The exuberant, energised and youthful Chloe Swarbrick was our guest speaker this week.  Chloe came to our notice last year when at age 22, she decided to run for the Auckland Mayoralty.  Why?  Because after interviewing the top four candidates for a radio show, she was genuinely uninspired by their vision and then got "really worked up" when she learned that voter turnout was sitting at only 34%.  
 
A quick google search on "How to Run for Mayor" told her what she needed to do and thus began her political experiment to see if she could get more people engaged in the campaign and actually turning out to vote.  Despite joining the race much later than the other candidates, Chloe came in third with 30,000 votes.

Her back story: Chloe attended Epsom Girls Grammar, but disenchanted with High School, left in Year 12 and went to University of Auckland one year earlier than normal. Stating she "likes to rush through things" Chloe fast tracked a six-year conjoint Bachelor of Arts (in Philosophy) and Law into just four-and-a-half years.
 
She started her first business while in her first year at Uni, with her very tall partner Alex, who couldn't find suitable clothing.  Together they started a menswear line and learnt everything.  Obviously with energy to spare, also in the first year at Uni she started work at the student radio station in the Newsroom as a news writer, then a news reader, before becoming a producer and eventually host of The Wire.
 
She has since been involved in a culture and lifestyle blog to provide a platform for all the talented young artists and designers she and her friends knew and went on to create a physical space where they could sell their wares via a series of pop up markets called 'The Goods'.   The latest venture as been to open a permanent gallery space in Mt Eden called "Olly", where coffee and donuts have been added to help pay the rent.
 
After her Mayoralty campaign, Chloe thought "what next?" and people where also asking "what next?".  She took three weeks out to think about it and then decided to join the Green Party because "I strongly believe that New Zealand values are Green values".  Stating that Climate Change and Inequality were two issues that got her "amped up", Chloe was quick to posit that "clean green" is not true of NZ anymore and she is keen to confront issues in a way that is solutions focused.  She is intensely interested in issues affecting her friends and people her age, particularly Housing and Transport. She is passionate about the "warm up out homes" scheme advising that 70% of our rental housing is not adequately insulated. She touched on how the rental population is transient, and as a result people are less likely to know work mates and even less like to know their neighbours and community.  This lack of connection to community leads to many of our mental health issues.  She is  passionate about building "community" again and cleverly noted how Rotary contributes to the community and the sense of community. 
 
Chloe describes herself as a nerd who wants to do hard work.  She see's the Green's as agitators and disruptive.  For her the Green Party represents aspiration, ambition and working together.