A Whale Of A Time Marama's Magical Childhood

The Green MP and her famous father reminisce.

- Sebastian Van Der Zwan

It’s not easy being green. Just ask Marama Davidson, who is now the highest-ranked female MP in the Green Party following the shock resignation of longtime co-leader Metiria Turei.

In the aftermath of Metiria’s admission to historic benefit and electoral fraud, and with Labour resurging under popular new leader Jacinda Ardern, the Greens have slumped below the crucial five percent mark in a recent poll.

“I’m absolutely gutted,” confesses Marama. “It’s a real loss and we’ve taken a beating, but we’re still 100% behind Metiria and her bravery in getting a real conversation about poverty started. She wasn’t just another politician – for me, she was a personal mentor as a Maori woman in politics.”

It’s especially devastating for Marama, 43, because Metiria, 47, is not only a close friend, but the very reason the mum-of-six got into politics in the first place. That is, with help from Marama’s father, acclaimed Whale Rider actor Rawiri Paratene.

As the daddy-daughter duo chat to Woman’s Day in Auckland’s Myers Park – coincidentally, the same place Marama’s mother told Rawiri she was pregnant with her – the politician recalls joining the Green Party in 2013 after years of activism.

“Within weeks of that, Metiria asked me to consider standing for the party in a by-election,” tells Marama. “It was a real shock. My father had been a candidate for them twice previously, so I forwarded her message to him, saying, ‘This is ridiculous – I can’t do it!’”