For an MP who admits to having had “zero faith in our political system” before she entered Parliament, Jan Logie is remarkably optimistic about this place.
The Green MP, who is set to retire as a Member of Parliament after four terms, has been a warm and energetic presence in the House, refusing to indulge in the politics of personal attacks. Logie is hopeful about what Parliament can achieve when people work as a collective, but admits she won’t miss the bullshit.
Green Party MP Jan Logie at Parliament, 15 June 2023 Photo: Johnny Blades
In the past 12 years, the Green MP has been a leading advocate for addressing gender based violence, including in her role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice in the previous term of Parliament. She has also campaigned and won gains in the areas of paid parental leave and improving the welfare system, and has performed the role of musterer (party whip) in the Greens while holding a busy handful of portfolios for the party, including major contributions in the disability portfolio to accessibility legislation and housing.
Having been MP for two terms under a National government and then two terms under a Labour government - Logie’s in a good position to gauge how much parliamentary politics has changed.
“Like on some levels, it's changed in really good ways, I think. Our Parliament is more diverse, and less of a white boys/old boys club than when I first came in. My first year in Parliament, I was really shocked at how old fashioned this place was, to an extent where, a National minister could get everybody in Parliament standing up and clapping the Miss New Zealand contestants, and making a kind of lewd joke about having spent time with them in his office, and everybody laughing. I cannot imagine that happening now. And that is a good thing.”
Her work as an MP continued the work Logie did previously as an activist and with Women’s Refuge - supporting communities who were voiceless, and protecting society’s vulnerable. In her maiden speech in Parliament, Logie warned about a rise of individualism and called for an increased focus on family, community, and shared endeavour.
“I've regularly reflected on that as I've stayed in here and now when I'm leaving. I was focused on trying to have a sense of our shared responsibility and connection to each other and the environment. Because I don't believe individualism and a sense of pretending that we're not part of nature has served us."
Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
“Gender based violence has been an underlying shame on us as a country, and a drag on the potential of all of us. There's huge potential and joy in diversity. And I feel as if we're, we've moved in a positive sense. And I'm really proud too for the small things that I've been able to do as a part of that. Am I secure, in the sense that those really hard fought for gains will be able to keep progressing? No, I don't have security about that. I still have real frustration about the pace of change, particularly around those complex issues around climate change and gender-based violence.”
There are few MPs who use their hands and arms when speaking in the House as much as Logie. It feels simultaneously like her way of clearly expressing an argument and also a thought process in which the MP juggles the need for optimism with an inner rage over the systemic obstacles to change.
“I have to fight my own sense of impatience and frustration and tendency to focus on what's wrong, and actually give some space for the hope because, actually, we all need it,” she says.
Debating the issue not the person
During a parliamentary outreach visit to schools in Westport last year, Logie said the part of her job as an MP which she loved was being out among the community, whereas she hated the arguing and the bullying aspect of politics. As she prepares to leave Parliament, her frustration about the nature of discourse in the chamber remains clear.
“I'm never given talking points from anybody about what I need to say to kind of progress our political messaging. And that may be a weakness for the Greens. But I’m so grateful for that, because I cannot imagine how that is for these really intelligent people who care about issues, who've got these amazing work histories, to have to stand up and just spiel out talking points that they've been given by other people to fill a space. It's dire.
“I believe in focusing on the issue, not the person. That's quite clear cut for me. When I listen to speeches that are so dehumanising of people I care about, it’s very hard to sit there and listen to that. But I still believe as a strict rule that the debate should be about the content of what they're saying and the issues, not the dismissal and undermining of people, which is absolutely still a tactic in this place.
“How do we want to have conversations to enable us to deal with the challenges in front of us in ways that don't shut people down and protect people?”
MPs Jacinda Ardern and Jan Logie in the Social Services Select Committee listening to a submission on impacts of forced adoption practices, March 2017. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate - Cox
Conduit for collective interest
Logie is still as wary of “self-interested politicians” as she was before becoming an MP, but she’s also now more aware of the constraints of being a Member of Parliament.
“I think politicians are overpaid and over privileged, and [yet] I don't think that the core of what our job is, is properly recognised or resourced. Those things, I think, for most people would seem to be at odds with each other, but I don't think they are.”
Logie says she doesn’t know exactly what the post-Parliament future looks like for her. Now is time to reflect and take stock of her stint in Parliament. Describing community work as having saved her during earlier years, Logie also found the best way for her to operate as an MP was to be a “conduit for collective interest”.
“And so for me, that was kind of part of my goal, to be able to play that role for communities, and I hope - it hasn't been perfect - but I do hope I've been able to be that for people.
“There's so many really wonderful people in this place and in our Green team. And also like, shout out to the select committee staff and clerks who aren't really seen by the public, but are so mind bogglingly competent, and I think we should all be very grateful to them.
“I will definitely miss people. But I won't miss having to listen to the bullshit.”
Green Party MP Jan Logie at Parliament, 15 June 2023 Photo: Johnny Blades
