New Zealand never knew the heights that Nikki Kaye might have climbed to as a politician, but both her colleagues and rivals suspected it might have been to the very top.
The former Auckland Central MP — who broke a 90-year vice-like grip which the Left had had on the seat to win it for National — was briefly education minister and even more briefly deputy leader of her party, but a cruel breast cancer diagnosis robbed Ms Kaye of the best years of her political career and ultimately killed her.
Nicola Laura Kaye was born in Auckland on February 11 1980; her parents Peter and Susan separated when she was 7. An academic high achiever, she was head prefect at Corran School.
Kaye was also a good athlete, being the Auckland women's 3000m champion in 1997 and in later life ran marathons and took part in the Coast to Coast multisport event.
In 1997 Kaye had her first moment in the public eye, taking part in an early reality TV series Fish Out Of Water, in which she and five other teenagers were marooned on an island near Great Barrier Island to fend for themselves.
Great Barrier was to hold a special place in Ms Kaye’s heart ever after.
She moved to Dunedin and embarked on a science degree in genetics from the University of Otago. She retained close ties to the Knox College alumni for the rest of her life.
While at Otago she also started a law degree, following in the steps of her father, a Crown prosecutor and later a prominent defence lawyer.
Peter Kaye died just days after his daughter.
Nikki Kaye joined the National Party in 1998 and quickly rose to become women's vice-chair of the southern region of the New Zealand Young Nationals. She was also an international vice-chairwoman of the International Young Democrat Union.
She moved to Wellington after graduation and completed her law degree at Victoria University, getting her first major political experience in 2002 through working for Bill English when he was leader of the Opposition.
After doing her OE Ms Kaye returned to Auckland in 2007 and — despite being told that she had no hope of winning — embarked in an enthusiastic and energetic campaign which ultimately secured her the seat of Auckland Central, defeating the Labour incumbent Judith Tizard by 1497.
Being Nikki Kaye was Nikki Kaye’s biggest asset: she never had a majority higher than 1500 votes, so had to work diligently to maintain her popularity in a seat which was historically left-leaning and which reverted back that way as soon as she departed politics.
Ms Kaye focused her maiden speech on the environment and soon ran into issues with her caucus in opposing mining on conservation land. Although regarded as a rising star, Ms Kaye was also principled and never backed down on making strong speeches in support of causes which she believed in. Those speeches included a noteworthy one in support of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act; Ms Kaye was a committed supporter of the sizable LGBT community in her electorate.
In her second term Ms Kaye became chairwoman of the Education and Science select committee, and in a 2013 reshuffle Prime Minister John Key moved her into Cabinet as Minister for Food Safety, Civil Defence and Youth Affairs.
After the 2014 general election, Ms Kaye was appointed Minister for ACC and retained most of her other portfolios. However, her world fell apart in 2016 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I tried to resign," she told the House during her valedictory speech in 2020.
"The only reason that I was able to become Minister of Education was that John Key, as I cried my eyes out, said, you're not f***ing going anywhere."
Ms Kaye took leave from Parliament and her ministerial duties while being treated, returning to full duties in 2017. She was named Education Minister in 2017 by Bill English, who assumed the prime ministership after Mr Key unexpectedly decided to step down.
Although Ms Kaye only held the portfolio for a few months, she regarded that job as one of her greatest political achievements.
As National imploded into bitter infighting following its election defeat Ms Kaye was deeply involved in the machinations which followed. In 2020 her close friend Todd Muller was elected leader, and Kaye became his deputy.
However, Mr Muller soon resigned from the role leaving Ms Kaye, briefly, as acting National leader. Caucus soon elected Judith Collins to succeed Mr Muller, with Gerry Brownlee as her deputy, and two days later Ms Kaye announced that she would quit politics at the next election, saying that she was looking forward to "being a hippy on Great Barrier".
She closed her valedictory speech by saying: "To the parliamentarians: don’t be arrogant or entitled. This is public service. I have been proud to have been a public servant of New Zealand. I love our country and I hope to continue to contribute more in the future."
Sadly, Ms Kaye never got that chance. She died on November 23, aged just 44. — Mike Houlahan
