Hīkoi's peaceful nine-day protest comes to an end, debate over concrete/asphalt roads, diver killed in Chatham Islands shark attack, and Wayne Brown looking to scrap CCOs.
He said it was “a significant step for Pasifika justice here in Aotearoa and around the Pacific”.
Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono addresses Parliament during the third and final reading of his Citizenship Western Samoa Restoration Amendment Bill. Photo / Coco Lance, RNZ Pacific
It restores a pathway to citizenship for a group of Samoans who were stripped of it decades ago.
Assuming the Governor-General signs it on Monday, people can apply from Tuesday, National MP Cameron Brewer told Parliament.
“[This is a] very, very historic day,” Brewer said.
Parliament was filled with pride and joy as about 200 people packed in. There was singing, laughter, and tears after they heard the final reading being passed.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins thanked the Samoan community in Aotearoa and ended his speech by saying:
“Today it’s the 685s to the world,” he said, referring to the calling code for Samoa.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer called the original legislation “harmful” and “racist” in her speech.
She said it was “heartbreaking to know what you [Samoan peoples] had to endure“ and ”we stand in sadness with all of our tupuna who did not get to celebrate with us today”.
Former National MP Anae Arthur Anae and P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A Inc president Repeka Lelaulu. Photo / Coco Lance, RNZ Pacific
Where it all started
The journey began in 1978 when Falema’i Lesa, a hotel cook in Wellington, was arrested by immigration officers.
They claimed she had no right to live in New Zealand.
Supported by immigration lawyers, Lesa fought her case all the way to the Privy Council, New Zealand’s highest court at the time.
Falema'i Lesa, a Samoan citizen living in New Zealand, was prosecuted for overstaying, but later won her case for NZ citizenship via the Privy Council. Photographed in July 1982. Photo / Evening Post
In 1982, the Privy Council ruled that Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 were British subjects and therefore entitled to New Zealand citizenship.
Samoan community member Maiava Visekota Peteru said memories returned of the work those who have gone before her did to get the bill to this point and those who would qualify for citizenship but are no longer alive.
“Today means so much for the work that Anae brought in 2003 to Samoa back to New Zealand,” Peteru said.
“I am wearing a Cook Island lei to honour Tuiono for his work.
“I know what we did in Samoa was from the grassroots level, the way we garnered our signatures was from our wheelbarrows.
“There is still a lot of work to be done, but today we celebrate the small wins and the small steps.”
Honouring those who have passed
The High Commissioner of the Independent State of Samoa to New Zealand, Afamasaga Faamatalaupu Toleafoa. Photo / Coco Lance, RNZ Pacific
The High Commissioner of the Independent State of Samoa to New Zealand, Afamasaga Faamatalaupu Toleafoa, spoke on behalf of the Samoan community in Parliament.
He is among those impacted by today’s legislative change.
“I fall into that category, I don’t think there’s an awful lot of morale, when you look at the numbers, most of them have passed away, there is a small number of them alive,” Toleafoa said.
“I know the Samoan Government took a back step on this, not wanting to be involved, but that this is a matter for the New Zealand Government to deal with.
“The support for the bill from New Zealand has been surprisingly strong; beneath it all, there is a recognition of the injustice being done to those who are now eligible.”
Tofilau Nina Kirifi-Alai and former Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio are deputy chairs of the Mau a Samoa i le Siteseni 2024 committee – a movement supporting the bill and its purpose.
While a pathway to citizenship did not extend to the descendants of the group, Kirifi-Alai said there would be other ways.
