KEY POINTS:
Katya Paquin, petite and wearing a Deborah Sweeney designer dress, and her partner Green Party co-leader Russel Norman are snuggled together in what could pass as a ramshackle student flat in an old Hataitai villa.
There's a cheese board and Milton's organic wine on offer amid the bohemian
chic decor, a collection of mismatched and borrowed furniture dominated by a large home-made bookcase crammed with many books and CDs.
Here they have entertained Paquin's famous sister Anna when she visits from Hollywood, where she has found fame after nabbing the part of Flora in the Jane Campion film The Piano in 1993.
Katya Paquin, now 29, went as 12-year-old to an open audition with a friend after the friend's mother read an ad in the paper. Paquin and her friend were among a bunch of youngsters who turned up.
"We were not a theatre family at all. I'd never done any acting or anything like that." Neither had younger sister Anna, but she tagged along for the experience.
"My sister came with us but we were too old for the part. I am three years older so that's quite a big difference for that role, but it's funny how things work out."
Katya doesn't remember Anna's gasping Oscar acceptance speech: "I think I may have been at school. I think I got the news over the phone - it was really great."
Now Paquin talks about the tumour growing in her brain with the same clarity and determination with which her partner talks about politics. "I am hoping to get through this," she says.
Paquin's had surgery on the tumour and faces more in the future. She's had gruelling treatment and takes medication daily, but sidesteps questions about its severity.
"I don't want to go into too much detail but, you know, I am hoping to get through this."
There's laughter and kisses and cuddles with Norman, 41. The room is filled with their love.
Diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago, Paquin has been "kind of dealing with it ever since".
She downplays the gravity of her medical condition, using words such as "tricky health stuff" to describe all that she is going through.
"I mean a lot of people have difficulties that they have to deal with and we are trying to deal with it as best as we can.
"All I can say is that you can't ask for a better partner than Russel if you have to deal with something like this. You know it's not ideal but we have had really, really good care and we have had a lot of support from our friends and family."
The couple met in the Greens' parliamentary office in 2002 - he was a secretary and she was an intern. He is a incurable romantic - he occasionally surprises her with flowers and perfume.
The couple are not married, but they did have a ring-swapping ceremony at their house three years ago - Paquin wore black. The Paquin siblings are close and Anna and brother Andrew, both living in Los Angeles where they worked on a film, Blue State, together, have visited. Anna comes out to New Zealand once a year and stays with their mother Mary in Wellington.
"When Kat's been sick Anna's been really, really good," says Norman.
"All of Kat's family have been, actually, so when the chips are down who comes out and helps you, you always value those people and you never forget them.
"So when Kat's been bad, Anna's been there. She's great."
In the future is an operation on the tumour, in the meantime there's medication and a healthy lifestyle befitting the Greens' image.
They buy mostly organic food and share the cooking. Norman's favourite is puttanesca (an Italian pasta dish). They are "on and off" vegetarians, rarely eating meat, recycling enthusiasts and have three worm farms on the go - one on the balcony and two "out the back". There's even one in the office, to which Norman variously buses, cycles or walks.
The Toyota Corolla outside is rarely used, apart from when Paquin uses it to drive to her social netball games.
Norman is a bit annoyed about the bus stop across the road: "We are trying to convince them to put a bus shelter there. You can imagine what the southerlies are like."
The couple's combined dedication to the cause goes back to their first meeting at work. Their common aim now, apart from conquering Paquin's tumour, is to help the Greens get across the 5 per cent vote threshold at the general election.
Paquin, who has a law degree and an honours degree in politics and philosophy, is head of the party's parliamentary advisory team. The team's role, she says, is to give advice to the Green MPs.
"Brilliant advice," Norman quips.
So does Norman always follow it?
"I hope he doesn't, you wouldn't want a puppet would you?" Paquin retorts, in good humour.
It's a campaign that will be run very differently this time around, they say, a campaign which will be strictly independent from Labour. There will be no "Jeanette and Helen limo" shots after Labour's deal with New Zealand First in 2005.
"I felt she [Clark] sold us down the river," says Norman. "I think it was a bit of a shock to the party, to all of us.
"I think the whole situation made us determined to become more independent of Labour and the election campaign is not like last time in terms of the relationship with Labour... we are running a very independent campaign."
As for whether Clark and Labour can be trusted, Norman laughs. "I'd trust them to do what's in their best interests... they will do what suits them and I think that was the lesson from last time and we have learned that lesson well."
Based on the polls Labour is "clearly" in trouble and "those polls have been pretty consistent".
With the Greens now wary of Labour, Norman says they would consider working with National.
"It depends on policy. If we could have an agreement on a public transport system for Auckland, reduce our greenhouse emissions - for us it's about policy gains so we will work on that basis with whoever, that's what it's got to be about."
A coalition partner would need to deliver on key Green Party policies, Norman says. That's about looking at the long term, he says, not just the next 10 or 20 years.
"That's why we put children on our billboards, so when these kids are 50 years old what's the plan? It's about having a long-term vision of the planet.
"We are a lot stronger on the social issues than Labour so we have campaigned long and hard against poverty. Poverty is a disaster, socially, economically... fundamentally it is about sustainability for us. How do we actually live on this planet if we plan to stay here?"
Norman's upbringing was working-class. "My dad was studying because we didn't have a lot of money... So [mum] used to bring in a lot of ironing, she was always ironing other people's clothes. And she used to deliver pamphlets to letterboxes. I have many memories of following mum around delivering leaflets and all the dogs attacking us."
He admits that yes, he would like to be Prime Minister of New Zealand one day.
"To be honest, for us it's about change. We want to create change whatever roles... I mean, hell, I never expected to be co-leader of the Greens."
And New Zealand has a great history of change, Norman points out. "The first Labour Government under Michael Savage was revolutionary. The things they did were completely unacceptable at the time, they became the norm."
Norman's career in politics was almost accidental. He grew up in the poor suburbs of Brisbane and studied medicine for three-and-a-half years with the idea of working as a doctor in a Third World country.
"But after a while I thought it's not about being a doctor, it's about changing the world. A lot is about politics, about what's wrong in the world so I got more and more interested in politics and not finishing medicine."
He counts Jeanette Fitzsimons and the late Rod Donald among his political heroes.
"This is the first election campaign without him," he says. "I think we are all thinking 'Oh, I wonder what Rod would have thought or done'."
Not becoming a doctor is something he regrets a little, he admits.
"I think my life would have been very different had I finished medicine. It meant I would have had to go to places, poor places where people needed doctors."
Norman says neither he nor his parents were particularly environmentally aware when he was young. "It was something I learned later."
But he does recall his parents being grateful for a state system that provided public services.
"My parents were from poor backgrounds.
"They communicated to us the value of state education, health and housing, so it's not hard to be influenced by that."
And now he is particularly grateful for the public health system, which is treating his partner's tumour. "It does make you value the health system."
"It's been bloody amazing," says Paquin.
"I am sure everyone has their own story but ours has been pretty amazing."
