Scoop's "Meet The MPs" Project: Kennedy Graham

Scoop's "Meet The MPs" Project: Tobias Brockie Talks To Green MP Kennedy Graham

Green Party list MP Kennedy Graham did not have great political aspirations as a child.

The youngest of four boys, he was more concerned with rugby than policy, and spent more time on the field than in the classroom.

He began his professional life as an accountant in Auckland, but when that didn’t work out, he went back to university, where he turned to international relations..

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What followed was a rich and international career working as an academic and a diplomat that took him around the world.

His work with the United Nations as well as with non-government organisations sent him to countries as varied as the USA, Jordan and Bangladesh.

Dr Graham said he had been working overseas for 35 years in various diplomatic roles, and he realised it was time to come home.

“I was sitting in the UN secretary building in New York when I found I was offered a fellowship at the University of Canterbury to come home and do some research and teaching.

I accepted that, and the next act when sitting at the desk was to join the Green Party.”

His new academic position at the University of Canterbury’s School of Law allowed him the freedom to become politically active, and it was a concern for the plight of the planet that led him to join the Greens.

“I started working on issues like climate change along with the other areas I had in the past, nuclear-free zones and so on, in the late 80s.

“It really is the political implementation of what I’ve been doing the whole time.”

Since joining the Green Party, he has taken up the role of musterer for the party, which has given him an invaluable insight into the workings of New Zealand Parliament.

He has also spoken extensively on aggression and foreign policy.

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QUESTIONS:

Views on government actions on the “smacking” referendum:

“The bill has become a political football and when the ball is tossed into the field and we all rush around madly with different colours on our jerseys you tend to lose a rational and reasoned insightful view of what it is all about, and including the wording of the bill itself.”

The future of MMP:

“I’m confident that the New Zealand public will recognise it for what it is, which is an opening up of the electoral system to ensure inclusiveness as opposed to exclusiveness.”

“It would be really retrogressive to go back to first past the post in the proclaimed name of efficiency.”

“If you only had two parties, it might be simpler, but that just suggests simpler minds might prefer it”

Political role models:

“My particular role model would be Dag Hammarskjold, who was the UN secretary general of the mid-20th century.”

“In New Zealand parliament, one of the reasons I was happy to join the Green Party and get involved with green politics is because of the role model that Jeanette Fitzimmons has consistently displayed over the last 10 to 20 years.”

In this interview with Scoop, Green Party list MP and musterer Kennedy Graham discusses his international perspective on New Zealand politics, in particular his political role models, the future of MMP, the smacking debate, and how he got into parliamentary politics.

Dr Graham's background in international relations has given him an international perspective on who his political role models are.

The people he respects the most in politics are those that worked towards international unity, such as Dag Hammarskjold, UN Secretary General from 1953 until 1961.

He also said he had been a supporter of Helen Clark for many years, as well as former Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimmons.

He described the so-called “smacking” referendum as a “political football,” but said the bill was working fine in its current form.

“I lived in Sweden for 3 years, you didn’t smack your children, it’s a civilised society.

“We’ll get there one day.”

Dr Graham said it would be retrogressive for New Zealand to go back to the first past the post electoral style, and that MMP should be kept in place.

“I’m confident that the nz public will recognise it for what it is, which is an opening up of the electoral system to ensure inclusiveness, as opposed to exclusiveness.”

He said his decision to get involved with politics was a combination of a growing concern for the plight of the planet and a newfound political freedom after he returned to New Zealand as an academic at the University of Canterbury.

Tobias Brockie is a journalism student at Massey University

ENDS

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