Mayoral chains a far cry from riot squad handcuffs
The Kapiti Coast, that sliver of land between the mountains and sea, has a new mayor. As a journalist turned politician, he’s gone from behind the camera to in front of it.
How did you end up getting into the public eye?
In one word, it’s the power of the byline. Being a journalist in the local paper provided a platform for people to know me. Smaller staff numbers at community papers mean you cover a wide range of local issues, including council politics. The journalist is at times a social activist. People saw me and my camera at all sorts of events. In one incident my camera and I became the news. I was trying to take a photo of a police riot squad, dispatched from Wellington, marching down a local road towards an after-party unruly bunch of youths. An officer turned on me. I was pushed to the ground and handcuffed. A Kapiti cop intervened and saved me. Ahh ... yes, one other point: being berry-brown and bald with Gandhi glasses helps.
What are your interests outside local politics?
Gardening is a passion I share with my wife Claire. Reading current affairs magazines online. I love watching cooking programmes on TV, my favourites being Rick Stein and Anthony Bourdain. I go to church on Sundays. And I’ve got a keen interest in the Robotics Club I helped initiate at Paraparaumu College.
Who is your favourite political figure, and why?
It’s Nelson Mandela. The courage and conviction that drove him as a freedom fighter. And, as the world looked on, he displayed a spirit of forgiveness that helped turn a divided country into a new nation.
You’ve been both a journalist covering politics, and a politician. Who is more important for society, and why?
I recall, every year the Reader’s Digest did a survey on the most trusted professions; both the politician and journalist ended up at the bottom of the heap. So I suppose you can’t trust either of them to give you a straight answer. But I’ll try. It’s the journalist, but only if the media the journo worked for exercises its role as the fourth estate to hold politicians to account. But then, what do I know? I’m just a politician.
What was the last book you read, and what did you think of it?
Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal: illness, medicine and what matters in the end. A deeply affecting dissection of dying and the limits of medicine while unfolding the dignity and joy in coming to terms with our mortality.
If you could invite four people, dead or alive, to dinner, who would they be, and why?
It will be a cocktail of Nelson Mandela, the saint, seated next to Robert Mugabe, the beast. Throw in foulmouth Donald Trump and motormouth Brexit Boris. I might break the rules and squeeze a fifth in: Winston Peters for local flavour. Why is this a cocktail? Because it’s Saturday night and I want a party.
BABY STEPS Chris Hipkins
Rimutaka MP was barely into his 30s when he was elected to Parliament but that’s not the reason people are often surprised to find out he has clocked up nearly a decade in Parliament; the Labour whip is perennially babyfaced. But that may be about to change with the arrival of a new baby this week. If eight years in Opposition hasn’t worn him down, trying to juggle the demands and long hours of a parliamentary career with a new toddler is bound to add a few extra lines to even this freshfaced MP.