Tamatha Paul chats with Victoria University students at a Q and A Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
The House joins Parliament's own electorate MP in the community in this second in a series of local electorate profiles.
On a cold Saturday morning back in June, The House went along to a constituent Q&A, hosted by the National Party MP for Waimakariri, Matt Doocey. A crowd of pensioner-aged residents joined Doocey in the Rangiora RSA to share concerns.
Many Rangiora locals raised issues representative of nationwide concerns, but nonetheless, each of New Zealand's 72 electorates has its own unique characteristics, demographics and political priorities.
The local MP answering questions in this week's community Q&A is closer to home, and the electorate and the audience is quite different to Waimakariri.
It's lunchtime at Victoria University of Wellington. Students flood into the main foyer of the library between lectures - some grabbing a bite to eat, others catching up with friends. A few stop and join the cluster of students gathered around the MP for Wellington Central, Tamatha Paul.
This is a familiar stomping ground for Paul, herself an alumni of Victoria, and former president of the university's students' association.
Today though, she's here as the local member of Parliament, taking part in one of the Victoria politics department's Democracy Week events.
Wellington Central looks less like RSAs and woolsheds and more like lecture theatres, apartment blocks, and government departments. The constituency has the largest share of 20 to 24-year-olds in the country, the highest proportion of people holding post-graduate degrees, the highest rate of shared housing outside of family homes, and is New Zealand's least religious electorate.
You can explore and compare demographic data for every electorate on Parliament's website.
Wellington Central's electoral boundaries encompass the Wellington CBD, the suburbs of Karori, Kelburn, Aro Valley, and Thorndon; meaning Paul is the local MP for Parliament.
Photo: Parliamentary Library
On Adelaide Road (which is the boundary between Wellington Central and the neighbouring electorate of Rongotai) Paul shares her electorate office with Green Party colleague and MP for Rongotai, Julie Anne Genter.
"We picked this location because it's right between Newtown and [Wellington Central]. It's got a good bus route that comes through here, so we thought it was accessible in that way. It's a good spot and we thought it would be quite central in terms of [being] right by the hospital, right by… lots of different things."
Paul was initially unsure whether the constituents she would see as a local MP would be the same politically engaged folk she encountered at the local council. The reality has been different: the people that come through her door have been diverse, with a large spread of ages and backgrounds.
"I think there's kind of two major sides to Wellington Central," Paul says. "There is the young side: students at Vic or Massey, who are studying and [are] quite radical, quite left, quite woke. And then there's also another side of Wellington that's more like old money, old school Wellington, the kind of people that live in heritage, fancy houses that were built in 1920s, 1930s.
"We're a super green city, as evidenced in our city councils and our representatives and the party vote - this is one of the few electorates where the Greens win the party vote."
Because the focus of the capital is so much on what's happening in the Beehive and at Parliament, I was curious if, as a local Wellington MP, she felt drowned out by national politics.
Paul's previous job was as Wellington City councillor for the Pukehīnau/Lambton Ward. She says that experience primed her to advocate for "super local issues" at the central government level.
In council it was "what's happening with the street lights? What's happening with the bus shelter? It was super local and I know how to do that and I have done that. But where I would always get frustrated and stuck is that …you can only go so far in council because it's a creature of statute."
Since becoming an MP in 2023, Paul says she has enjoyed having a bigger team of people around her to support her work, but she has seen a noticeable difference in the time it can take to resolve constituent issues.
"At council it was pretty instantaneous, like, oh yeah, fixed-people are coming to smooth out your footpath on Sunday. Whereas now it's like, oh, I could put a bill in, which might hopefully get drawn. But I think that's probably also reflective of being in opposition."
Life inside the electorate office
Like most electorate MPs, Paul spends most recess weeks either in the office or out in the community. The week's agenda includes community housing meetings, a school speech competition and a visit to Wellington's needle exchange.
"In a recess week I'm here a lot, but also still have to do quite a bit of travel, which I guess speaks to the element [that] Members of Parliament should also represent the country and know what's going on outside of Wellington."
Paul has the support of a team who manage the day-to-day running of the electorate office. As well as speaking with Paul, I also sat down with the people you don't usually hear from - the staff.
Dakota Uluilelata and Lily McFarlane, who work in Paul and Genter's office, tell me the dynamic of an electorate office can be divided into two categories: proactive and reactive.
"So, we have two case workers who work across both electorates, and then each electorate has a community outreach person who only works in that electorate," McFarlane says. "So [we have] myself here, and Ben in the other electorate, and a team leader overseeing the day-to-day running, with it being a bigger team."
Case workers are responsible for dealing with members of the public who come for help with things like government departments like the Ministry of Social Development or Accident Compensation Corporation - or immigration, social housing, or just for a chat.
Given the busy schedule of MPs, Paul and Genter tend not to engage with constituent issues directly unless their extra influence is needed, but Uluilelata says the name recognition of an MP is usually enough for them to successfully get in contact with a government department manager and act as a conduit in resolving a person's issue.
Both staffers say people are often surprised to learn that their roles are apolitical, separate from party or politics.
"I think our job is to make sure the public see that," Uluilelata says.
"Anyone can walk through the door. Our job is just to help you, and - [with] the uniqueness of [acting for] two MPs - our net is cast throughout the wider Wellington region as well."
Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
McFarlane, who is in charge of the more proactive community outreach side of the office, says the same is true with respect to community engagement. There is a distinction between party-based engagement and electorate MP engagement.
"The way that we're going out into the community is led by our values, but ultimately we're engaging with everyone, regardless of their political affiliations. In fact, we never necessarily know their political affiliations, so I think-as opposed to maybe the way parties do outreach-we're just out there with everybody."
To listen to the audio version of this story, click the link near the top of the page.
RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, its legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
