When Debbie Ngarewa-Packer sits down to speak to the Weekly from her South Taranaki home, she has just finished Sunday family lunch.
Whānau is everything to the Māori Party co-leader, which is why she and husband Neil bought a 3.8 hectare block of reclaimed land near her tiny home town to live on with their children and grandchildren.
Away from the hustle of politics, it’s an intergenerational sanctuary where Debbie, 56, helps raise her mokopuna and grows food to share with the community.
Surrounded by the land and people she loves most, Debbie has everything she’s ever dreamed of. But the hard-working wahine will never forget the tough times she’s overcome on the way.
In her own words, she openly shares her life experiences, from escaping an abusive relationship to thriving as an independent parent, falling in love and weathering extreme financial hardship, to fighting for her people as an activist and now a politician.
I was raised pretty sheltered
