But for most politicians, politics is what various MPs who have been in Dunedin these recent days have done: a succession of small, quiet, off-the-radar meetings at which things — hopefully — are achieved.
Labour Manurewa MP Arena Williams for example, who slipped into Dunedin late last week for the traditional southern rite of passage all MPs have to go through, a tour around the KiwiRail Hillside facility.
So too does New Zealand First, which has also been a staunch supporter of Hillside. As a coalition partner of Labour it pushed for this project to be funded through the Provincial Growth Fund, and it too will want to promote that decision, not only as an NZF success story but as a model for what the reheated Regional Infrastructure Fund might achieve.
It was easy to miss, but in the Budget 2024 fine print funding remained in place for Hillside — a project which National, in opposition, strenuously questioned the viability of — which suggests that, for now, its future remains secure.
Speaking of New Zealand First, a decent percentage of its caucus was in Dunedin on Monday for several small meetings, including a visit by former broadcaster and current undersecretary for media and communications, Jenny Marcroft, to the hallowed offices of the Otago Daily Times, alongside local list MP Mark Patterson.
It was a busy day for Mr Patterson, who also had Tanya Unkovich, NZF’s spokeswoman for mental health and youth in town. Their main focus was a discretely arranged round table discussion between interested parties and civic leaders to discuss issues arising from the recent death at the Dunedin bus hub and how to prevent further such tragedies.
The Dunedin Youth Mental Health Round Table was inspired by New Zealand Student Council president and Otago Boys’ High School student Rohan O’Shea, and was intended to be a bi-partisan affair: Labour Dunedin MP Rachel Brooking, Act New Zealand Southland list MP Todd Stephenson and Taieri Green Party list MP Scott Willis were among the attendees.
Such cross-party efforts are not as rare as some might suppose, and this is one which hopefully will demonstrate some tangible results.
The hosting baton was, metaphorically speaking, handed to Mr Willis at this meeting, as towards the end of the week he had Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick as a visitor to Dunedin.
Her being in town is something of a regular occurrence: Ms Swarbrick has been a frequent visitor during her time in Parliament, her youth (she is 30) and exceptional and articulate presentation skills being key to keeping the party’s vital campus branch motivated.
Of course, her recent elevation to co-leader means Ms Swarbrick’s time is not as much her own as it once was — the Darleen Tana mess, something which once would have been someone else’s problem, remains a colossal distraction.
But that was not the focus of her Dunedin trip. Ms Swarbrick wanted very much to talk about the quality of rental housing and in particular student rental accommodation — a key issue for her and one which, lest we forget, she instigated a cross-party parliamentary inquiry into back in 2020.
Thanks to its large community of renting students the inquiry spent a lot of time in Dunedin and Ms Swarbrick is always keen for a trip south.
She has a case to make too, with party research suggesting that in Dunedin the percentage of weekly household income spent on rent is higher than the national average, and that between a quarter and a third of rental properties in the city are sometimes or always mouldy and/or damp.
However, these days Ms Swarbrick has things to do in Dunners other than hang on Castle St. She and her party have put enormous effort into raising the Green vote in Dunedin, and the local party’s mission for the 2023 election was to return a local Green MP.
In that aim they succeeded, in the form of Mr Willis. And, unexpectedly, Dunedin candidate Francisco Hernandez is now also an MP as well.
When she was confirmed as co-leader, Ms Swarbrick spoke ambitiously about the Greens becoming the main party of opposition, and to achieve such a lofty goal it will need to have local representation throughout New Zealand.
South of the Waitaki was a glaring exception until Mr Willis won his way to Parliament on the list, and with two southern MPs now the potential exists for the South to be a Green bastion, as it was when Metiria Turei was its local MP.
Hence, Ms Swarbrick’s two-day sojourn here, and her parting comment that she was not planning to be a stranger to this part of the world.
