When Green Party rising star Lan Pham was growing up – long before she entered the world of politics – she wasn’t sure 'how to use [her] brain'. Photo / Star News
When Green Party rising star Lan Pham was growing up – long before she entered the world of politics – she wasn’t sure 'how to use [her] brain'. Photo / Star News
When Green Party rising star Lan Pham was growing up – long before she entered the world of politics – she wasn’t sure “how to use [her] brain”.
But something clicked when she began training as a freshwater ecologist, and later started working for the Department of Conservation. Suddenly, she understood her purpose.
“It wasn’t until I started encountering actual issues in the environment and society that I started realising there was a place for me to be thinking about these things,” she told Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night.
“And most importantly, communicating these issues to spread the message and get other people involved.”
Pham, who grew up in Wellington, studied in Dunedin and now lives in Christchurch, has proven herself adept at communicating the issues.
She cut her teeth in community engagement working with South Island communities to ensure better protection for local waterways. But she grew frustrated that the good she was achieving on a small scale was being derailed by housing intensification and drained wetlands.
It was this that first prompted Pham to consider a move into local body politics.
In 2016, Pham launched a campaign for the Canterbury Regional Council while on a year-long placement on Raoul Island in the Kermadecs – a five-day, 1800km boat ride away – and got the shock of her life when she returned to Christchurch as the city’s highest-polling candidate.
“It solidified for me that these roles of decision-making on our council and in government, they’re just sitting there waiting for good, decent people who want to make a difference to actually run for them – and if you do, you can be successful and be elected.”
Pham’s political success hasn’t gone unnoticed. Last month, the Green Party swooped in to place her sixth on the party list ahead of established MPs Golriz Ghahraman and Ricardo Menéndez March. She will contest the Banks Peninsula electorate at the 2023 general election.
MP Ricardo Menéndez March, the Green Party's immigration spokesman. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Born to a Catholic mother and a Buddhist father, Pham says spirituality has had an impact on how she views the world.
“I grew up knowing my Mum and Dad had very different beliefs and it was up to each one of us to figure out the world for ourselves, and I really appreciated that,” she told Cowan.
“For me, it’s just about the wonder and absolute awe of nature itself, and the life within that… I don’t see myself as practising any one religion, but I’m a huge believer in the preciousness and wonder of life.”
Pham’s philosophy to correcting the ills of society comes down to human and ecosystem health: “If we are well and the environment’s well, then we’re really going to start evolving as human beings.”
Her motivation to speak up is about “fairness and intergenerational justice”, she says.
“It’s about leaving ideally a better future, or at least as good a place as we had when we were growing up.
“I never, ever want to get into the blame game. We as humans are collectively at this point in time as a result of so many things, so I don’t hold any bad feelings toward older generations.
“But we all have a part to play in changing our future. We can all take agency and be part of this change. We just need to decide we do need to things differently, because complacency is the big issue.”
