Meet the Backbenchers: Barbara Kuriger

We go inside the Beehive to get see what’s got MPs buzzing. Today: Barbara Kuriger.

What was it like to ride in a V8 Supercar?

It was good. You're all strapped in and you have this massive helmet on your head and your head feels like it's too big for your body. You do feel those G forces on the corners.

• Fun Fact: For my 50th birthday, my children bought me a parachute jump out of an aeroplane. That was pretty scary for a while, but you didn't have much time to concentrate because you were so busy squeezed into the plane. Once the parachute came out, I was sitting up in the sky going, 'How long can we make this last?' It was just so peaceful ... after the parachute had opened.

If you could be fluent in a second language, what would it be?

I would really love to learn Māori. Every now and then I get a few words on a piece of paper and I do my greeting, and I just don't do enough of it.

Have you ever used cannabis?

No I haven't, and I've never smoked a cigarette either. The reason for the cigarette is that my father told us when we were growing up, if we didn't smoke - because he used to smoke - he would give us $50 when we were 21. I didn't see the point in smoking cigarettes, and I'm not interested in smoking cannabis.

What's your view on personal use of cannabis?

I am a believer in medicinal cannabis with the right regulation around it. In terms of freeing up the use of loose leaf cannabis, I'm not in favour at all. It's pretty damaging to young people, and I wouldn't like to see that opened up.

If you could take a (Government or Opposition) MP to dinner who would it be, where would you take them and what would you want to talk about?

James Shaw and I have a great respect for each other. I see James as someone with high ideals in terms of [the] environment ... but he's one of the ones that I see is most open to 'here we are now, this is where we need to go, how can we work through that transition, what are the steps, what's it going to cost?'

What movie, book or concert have you enjoyed this year?

The book I keep going back to is 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I really love, 'seek first to understand, and then to be understood', and 'think win-win'. In politics, if you put two pegs in the ground and one at each end, you don't make any progress. You've got to look to the middle in some way, shape or form.

Barbara Kuriger

• 58
• MP for Taranaki-King Country since 2014
• Married to Louis, three adult children, five grandchildren.
• General likes and dislikes: My husband and I are both V8 Supercars fans. I've been in a V8 Supercar with Craig Lowndes at 260kmh.