Politicians need to appreciate fine New Zealand literature

Otago Daily Times

16-06-2025

Jacinda has written a book, and most bookshops have it in their non-fiction shelves, unlike all political parties' election manifestos which are, quite rightly, to be found in the fiction section.
But do our politicians know of other New Zealand fiction?
You may recall the politician who is his party's spokesman on the arts being unable to name any New Zealand novelists.
Act New Zealand's Todd Stephenson, a mere list MP of course, has been reported as "taking 20 minutes to think of a single New Zealand author and the only artistic experience he could think of was that he went to see the musical Hamilton in New York".
It is a painful duty to be obliged to poke the borax at a Southlander, but Mr Stephenson's ignorance is appalling.
Mr Stephenson was educated in Invercargill the hometown of Dan Davin, one of our best writers, but seems unaware of Davin's work.
He studied law at the University of Otago but Dunedin's status as a Unesco-designated City of Literature has not ignited a love of books in Act's spokesman.
Many law students leaven the drudgery of their subject by slipping in a paper from the English syllabus, but that option may have also passed him by.
While Mr Stephenson is merely the Act spokesman on the arts and can thus never have any real input into government policy, his literary lapse is of wider concern. Can it be that MPs are Philistines who read only order papers, the race results and recipe books?
Some would say that it is asking too much of a busy politician to spend time reading novels but some of our earlier politicians actually wrote some very passable fiction.
Sir Julius Vogel's Anno Domini 2000 is regarded as among the better utopian novels and Vincent Pyke churned out a couple of good books including Wild Bill Enderby, which is not a bad read.
Even two-term Otago MP William Baldwin (of steepest street fame) produced a novel of some merit called Tom Hungerford.
In later times, John A. Lee added greatly to our literature, some of his best-known works being actually produced during his time as an MP.
Some would say that the procession of biographical works by Robert Muldoon smacked of fiction but then how many political autobiographies tell the whole truth?
Mention must be made of another lover of good literature, Prime Minister Keith Holyoake, who once told an interviewer that one of his favourite books was On the Origin of the Species by Charles Dickens.
It would be unfair not to include ex-MP Michael Laws, who now graces the table at Otago Regional Council meetings and is no literary slouch. He wrote a novel, Dancing With Beelzebub, which is described by one reviewer as "a sleazy crime novel set in Whanganui", of which city Mr Laws was once the mayor. And what about Mr Laws' biography of a hooker — Gladiator: the Norm Hewitt Story?
Mr Stephenson's literary ignorance may well be matched by a similar lack of knowledge among MPs generally and this needs to be rectified.
You will be aware that the government has decreed that from now on students from years 0–8 are to be given an average of one hour a day of reading, writing and maths.
I've already suggested to the Minister of Education Erica Stanford that a new clause be added to that edict which requires, "every member of Parliament to attend four one-hour sessions each week to improve their knowledge of New Zealand literature and the arts and to learn to use a more acceptable form of the English language".
The minister is enthusiastic about the proposal — although she doubts if her colleagues will ever handle the language requirement — and she has suggested the programme be handled by a "Kiwi Kulture Kommittee", which she has offered to chair.
Ms Stanford reminded me that she has a first-class honours degree in political studies with a minor in Maori studies and has been involved in export sales roles for local manufacturers.
I was loathe to point out that such an impressive resume may well have left some gaps in her knowledge of New Zealand writers, artists and film-makers but it seemed churlish to quiz her on the subject and there is always the chance I'd be left with egg on my face if she canvassed my opinion on the works of, say, New Zealand author Eleanor Catton who is world famous but whom I've never read.
I'll send Mr Stephenson a couple of books to start him on the road of remedial reading. Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary From Donaldson's Dairy and Barry Crump's A Good Keen Man are both excellent examples of their genres and ideal for an unlettered politician trying to come to grips with our country's literary heritage.
—​​​​​​​ Jim Sullivan is a Patearoa writer.