- [TV Anchor] Legalise
marijuana, you're mad.
- [Voices On TV] Educate, regulate.
You're naive.
- A clean green
- [Voices On TV] Your
sexuality is something that
- This is what democracy looks like!
Enough is enough.
O.K. boomer.
Do you wanna do anything or can I work or?
Okay, cool (laughs).
(phone rings)
- Kia ora, I just wanted to make sure
that you're supporting the
election access at third reading.
- Okay, sweet as.
The other thing, what happened yesterday?
- Oh, shit happens (laughs).
All right, catch you later mate, bye.
A few years ago, someone on Twitter
said maybe the reason that
none of the politicians
want to get engaged in the cannabis debate
is because they'll end up in The Herald
smoking a giant bong.
That's exactly what
happened to me (laughs).
- Kia ora, hi, I'm Chlöe.
I'm taking you guys on a
tour of Parliament, yeah?
Cool.
This is the tunnel which
connects Bowen House
to the Beehive and then the Beehive's
connected to Parliament.
(melancholic music)
- Parliament is such a weird space.
It feels like a really
oppressive environment.
When I first came into Parliament,
I was trying to retain my sense of self.
I remember thinking:
Do I have to start
talking like a politician?
What does it mean to
talk like a politician?
Inside the parliamentary buildings,
there are thousands of people.
They all work ridiculously long hours
and they're under immense
amounts of pressure.
Like last night, we were
here until half midnight
and people are getting
pent-up, people are angry,
people are sleep deprived
and then you come back
at 7:00 AM in the morning
and you do it all again.
I don't think it's a
sustainable to be fighting
all of the time.
There's exhaustion and there's burn-out
but if you're not there for the long haul,
then it's hard to see the
work getting done at all.
So do you guys know how member's bills
are chosen in New Zealand?
All back bench government
get a little chip
and it's essentially a
lottery-type process.
That's the only way you can get a bill up,
unless you're a minister.
This is the biscuit tin,
which is literally a biscuit tin (laughs).
- And we bought it at Deka
many, many, years ago.
(laughs)
- Yeah, something to put the chips on.
We do a draw, pull out the number
and that bill will be
available for consideration
and could get passed into law.
- Yeah.
- So that's quite exciting, really.
- It is, but it's like
literally a lottery.
I think politics...
is fucked.
Happy? Sweet as.
All right, team.
I've always been hesitant to provide
any sense of timeline as to how long
I'll stay in Parliament,
because I wouldn't be able to
give you an authentic answer.
(laughs) I have regular conversations
with the people that I love
where I talk about leaving this place.
People become very odd
when they have this job.
(cheerful guitar music)
- [Chlöe] Of course you can.
- Selfie, you know we're millennial.
- Okay (laughs).
No worries, lovely to meet you.
Are we all doing a hug?
- Yeah, do a hug.
(laughing)
- It feels very odd
being in the public eye.
- It's hard to have a private life
with a public profile.
- Totally.
- Being a Green Party MP, sometimes,
it just feels as though you're life
is a bit of a platter.
You know, there's the drug
law reform thing here,
age thing over here,
there's the kinda gay
bisexual thing over here.
And those are all
different ways that you can
pigeonhole me.
- [Crowd] What do we want? Trans rights.
When do we want it?
(chanting) Now!
- [Chlöe] Political change
is a really hard thing.
In order to get to that tipping point,
you need hundreds of thousands,
if not millions, of everyday
people doing their bit.
- We care about you, Jesus loves you.
But he has commanded
every man everywhere...
We must humble ourselves
in the side of God
- We're here, we're queer, get used to it!
- [Chlöe] There are a huge number of those
who don't vote, because
they don't feel represented
or because they don't feel
their vote means anything.
People who are really pissed off
at the way that things are,
when they decide to disengage,
is that is reinforces power
and wealth in the hands
of the people who already have it.
(bleep)
- [Cameraman] Okay.
- Cool.
- [Cameraman] Yep.
- My name is Chlöe Swarbrick,
I love this city.
My name is Chlöe Swarbrick,
my name is Chlöe Swarbrick.
Argh!
I remember really vividly googling
how to become Auckland's mayor.
I had to pay $200 for administrative fees,
I had to have two people nominate me
and I had to be over the age of 18.
I was 22 at the time,
which kinda became my defining feature.
♪ Bennee - Glitter ♪
♪ Everyone else has left now ♪
♪ I bet that this got you stressed out ♪
♪ Wonderin', what can we do now? ♪
♪ Maybe let it burn out ♪
So we're currently on Karangahape Road,
otherwise known as K Road,
which is a one kilometre strip of road
that could be my entire universe
if I didn't have to venture outside of it.
♪ Glitter's sparklin' on
your heart now, darling ♪
♪ Won't you stay? ♪
- [Chlöe's sister] Rolling your ankle
the day you have to move.
- I know, I'm gonna be useless.
- [Chlöe's father] Well
there's not much has changed.
- (laughs)
Alcohol, tote bags and candles.
This is the essentials.
What's that?
- Kitchen.
- Okay.
- For the kitchen it's pots.
- [Chlöe] I mean you can
figure that out if you want.
- Are you gonna let someone
else decide the place?
- I do not wanna have autonomy
over where the pots go,
I have too many decisions
in my life (laughs).
She gets mad at me,
she'll try to FaceTime me
when I'm in like a caucus meeting
and then she's like:
"You never talk to me."
- She never does.
- (laughs)
Absolutely never.
- I call her so much
and she never answers me.
I forget, you know, she's
this big politician.
(cheer)
(clapping)
- (excited) Yay!
I love that couch.
I don't own a car, I don't own a house.
That was my marker of being a grown-up.
- [Chlöe's sister] Dad
looks so handsome in this.
- Yeah, my dad's my hero.
I don't know how to put into words
how much I love him
and how much of an
incredible human being he is.
I remember, growing up,
debating politics and philosophy and,
not necessarily knowing
that it's what we were debating,
but debating on those things with dad.
The number one question
she used to ask is:
"Dad, what's the purpose of life?"
- (laughs)
- While that sounds quite sweet,
when it's every week for about five years,
the novelty wears off.
- (laughs)
- [Director] Did you ever
think she'd be a politician?
- No, not at all.
You know, it's not
something you'd ever wish
upon your children to be fair.
- (laughs)
- Dad told me when I was
about 13 that I was adopted.
It was at that point in time
I was going through this
real identity crisis
and I was dealing with
it in unhealthy ways.
I was in a really dark space personally
and I didn't necessarily
have a way to recognise
that was depression.
I grappled with the mental
health thing quite a bit.
There are not many politicians
who are willing to go on the record
about mental health.
And I discovered why
when I spoke about it,
because I got emails
from people telling me
oh, this is crazy and I should've
never been here in power.
Parliament is a toxic
culture that chews people up
and spits them out.
This system dehumanises people
and you therefore become
inhuman and disconnected
from the people who you
purport to represent.
(parliament debating)
Our job is to inspire people
to see that they themselves
can be that change if they engage in it.
(cheerful guitar music)
- Plain and simple:
Nobody ever changes the world alone.
And I just get amped when
I see heaps of people
deciding to get on board with
that opportunity for change,
because in a country as small as ours,
it doesn't take much.
♪ I've heard the mother's tongue ♪
- I will keep going as long as I feel
like I'm making change,
but I don't wanna be here in ten years,
because change is needed now.
Does anyone want any kai?
Vegan? Vegan gluten free.
We have all dietary
requirements catered for,
because we are the Greens.
This is what we call
civil service (laughs).
Thank you guys for coming.
