Saying goodbye from a dialysis chair: ACT MP Mark Cameron's farewell to Parliament
ACT MP Mark Cameron gave his farewell speech to Parliament this week by video link, appearing on large screens in the debating chamber while he undergoes dialysis treatment.
Cameron is a dairy farmer from Ruawai in Northland. He has spent six years in Parliament and is leaving because of his health, even though he wanted to stay. "Dialysis is a hell of a thing," he told the chamber from his remote location.
His time in Parliament was focused on speaking up for rural communities. He was ACT's Rural Communities spokesperson and kept working even as his health got worse.
His departure has been a gradual process. On 7 June, Cameron said he would not put himself forward for another term in Parliament. Under New Zealand's MMP system, parties put forward a ranked list of candidates, and MPs get seats based on how many party votes the party receives. Cameron had entered Parliament through that list rather than by winning a specific electorate seat.
Around 25 August, Cameron confirmed he was stepping down because of his health. His farewell speech followed in the final weeks of the current Parliament.
The farewell itself was unusual. Normally, a departing MP stands at their desk in the debating chamber to give their final speech. Cameron's was delivered over video link and shown on several large screens instead. That break from the usual routine reflected how serious his condition had become.
In his speech, Cameron thanked colleagues he named as David, Nicole, Jodie and Simon, and used language drawn from rural New Zealand. ACT's Facebook page streamed the speech live on 26 August.
The broader context here is that Cameron's departure means Parliament has lost one of its few voices with direct, lived experience of farming and the primary sector. Whatever one thinks of ACT's policies, MPs who come from farming backgrounds bring a practical understanding of rural issues that is relatively rare across Parliament as a whole. Cameron's farewell, delivered from a dialysis chair, was a reminder that health can cut short a political career no matter what an MP plans or where the election cycle sits.
The current Parliament is in its final weeks, with the general election coming up. Cameron's seat will not need a by-election because of the timing, and ACT had already finalised its candidate list for the next Parliament after his June announcement. The party will go into the election without its Rural Communities spokesperson in the House.
For those who work in and around Parliament, the sight of large screens carrying a colleague's farewell, instead of a member standing at their desk, is likely to be what stays with them from the closing days of this Parliament. Cameron himself put it plainly. Dialysis, he said, is a hell of a thing.
