Clayton Mitchell MP reflects on his first year in Parliament. Photo/John Borren.
Clayton Mitchell MP reflects on his first year in Parliament. Photo/John Borren.
It's 8.15am and Clayton Mitchell is on his third cup of coffee.
He's been up since 3.15am to watch the All Blacks play Argentina, waking half an hour before kickoff to iron his shirt before his usual round of Monday meetings at Mt Maunganui, central Tauranga and Papamoa.
"My new world is a lot of meetings," the New Zealand First MP says.
As well as meetings, Mitchell is finding the job of list MP involves three times the reading of his previous role as a Tauranga City councillor.
"It's not uncommon to get a 300- or 400-page document dumped on your desk at 5 o'clock," he says. "Sometimes I've been given a document in the morning and told 'you're speaking to that this afternoon'."
For someone who is not a born reader - Mitchell claims to have read only a dozen books in his life and lasted just five or six hours at university before building a career in owning pubs and bars - that must be daunting then?
"No, I like it," he says. "I'm much better when I've got lots on my plate. My philosophy in business was always bite off more than you can chew and then chew like billy-o to get through it all, so I guess it's the same in politics. The busier I am, the better I perform, and the more I enjoy it. I like the pressure."
He prides himself on discipline, saying he never drank on the job at his bars and has always watched what he eats. Applying the approach that saw him become a judo black belt and boxing coach, he is also disciplined about setting time aside for Parliamentary reading.
"It's not the sexy side of it, but the downside is, what's very unsexy, is going to a meeting and not knowing what's going on. That's the part that gives me the heebie-jeebies."
Mitchell blames the reading for a new pair of dark-framed specs he wears to our interview at the Mount's Tay Street Beach Cafe. He admits he's also put on a few kilos since becoming an MP, but is adamant they will come off with swimming and surf lifesaving at home in the Bay this summer.
He is wearing a three-piece suit with a polkadot tie, a pair of cufflinks bearing the Parliamentary crest, and an All Blacks scarf. His sharp dress sense has not gone unnoticed during the year. He says his first year in Parliament has been one of exponential learning in a more positive sense, including increasing his vocabulary.
Temerity, iconoclastic, Orwellian and usury are among the hundreds of words Mitchell has compiled in a list on his phone after hearing them used by other politicians. He is loathe to let me look at the list - "It might show my lack of intelligence" - but after researching the words, he tries to use them once.
Clayton Mitchell MP. Photo/John Borren
"But [in general] I try not to use big words. I literally try and use a genuine language that I've always used to just keep myself real, and be who I am, and try not to be who I'm not."
He says he uses less expletives than in the past but he still talks fast and incessantly - a trait of which he is well aware, twice telling me, "I can talk a glass eye to sleep".
Several times during our interview, he banters with staff at the cafe, and says dealing with people is the most natural part of being an MP for him.
He finds debating daunting, but is liking it far more than he anticipated and after his first speech in the House when he was "sweating swimming pools", he quickly learned to use bullet points and speak from the heart.
He thinks Labour's Phil Goff is a good speaker and loves the "magnificent" style of NZ First leader Winston Peters.
"I've seen him arrive with a written, prepared speech and not even use it and fill up a room with laughter and engagement." Mitchell says he dislikes the "pulling down tactics" of National MPs and set a goal when he got into Parliament that he "wouldn't just throw stones for stone's sake".
I don't take lightly the opportunity that I've been given here. I have no idea how long I will be in politics for, but I'll just keep up the good fight.
So is Parliament a hornet's nest?
"For the media, the play-up in the House can be a bit of theatre. And that's the hornet's nest. I guess that's the rugby field, where the rucks and mauls [happen]But in true Kiwi fashion, what plays on the field, stays on the field. There's a few people that hold over resentment out of the House from things you might have said, but the majority of people let that go and you can sit down and actually have a discussion, or you can go on select committee and debate or put your point. That's actually quite refreshing, I like that."
