ACT MP Mark Cameron to leave Parliament due to kidney failure
Content warning: This story discusses suicide.
Kidney failure means ACT Party MP Mark Cameron can no longer do the job he signed up to six years ago, so the Northland farmer is calling time on politics.
Cameron, who entered Parliament in 2020, has announced he won’t contest the November election due to his failing health and the toll the death of his son has taken on him.
“I genuinely love the place and I thoroughly enjoy working with a group of Kiwis that have put their hand up to represent what they believe in,” he told Midday Report.
“And after six years and battling kidney disease and the loss of my son, I’ve had a bloody tough time of it, and I just know the dear old taxpayer’s paying my wages, and I cannot do the job that I once did with the kidney disease that I have.
“I do dialysis three days a week now, because my kidneys are completely failed, and it’s just not fair on the people that I represent and the people that pay my wages.”
Cameron had grand plans to return to Parliament after a kidney donor was lined up for a transplant earlier this year.
He expected to be able to return to work in March or April, but then two days before Christmas his heart failed, making him no longer eligible for the donor list.
“Everything changed at the moment, I was taken off the transplant list, and I sit in this purgatory of unknown.
“It’s a real ‘bugger me’ moment where you swear at the sky and consternation and don’t get any answers back.”
He said he’s been in recovery and rest mode since, and been unable to return to his work in Wellington.
“I want to do best by Kiwi folk, and the people I certainly love, which are rural people, and I simply can’t do it.”
‘Long way to go’ on rural mental health support
Cameron said his experience of the health system was “incredible gratitude and immense disappointment”.
He said he doesn’t know where the country’s $33 billion of funding for health goes given how many people are waiting for help at hospitals where emergency departments are full.
“For the average user we spend an inordinate amount of money and sometimes the results are not what you would want or expect.
“Certainly in my case… I rang my specialist and didn’t get a reply for five days. One would argue at that point, with all the money being spent, that that professionalism is being lost, and maybe in that instance it was.”
Cameron lost his son Brody to suicide in 2024 and as a Northland farmer, has been a huge advocate for the rural community and mental health.
He says there’s still a “long way to go” to get the right assistance to rural men suffering mental health issues.
“Isolated rural young men, often working long long hours in quite difficult jobs, and they find themselves isolated and don’t have the wherewithal to reach out.
“We still have a long way to go and the $2 billion we spend on mental health in part should be spent in rural New Zealand,” he said.
Where to get help:
- Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
- Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
- Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
- Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
- Samaritans: 0800 726 666
- Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
- What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
- Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
- Victim Support 0800 842 846.
- Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
- Healthline: 0800 611 116
- Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
- OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
- Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.