Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy has revealed she did not attend Garma because she was rushed to hospital from question time in Canberra to urgently treat a kidney infection.
The Yanyuwa woman, from Borroloola in the Gulf of Carpentaria, has been a fixture at the festival as a political figure and in her former career as a TV reporter.
She said that last week’s episode was related to polycystic kidney disease, a condition she was diagnosed with four years ago but has only now revealed to the public.
"It's a reality of my life that I have now," Ms McCarthy told NITV News.
"I have to manage that as best I can. I need to be mindful of the work duties I have, the travel that I do, that I take care of myself and it is a reality that sometimes the PKD, as its known, gets the better of me."
It is an inherited, genetic disease which disproportionately affects Indigenous Australians.
There is no cure.
"There is a lot of pain and discomfort that comes with it," Ms McCarthy said.
“I just think it's important to be able to talk about it in a very public way because the ultimate road for polycystic kidney disease is renal treatment or a kidney transplant.”
