[10] Abel has publicly advocated for peaceful civil disobedience as a means to resisting the oil industry and achieving political action to address climate change.

[22] On preliminary results, Abel was ranked one place too low to enter Parliament on the Green party list,[23] but took part in the induction for new MPs in case he was elected after the counting of special votes.

[27] In late November 2023, Abel assumed the Green Party's agriculture, animal welfare, food safety, Māori-Crown relations: Te Arawhiti, Just Transitions, resources and racing spokesperson portfolios.

[28] During the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, Abel attended a Palestinian solidarity rally where he joined fellow Green MPs Chlöe Swarbrick, Ricardo Menéndez March and Darleen Tana in chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

[32] Journalist Graham Reid described Abel as, "A refined writer whose lyrics have a bone-bare quality – the sound of someone writing and singing from a place where there is no guile, just hard truth and clear eyes.

"[33] Having moved to live in Geneva in 2008,[34] and encouraged by fellow musician Delaney Davidson, Abel entered and won The Saddest Song in the World Competition in Berlin in May 2009.

[35] He played at the CMJ music festival in New York later that year, and in November began recording his third album Luck/Hope with Jolie Holland, Shahzad Ismaily and Grey Gersten at Manhattan's Rivington 66 Studio.