Marama Davidson says attack on Australian MP Helen Haines a chilling warning

Marama Davidson says she experienced "a chill" up her body when she learned about Australian politician Helen Haines who was mowed down outside her office by a car.

The Independent MP for Indi lost both her legs after she was struck by a Toyota LandCruiser outside her electorate office on Monday.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson in an interview with Mata with Mihingarangi Forbes said she wanted to express her sympathy and aroha to Helen Haines, her family and her community.

In 2023, Marama Davidson was injured when a motorcycle associated with Destiny Church clipped her stomach as she was crossing the road. She had been crossing at a pedestrian crossing she told The Spinoff and had put her hand out to warn him to slow down but they didn't stop.

Davidson was part of a counter protest group sending a message to anti-trans campaigner Posie Parker at Auckland's Albert Park.

The collision was captured on camera and Marama Davidson told Mata a person associated with Destiny Church was identified and charged.

Despite this, she was clear she wanted politicians to be accessible here in Aotearoa.

Her colleague Tamatha Paul who is also been the target of abuse, posted on social media that when debates are held in Wellington North, there are four uniform police officers and two parliamentary security guards on hand.

Paul told her followers Aotearoa needs to stop focusing on how women can keep themselves safe and start focusing on the perpetrators. She said the focus should be on misogyny, rape culture and how it manifests in our society, normalising violence against women.

Marama Davidson said: "There is a responsibility for all of us in politics to understand the power and the influence of our platform. To make sure that we are using our leadership roles to calm down the rhetoric, to calm the divisiveness, to not tolerate from anyone, including our own supporters, any threats or harm towards anyone else."

In a wide-ranging interview with Mata with Mihingarangi, Davidson said if the Greens were to be part of the next government, they would advocate for blocking Israel from attending the 2027 Pacific Islands Forum which is to be hosted in New Zealand.

This week RNZ reported Israel had joined the Pacific Islands Forum, the region's principal political organisation, as a partner.

Davidson said Aotearoa had a role to support and uphold the independence of the Pacific.

On the policy of Kiwimart, she said while the publicly owned supermarkets were one thing, there would need to be a national food strategy that included local growers and kai sovereignty. The Greens proposed $150 million a year for a food fund supporting more cooperatives, market gardeners, community gardens, kai sharing initiatives and projects.

On where all this kai is going to be grown, Davidson suggests co-ops that share land alongside the Hoki Whenua Mai policy which seeks to free up 26,000 hectares of land locked up under perpetual leases.

In a quick fire, Davidson couldn't pick between "Te Whakaputanga" or "Te Tiriti" but she chose to "reduce" rather than "recycle" or "reuse".

Threw a bouquet to Eugenie Sage for best Minister of Conservation but said the current Minister for Conservation Tama Potaka was "not effective" rather than "effective".

She wouldn't pick between James Shaw and Chlöe Swarbrick for best co-leader but she chose "kaupapa skirts" over "tino tees" and "Ardern" over "Hipkins".

If you're ever serving her at the marae know she prefers "fry bread" over "steam pudding".