A year on the job has changed his attitude to what he used to call "bloody lazy politicians".
"I am blown away with how much work there isTo even do a half-assed job, you've got to work bloody hard, and if you're doing a really good job, then I take my hat off to you, because you really are committing yourself to a whole other level of busyness."
Mitchell is now his party's deputy whip and helped write the scheduling for the Rugby World Cup's extended alcohol licensing hours. He is on the transport and industrial relations select committee and, as a list MP, is exploring local issues around the country, travelling to Stewart Island (to champion a moratorium on shark-cage diving), Christchurch, Invercargill, the Waikato, Hawke's Bay and, the highlight of his year, a month in Northland trailing Winston Peters as he triumphed in the region's by-election (Mitchell calling it "an ignominious defeat" for National).
Mitchell found watching the 70-year-old Peters in action astounding, saying, "He's got the energy of a 25-year-old."
"He's [also] got a memory like an elephantHe'll bump into somebody in the street and they'll say, 'you might not remember me', and he'll tell them where he met them. It just blows me away, his mind. He's a consummate. He understands how it works."
These days, Mitchell is finding politics is all everyone wants to talk to him about too, and he recently got recognised in jeans and Converse sneakers on a plane to Wellington.
Clayton Mitchell and family. Jazmin Mitchell (left), Erika Mitchell, Oliver Mitchell, Clayton Mitchell and William Mitchell. Photo/file
He is seeing less of his friends, but his reset with them is half a day claybird shooting and, unless he has urgent engagements, Saturday and Sunday are family time with wife Erika and their three children, aged 4, 7 and 9.
In our 75-minute interview, Mitchell gives vociferous opinions on a range of political issues.
He resents the push to change the flag, saying he is "proud of our history" and calling the $26 million cost of the referendum "a blight on the Government". He says home ownership is key to conquering inequalities in wealth, while the sale of New Zealand banks and land to foreign investors is the reason he stopped being a National supporter and moved his allegiance to "the comfort of a nationalistic party".
He takes umbrage at any suggestion of xenophobia. "Let's clear this up. I am pro-investment. What I'm opposed to is foreign investment at the expense of New Zealanders' jobs and welfare."
He has a private member's bill in the ballot that would make being drunk or drug-affected in public a crime because, at the moment, he says, the law unfairly targets the alcohol licence-holders rather than the intoxicated individuals.
He is confident of NZ First's chances at the next election, predicting it will win 20 seats.
"We're not going to have... (Kim Dotcom) interfering, with Mana Internet, they're gone. Colin Craig's goneThe Greens, I shake my head sometimes, lovely people, but some of their policies leave a lot to be desired."
In terms of the Bay, he believes the region is suffering serious growing pains and, although he views the new Tauranga Eastern Link as a great piece of infrastructure, he says, "Tauranga road users are going to be paying for that road for 35 years and some."
He credits NZ First with getting the Government to transfer $63 million of debt for Route K off Tauranga City Council's books, saying that goal was a prime reason he finally succumbed to calls to stand for central Government.
After he was elected, Mitchell stood down from his role at the Tauranga council, despite initially proclaiming that he wanted to combine it with being MP.
"I didn't want to let people that had supported me down, so that was my intention."
Mitchell has since sold all his bars, saying his focus is his family and politics.
"I don't take lightly the opportunity that I've been given here. I have no idea how long I will be in politics for, but I'll just keep up the good fight."
Clayton Mitchell, New Zealand First list MP Age: 43 How would you sum up your first year in Parliament in a word? Stimulating Biggest high? Northland by-election Lowest low? Media can be your friends and they can be your enemy, as I found out. I don't like that dirty politics, those character assassination attempts. How do you rate your performance after a year? Effort 100 per cent. Outcome seven out of 10. Keen to continue for another term? Yes Preferred flag? The [existing] New Zealand flag Prediction for Rugby World Cup final? New Zealand/England
