Chlöe Charlotte Swarbrick
Chlöe Charlotte Swarbrick MP (born 26 June 1994) is a New Zealand politician. Following a high-profile but unsuccessful run for the 2016 Auckland mayoral election, she became a parliamentary candidate for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, standing in the 2017 New Zealand general election and was elected as a member of the New Zealand Parliament at the age of 23. In the 2020 election, Swarbrick was elected as the Member of Parliament for Auckland Central, becoming the second Green Party MP ever to win an electorate seat, and the first without a tacit endorsement from a major party leader. She retained Auckland Central in the 2023 election.
Swarbrick is Green Party Spokesperson for Mental Health, Drug Law Reform, Education, Arts and Heritage, Tertiary Education, Small Business, Broadcasting, Youth and Local Government.
Parliament
OK Boomer
In November 2019 Swarbrick responded to then opposition spokesperson for climate change Todd Muller with the phrase OK boomer after he interrupted her speech on climate change. Swarbrick was commenting on the Zero Carbon bill, which aims to reduce net carbon emissions in New Zealand to zero by 2050, when she used the phrase. Although there was little reaction to her comment in Parliament, her two-word throwaway remark became a talking point in media around the world.[58] Writing in The Guardian, she said: "My 'OK boomer' comment in parliament was off-the-cuff, albeit symbolic of the collective exhaustion of multiple generations."
Documentaries
OK Chlöe
OK Chlöe is a short documentary film directed by Charlotte Evans and produced by Letisha Tate-Dunning. The film premiered online as part of the seventh season of "Loading Docs". The documentary is about the political career of Swarbrick.[18] The title "OK Chlöe" is based on the saying OK Boomer, which is a phrase that Swarbrick said during a parliamentary speech in reply to a heckle from a National Party MP. The reply became viral.[88] The film is about the full story of Swarbrick as she goes into details about both her personal life and professional life as a politician.
She talks about her work in legalising cannabis leading into the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum. It talks about how she feels being in the New Zealand Parliament, saying "Parliament is a toxic culture that chews people up and spits them out. You become inhuman and disconnected from the people you purport to represent." The film also talks about her background, from her personal life with her being adopted, struggles with mental health and coming out as bisexual, to her running for Auckland Mayor.[91] After the release of the documentary, John Campbell questioned Chloe on some of the statements said on the documentary.
OK Chlöe was partly crowdfunded on Boosted.org.nz with a goal of $2,500, but reached $6,270 with 82 donors. Loading Docs received $195,342 of NZ On Air funding to produce 8 documentaries, which included OK Chlöe.
Being Chloe
In December 2021, NZ On Air and the New Zealand Film Commission allocated NZ$200,000 and NZ$20,000 to a feature-length documentary focusing on the political career of Swarbrick called Being Chloe. The documentary's producer is Letisha Tate-Dunning and would be filmed over the next two years. In mid-May 2022, the ACT party leader David Seymour and National Party leader Christopher Luxon criticised NZ On Air's decision to fund the documentary, claiming that it compromised the government funding agency's independence. In response to criticism, Swarbrick and Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi defended NZ On Air's decision to fund Being Chloe. Tate-Dunning also claimed that neither Swarbrick, the Green Party or NZ On Air had any editorial control over the documentary, which she stated would focus on Swarbrick balancing her political career with her priorities.
Views
Arab-Israel Conflict
Swarbrick supports Palestine, and has expressed sympathy for the Palestinians suffering from oppression from the Israelis. On 11 May 2021, she and 16 other New Zealand Members of Parliament donned keffiyeh to mark World Keffiyeh Day.
In early November 2023, Swarbrick attracted criticism from ACT leader David Seymour, Israel Institute of New Zealand spokesperson David Cumin, and New Zealand Jewish Council leader Juliet Moses for chanting the controversial slogan from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free during a Palestine solidarity rally held in response to the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. In response to criticism, Swarbrick apologised to those who took offense at her use of the phrase. However, she also defended its use by Jewish and Palestinian peace activists and stated that it was anti-semitic to conflate the actions of the Israeli Government with the Jewish people.[99][100] Alternative Jewish Voices co-founder Marilyn Garson stated "the phrase was not a threat, but a call from the disempowered, dispossessed and oppressed for the regime of power to change." Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt, University of Otago senior lecturer Leon Goldsmith, and University of Auckland associate professor Stephen Hoadley expressed concern about the implications of the phrase for social cohesion.[1]
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