Green MP Teanau Tuiono: My member's bill seeks to fulfill Renee Dingwall's father's request

Teanau Tuiono with Dunedin city councillor Marie Laufiso (left) and Palmerston North city councillor Renee Dingwall at the Dawn Raids apology last year. Photo / Supplied

OPINION:

Last year I was at the Dawn Raids apology with Palmerston North city councillor Renee Dingwall. She told me her dad had said, "If there is one thing Teanau should do following the Dawn Raids apology, it's to get rid of the racist Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act".

Renee's dad is right. The Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act is one of New Zealand's most racist immigration laws. The act prevented Samoans who were born between 1924 and 1949 from claiming New Zealand citizenship, despite the Privy Council ruling that Samoans born during the period New Zealand was the colonial master in Samoa were, in effect, New Zealand citizens.

A bit of background: In 1982, Falema'i Lesā, a Samoan citizen living in New Zealand, was prosecuted for overstaying. She argued she wasn't overstaying, as she was a New Zealand citizen.

The government of the day disagreed, and said Samoans didn't automatically become New Zealand citizens under New Zealand's new citizenship law. The Court of Appeal agreed with the government, too.

But that decision was overturned by the Privy Council, which ruled that the law that governed British nationality meant that people born in Western Samoa were British subjects, and those who were alive in 1948 automatically became New Zealand citizens.

This victory was short-lived. Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and the National Government, with the help of the Labour Party, rushed through that racist law still on our books today, effectively overruling the Privy Council's decision.

It is possible to trace a direct line from the inequities that Pacific peoples face today to the widespread anti-Pacific racism of the Dawn Raids era, including the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982.

Last week, I put a member's bill into the ballot that would restore the right to citizenship for people from Western Samoa who were born between 1924 and 1949, as had been promised to them, instead of having to go through the standard residency and citizenship application processes.

Aotearoa is a Pacific nation. The interconnectedness of our whakapapa and history across Te Moana nui a Kiwa is as extensive and deep as the moana itself.

Last week marked the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of Western Samoa. It's a great time to recognise the strength of our relationship with Samoa – the closest of friends – but an important part of any friendship is to heal the wrongs of the past.

• Teanau Tuiono is a Green list MP based in Palmerston North.