Singing filled Parliament’s debating chamber after members passed a bill which will restore New Zealand citizenship for thousands of Samoans who were stripped of it four decades ago.
The Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill was unanimously backed by all political parties in Wellington today, closing a bitter chapter in New Zealand-Samoa relations.
Green MP Teanau Tuiono, who submitted the bill, said there had been powerful testimonies from the impacted Samoan community during the consultation period.
“I hope that the passage of this bill is a milestone in addressing historical injustices acknowledging inter-generational harm and fostering accountability for past actions,” he said.
Dawn Raid that ignited a cause
Sitting in the public gallery was Falema’i Lesa, whose actions have inspired the battle for citizenship. Working as a cook in Wellington in the 1970s, she had been arrested during the Dawn Raids roundup as an overstayer. But in 1982. she took her case to the Privy Council who ruled in her favour, saying all Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 were New Zealand citizens.
Soon after, Robert Muldoon’s government passed legislation to block Samoans who weren’t living here at the time. Since then, there have been petitions and protests periodically over the years.
Pacific Leadership Forum chairman Teleiai Edwin Puni said it took negotiation and compromise to get the bill to where it is today.
“This is very important, righting the wrong. Forty-two years later, it’s a great day on the right side of history,” he said.
Those who ‘waited and waited’
It’s come too late for some.
Vaoliko Vaoliko, 82, had “waited and waited” for the Citizenship Bill, his son Asiata Vaoliki told 1News.
He was buried last weekend.
“Now it’s just sad he’s not alive to see the outcome of it.”
While waiting and hoping citizenship would be restored, Vaoliko’s unsubsidised medical bills fell on the family.
“It’s huge ..we have a lot on our table, our shoulders to pay his bills,” he said.
The Iosefa family have also been burdened with medical bills for their elderly patriarch Tauli who — now eligible for citizenship — was sick with dementia and cancer.
His daughter and caregiver Fuatino Iosefa wept as she spoke about her dad who she has watched slipping away.
“I know he can feel us because the way we talk he is listening to us, I can feel he understands,” she says.
She said the family paid off a $20,000 hospital bill but there was more outstanding.
The family said citizenship would make a big difference to his quality of life.
In Parliament today the bill was described as a small but significant victory. While only those born between 1924 and 1948 could apply for citizenship — and not their descendants — many of the Samoan people there today said there was hope that, going forward, things could only get better.
