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• Published date: 25 June 2023
• Publication title: Herald on Sunday

She remembers being at the centre of vitriol after attending a protest soon after being elected to Parliament

“My dad, who listens to Newstalk ZB — or used to listen to ZB — called me, freaking out: ‘they’re going at you on talkback radio’.

“I was like, ‘I think this is it forever now, Dad, as long as I’m doing this gig. I’m a Green, I’m young, I’m a woman, I’m gay. I’ve got all the things — whichever part of the platter of stuff you want’.”

I return to her throwaway comment a few minutes later. Why does her dad no longer listen to ZB?

She laughs: “He finds it really hard to hear me being slagged off all the time.”

She quickly points out that she’s never turned down an invitation to appear with Mike Hosking on ZB’s breakfast show. “He did hang up on me during the debate on the cannabis referendum. He told me something along the lines of he was right, I was wrong, and they were going to win. Anyway, it is what it is, he’s in control — that’s his prerogative.”

The loyalty of Swarbrick’s father Paul, who works in the finance industry, extends both ways, and beyond.

Before we sit down for lunch at Auckland city eatery Ima — “I’ve had a lot of good times here” — Swarbrick warned she would be reluctant to go into too many details of her family life.

“Part of the reason that I’ve always been a little bit reticent to talk about my family is much in line with that stuff we’ve been talking about — around politics being individualised and the stories and concepts that politicians create for themselves,” she says. “I don’t want my family or my partner in the firing line.”

She is happy to say a few words about her partner, strategic communications expert and former Greens director of communications Nadine Walker; their engagement was revealed in 2020. “I can tell you that I am very, very lucky to have somebody who puts up with me. She’s great. She’s been really fundamental to helping me navigate, and personally build a robust community that is supporting me to do the stuff that I do publicly.”

The pair have discussed children — Swarbrick describes the joy she has whenever she’s around her young niece and baby nephew — “but I don’t have anything to announce”, she laughs, again.

“When I think about the idea of having a family of my own … it’s a little bit harder for us to do it than you know, your average straight couple. I mean, obviously we have the privilege of kind of the resources that we do. But there’s a few more things to work through.”

Swarbrick takes charge of the menu at lunch, quickly settling on the Middle Eastern vegetarian platter for two: falafel, hummus, labneh, salad, pickles, olives, Lebanese cauliflower and spanakopita with pita.

She also orders halloumi cheese, and we have a coffee each. Our small table is heaving.

Swarbrick is a polarising character, as evidenced by those talkback callers. She told Bob Harvey, writing for Metro magazine, that she had been verbally attacked in the street in the past six months. A man had called her a Communist and a “controller of everything”.

“It was deeply unsettling. I was pretty shaken up by the experience,” she told Harvey.

Swarbrick has wound up people even within her own party. Former Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere called her a “crybaby” in a message mistakenly sent to all colleagues. “I’ve been called far worse,” she says, as we pick over lunch.

She’s fast on her feet and gives as good as she gets. “OK, Boomer,” she famously said as National MP Todd Muller...