Doorstep diplomacy

Reporter Jono Galuszka sits down for a beer with the Green Party’s Palmerston North candidate Thomas Nash and finds out how campaigning to rid the world of dangerous weapons relates to party politics.

People campaigning for Parliament usually fall into one of three groups. You have those who look as safe as houses, standing in electorates where they’re basically assured of victory.

There are those battling over marginal seats, or hoping to gain that extra 2 per cent rise in the polls to see them slip in on their party’s list.

Then, there are people like Thomas Nash, the Green Party’s Palmerston North candidate.

Highly unlikely to win the seat, Nash is one of a large group of parliamentary wannabes who could be described as political martyrs.

They work hard for the cause, but seem destined to be left behind when their higher-ranked comrades march to Parliament. The flotsam and jetsam of politics.

Nash, who is taking a break from his international disarmament campaign work to run for the Greens, is philosophical about the situation.

‘‘I came home to New Zealand because I care about New Zealand.

‘‘I want this country to be the best that it can be and I really think we’re not at the moment. We’re seriously under-performing.

‘‘I think Government has a major role to play in that. I’m trying to get as many Green MPS into Government as possible.’’

He thinks he would be a good MP, as he feels he is good at advocacy and representing people.

‘‘That’s what we should have in Parliament. We shouldn’t have a bunch of people looking out for their rich mates. We should have people looking out for everybody.’’

Nash has spent much of his time since 2000 looking out for people affected by war, through his work on global campaigns to ban cluster bombs, nuclear weapons and killer robots, much of that through the not-for-profit group Article 36 Nash founded with his friend Richard Moyes.

But campaigning to ban weapons is dramatically different from being part of a political party.

Nash says he and Moyes would set the agenda and decide how to work.

‘‘When you’re in a political party, you are the vehicle for the party. That’s new for me.’’

The style of diplomacy is different as well. While used to rubbing shoulders with international politicians, Nash is now having to knock on doors and deliver the message to everyday Kiwis. It’s doorstep diplomacy, which Nash says has many parallels to his previous work.

‘‘You get a very short amount of time. You’ve got a pretty clear agenda and it’s about being straightforward and a reasonable communicator.

‘‘My mum always said to me – very wise counsel – you should always be nice and kind to people.

‘‘If you’re kind to people, nine times out of 10 they’re going to be kind and respond. I default to a positive outlook, kindness and trying to build that in a personal environment.’’

But there have been tough times on the campaign trail, most notably when Metiria Turei became embroiled in a benefit fraud scandal that ended in her