• Nikki Kaye, former MP for Auckland Central, died after a long battle with cancer.
• Kaye, 44, was a former deputy leader of the National Party and served as a minister in John Key’s Government.
• She revealed in September 2016 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and returned to work the following year.
• Kaye announced in July 2020 that she was leaving politics at that year’s general election.
• Opinion: Remembering Nikki Kaye - a best friend and the most determined person I knew

Former National Party Minister Nikki Kaye has died at age 44. 

It’s understood she died at the weekend after a long battle with cancer. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. 

Friends told NZME she was in great health up until a few months ago, when her health went downhill very suddenly. 

A funeral notice would be shared by family tomorrow. 

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Kaye served as an MP for the Auckland Central electorate from 2008 until 2020. 

In January 2013, she was appointed to Cabinet by Prime Minister John Key with the portfolios of Food Safety, Civil Defence, and Youth Affairs, and Associate Minister of Education and Immigration. 

Nikki Kaye posted this final image on Facebook in September on Great Barrier Island. 

She served as Deputy Leader of the National Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from May 2020 to July 2020. 

In September 2016 she took sick leave from the House for breast cancer treatment. She returned to Parliament in early 2017, resuming full duties. 

Kaye was born in Auckland and earned a science degree in genetics from the University of Otago. She later completed a law degree in Wellington. 

Nikki Kaye, when she was National's candidate for Auckland Central in 2008. Photo / Chris Skelton 

Another colleague, Judith Collins, a Government Minister, said Kaye died “far too young and far too early”. 

Kaye was 28 when she entered Parliament in 2008. She fought her way in, too far down the list to get in without winning an electorate and standing in Auckland Central, a seat National had never held. 

In two races for the Auckland Central seat, she beat Jacinda Ardern. 

She has had to fight for her seat in every election. Auckland Central is seen as one of the most marginal seats in the country, courtesy of the ever-changing population of students and apartment dwellers. 

- More to come