Jonathan Coleman adjusts to life in the limelight

Politics can be ruthless and first-term MPs must learn quickly how to keep out of trouble.

Dr Jonathan Coleman discovered the hard way that politicians are scrutinised by the public for their every action.

In 2006, the National MP for Northcote accepted an invitation to watch U2 from British American Tobacco’s corporate box at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium. Smoke from Coleman’s cigar led to an altercation which saw the former GP knocked unconscious.

“Basically, and this is where I say perception became reality, how it was reported in the paper was never really how it happened. I’d always had this approach as a doctor that I’ll take information from anyone. If a drug company wants to come see me, that’s fine. I’ll make up my own mind.

“So I got this invitation and I thought, ‘oh well, I’m never going to vote in favour of anything in favour of tobacco anyway, so it doesn’t matter’.”

He now recognises that was a mistake.

“The fact that you’re there, people think that you support that cause. Now that was a big lesson.”

The Sunday Star Times reported he allegedly blew cigar smoke in the face of a woman in the box next to British American Tobacco’s.

Keen to tell his side of what happened that night, Coleman says his hosts gave him a cigar, which he smoked, but he was conscious about where the smoke was blowing.

“These people from the booth beside us threw water all over me. Basically I put the cigar out straightaway and got in an argument with them and asked for an apology.

“This guy was in the process of apologising when his mate came up behind me and punched me out cold.”

He was advised not to talk to the media and told if he did not comment they could not report the story.

“That was completely untrue,” he says.

“All that meant was my side of the story never got into the paper.”

Much of the criticism he received was for being a guest in a corporate box at the expense of a tobacco company.

“The thing is with politics, explaining is losing,” he says.

“You are never going to be able to explain your way out of that one.

“But I’m not worried about it, a lot of time has gone on since then. Quite frankly, I don’t think people care about it. I only got about two emails from my electorate complaining.”

When asked what he knows now that he wishes he knew prior to his first term in Parliament, Coleman says he has had to accept the public will scrutinise his actions and hold him to certain standards.

“You become an MP and you think, ‘no one really knows me, maybe a few people locally’, but in actual fact wherever you go people do know you.

“You do have to be aware that as an MP people do hold you to different standards,” he says. “When I’m in the electorate, it’s not like I have to go around in a suit and tie. I often go round in shorts and a T-shirt, but you’ve just got to be aware that however you present yourself, people will notice you.

“People are out to criticise you as an MP.

“If you’re driving badly, if you’re speeding, if you’re running red lights – not that I do this stuff – if you’re thinking you can sneak through on the orange light on a right hand turn, people will ring you.”

To further illustrate his point, Coleman mentions several circumstances he must avoid, no matter how unlikely.

“If they see me, not that I do this, but if they see me drunk at a restaurant, perception becomes reality, and all of a sudden I become the drunken MP.

“Whatever you do, people will form a judgement on it. It’s just small stuff, I wouldn’t wander around in the electorate without having had a shave anymore.”

And it is to his electorate that Coleman feels most bound and he is proud of the community ties he has created in his first term as an MP.

“What I’ve achieved, I think, at a local level is I’ve given people good representation, so that they know that when they do have issues they can come here  [electoral office]. They will get action.

“On a small scale I’ve achieved a lot for individual people. It’s not necessarily stuff that will make the headlines.”

He says the highlight of the first term was getting elected in 2005, taking the Northcote seat from Labour’s Ann Hartley, who had held it since 1999.

“It was the only seat we won off Labour in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin.”

Another achievement he is proud of is the National Party broadcasting policy he helped draw up. As broadcasting spokesperson he has spent nearly two years consulting people in the sector and is enthusiastic about the opportunity to bring his policy into effect.

“I feel very pleased that I’ve achieved the production of a really decent broadcasting policy which I’m hoping we will be able to implement; well, if we get into government.”

He says National’s plans for broadcasting promote transparency and accountability within the sector and will make TVNZ charter funding contestable for all free-to-air broadcasters through NZ On Air.

Coleman is precise when he speaks, affirming each point with several examples and recapping each answer with bullet point summaries, ticked off finger by finger. He believes his previous experience as a general practitioner helps not only in health select committees, but also in his position as an electorate MP.

“As a politician you are making decisions that affect people’s lives, and I think being a doctor gives you the context to know actually how difficult it is for people out there.

“I’ve been into all sorts of homes in New Zealand. I know how the poorest people live. I know how the wealthiest people live and everyone in between, because I’ve actually dealt with people long term.”

Even with this experience and his business education (he has an MBA), Coleman still sees Parliament as a hostile place to work.

“Even though you know it is going to be a tough, abrasive environment, I just don’t think anyone can really prepare you for how ruthless and impersonal it can be,” he says.

Coleman spends most of his spare time with his young family.

Given the demands of politics – long hours spent away from home – why did a family man like him get involved?

“I felt quite strongly about the direction I saw New Zealand going in under a centre-left government. There were some things I wanted to see corrected,” he says.

“It’s all very well to say that, but unless you are prepared to take action, if you get to retirement age towards the later part of your life and you don’t like what you see in the country, you’ve only got yourself to blame if you haven’t got involved.

“The motivation is to see policies put in place that actually make a difference to the country and to the well-being of New Zealanders.”

Expect to see a lot of Dr Jonathan Coleman out campaigning in the streets of the Northcote electorate; just don’t expect to see him out there with stubble. Or a cigar.