Dialogue: Bond-building with Nandor

By ELISABETH EASTHER

I've always admired Green MP Nandor Tanczos - the way he's gone about things, his strongly held beliefs, his dreads and taking hemp into Parliament.

It doesn't hurt, either, that I've always felt bonded by our shared Hungarian ancestry.

But it wasn't until I met a woman on a beach - a surfcasting Janis Joplin, if you want to picture her - that I felt obliged to make contact with Nandor. The fishing woman was concerned that the council and police in Northland were spraying the countryside liberally with poison.

She had written to Nandor and spoke passionately of irreparable consequences of the spraying. Problem was, she had no idea how to get the letter to him, so I said I would ensure that it reached him.

The business of making contact reminded me how much I love New Zealand, because here we can connect with the most amazing people, simply by making a phone call.

Dinner this week? "Sure," he says, "why not?" I had heard he was approachable, now I know it's true.

It was a Friday in Wellington, the food was Malaysian and the dress code urban jungle chic. As you can imagine, people looked twice - he's just that kind of guy. Some people may have stared because of the impressive dreadlocks spun round his head, but I think most of the looks stemmed from the fact that he was a recognisable MP out and about with the people.

With six of us at dinner, he could have been overwhelmed, but he's not shy, although he is unassuming. He was chatty and charming, even wondering several times if he should have said certain things out loud.

Yes, he is an oddity, a political curiosity who went into Parliament with the same attitude as he approached university - expecting nothing, so anything positive is a pleasant surprise.

There are a lot of people in Parliament with good intentions. Even when you disagree with someone, if that person's heart is in the right place, there is always a possibility he or she can be reasoned with.

With that as a philosophy, he gets on with most people and, despite the catcalls with which he is regularly heckled, he has no unkind words for any of his colleagues. He wouldn't be led when I encouraged him to slander a few.

He agrees that he disagrees ideologically with some of them, but the closest he came to putting anyone down was to wonder how the finance and expenditure select committee gets on, considering it consists of Winston Peters, Rodney Hide and John Tamihere.

One question he is frequently asked: is it too late to make a difference?

No, it is not too late, he says. In fact, it's the only option we have. If you expect to live, and he does, you have to live better. It's as simple as that.

We could have paradise in New Zealand if we set our minds to it. As individuals, we're powerless to change anything, but we can if we use critical mass.

We are very well off and, while things are not perfect, we have the opportunity to make improvements.

I don't think problems are solved by policy-making alone. Individually and as a species, what keeps us alive is relationships between people, then between people and the planet. The environment is often considered "over there," but it's not. We are very much part of it.

Nandor favours a more simple approach. We don't need any more machines or cars or PlayStations, not when there are people in the world who cannot even afford to dig a well.

Nandor's 34 years old, good-hearted and sharp, and I really like what he says. Parliament may never fully represent society, because it attracts a certain type of person, but through Nandor's presence people like me will be more fairly heard.

There was an element of Enraged Constituent to my part in the evening, but I've since decided that being Nandor must be a little like being a doctor.

People find out someone is a medic and within seconds they're discussing their ailments. With a Green MP, it's environmental, not medical.

Instead of "Oh, you're a doctor. Would you take a look at this rash?" it's "My next-door neighbour is dumping uranium in my compost."

I don't think Nandor minds. He even considers it a big part of the job. So he's got the letter, and perhaps he will be able to help.

As for me, I had an excellent time and am satisfied that democracy is alive and well in New Zealand because regular people can talk to those who are in charge.

I will be voting for Nandor again.