuriger \u2013 I haven\u2019t had a drink with her yet, but we do get on pretty well. We align on a bunch of things, like organic farming, and I co-hosted an animal welfare thing with her last night. But also, she alluded to it in her speech about Jim Bolger, but she\u2019s one of those blue people who gets the Treaty journey. You know what I mean?<\/p>\n The other one who I get along with quite well is [New Zealand First\u2019s] Mark Patterson. Because we\u2019re both into wool. I\u2019m a wool lobbyist behind the scenes, we\u2019ve got a cross-party consensus on wool.<\/p>\n Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?<\/p>\n I might get ousted from the Green Party for saying this, but I live in Wait\u0101kere, and I think we need to liberalise the laws there sufficiently so that we can have more venues. West Auckland is a bit bereft \u2013 we have The Hollywood, but we don\u2019t have much else. I think that licensing laws are part of the problem, because you think of the Wine Cellar and Whammy, and a lot of those places that have become iconic venues.<\/p>\n But their bread and butter, even if they\u2019re barely breaking even, is the ability to sell booze. So if you don\u2019t have that, you don\u2019t have the kooky music-loving characters who say, fuck it, I\u2019m going to have a live venue for original New Zealand music.<\/p>\n What\u2019s a policy area we\u2019ve been nursing without finishing the glass?<\/p>\n Animal welfare. Come on, man \u2013 if we want to be a farming nation, we need to not have farm animals suffering and living a miserable existence. We just need to get serious about that; get the dairy cows out of the mud, get the mother pigs out of the farrowing crates. Imagine that.<\/p>\n But also, bringing back general tree protection. The loss of our urban forest is definitely a close-to-the-heart issue for me.<\/p>\n What qualities make a good drinking partner?<\/p>\n It\u2019s probably a boring thing to say, but a willingness to discuss contentious issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?<\/p>\n My father passed away in 2021, and he left my sister and I a little bit of inheritance. It wasn\u2019t heaps, but I talked to him about standing [for the Greens], and he said yes, you must, you must. I had a conversation with a good friend at his funeral, [and told him] about a creative writing course I started at Auckland University in 2019. I was tossing up between doing my masters or running for the Greens, and he said \u201cyou should definitely go back to university\u201d. <\/p>\n Covid hit, I blew the little bit of money that I had as a buffer because I lost my job, and spent that on supporting myself so I could stand as a candidate.\u00a0And then I didn\u2019t get into parliament and waited another three years. I did think at some points, man, I could have got a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\nAn attempt at looking suave.<\/p>\n
Steve Abel in the House.<\/p>\n