Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson returned to Parliament last month after medical leave for breast cancer treatment. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson returned to Parliament last month after medical leave for breast cancer treatment. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson has opened up about her experience with breast cancer, which came during one of the most difficult periods in the history of her party.
In June last year, Davidson announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and required a mastectomy. She took the rest of 2024 off during her treatment and only returned to work last month.
Her diagnosis came after a string of challenges for the Greens. Golriz Ghahraman resigned as an MP in January after being caught shoplifting, Efeso Collins died suddenly in February, Julie Anne Genter was investigated by the Privileges Committee over behaviour in Parliament, and there was a lengthy legal battle between the party and first-term MP Darleen Tana.
Speaking to Paula Bennett on her NZ Herald podcast, Ask Me Anything, Davidson said she was having to contend with this during her treatment.
“We got taken to the Supreme Court, Chlöe [Swarbrick] and I as co-leaders, during the Darleen stuff. I was literally out of surgery the same day. So still dealing with some of that during chemotherapy.”
She said that she didn’t want to be dealing with it, but it was unavoidable at times.
Eventually, it got to a point where her team intervened and told her to “get the hell out” and focus on her recovery.
“This was what they told me. ‘Your only job, your most important job, is to help us, Marama, is to get better.’ And putting it like that, I actually felt a responsibility then.
“I was like, actually, the best I can do for the team is to focus on getting well. So when I eventually could remove myself, yes, I did.”
Getting her diagnosis was a shock for Davidson, and being in the public eye added an extra layer to going through it.
To get some insight into what to do, she went to see former National Party politician Nikki Kaye, who had taken leave from Parliament in 2016 after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Kaye, who died last November, was one of the first people Davidson told.
“She knew before my husband, she knew before any of my children. She knew before a lot of my MPs.
“I went straight to her because she was a minister for the Crown at the time she was diagnosed, and I was a co-leader, and the advice I got from Nikki was precisely around balancing that.”
Former National Party politician Nikki Kaye was one of the first people Davidson told about her cancer diagnosis. Photo / Audrey Young
Davidson said she “gatecrashed” a meeting Kaye was at in Albany and the former politician thought it was just a catch-up.
“And then I dropped the news on her and she just stood up without words, immediately walked around the table to my side, gave me the biggest, longest hug.
“I think in a way she was sort of saying, ‘Oh, holy s***, Marama, I’m sorry’, ’cause she was, she knew what was about to be in store.
“And then she stayed in contact with me. We stayed in contact, swapping Netflix recommendations, book recommendations. She kept checking in on how I was going, sharing advice about our bodies and what they’re needing.
“I always had a relationship with her, always, but to have had that time to know her on an even more personal way in those last months of her life is a privilege that I will carry with me forever.”
There was a time during chemotherapy where Davidson was experiencing multiple side-effects and she thought she would never be able to go back to work.
But returning during Waitangi, while a big adjustment after months staying home, was a wonderful experience.
" It was a beautiful way to come back to work. But whoo... I remember going back to my MPs on a Zoom just before Christmas, and I had a lot of time to reflect on the difference from [how] I had just spent months to all the many years of the work, and I remember saying to my MPs, ‘Have you fellas seen your jobs? They’re really hard!’“
While there are parts of the job that Davidson loves, she said there aren’t words to describe the pressure on politicians and it has harmed multiple MPs across all parties.
“And I think the only way we can sustain this is to balance a bit better, is to put our wellbeing and our health, our mental health, first.”
