Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law.
“This is a huge, historic win for Pasifika Justice, one that offers our country an opportunity for healing,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Pacific Peoples, Teanau Tuiono.
The legislation restores the right to citizenship for people from Western Samoa who despite being eligible for New Zealand citizenship were stripped of that right due to a cruel and targeted law in 1982.
“Those affected people will be eligible for citizenship as of right, instead of having to go through the standard residency and citizenship application processes. Successful applicants will also be refunded for the costs involved in the process.
“More significantly, an injustice has been addressed and this anti-Pasifika, discriminatory law has been struck from our books. This offers us all, not just those directly affected but also the wider community, a chance for healing as we reconcile with the wrongs of our country’s past.
“This Bill couldn’t have made it through without the intergenerational efforts of the Samoan community who mobilised for extensive consultations and came to share their stories with the Parliament select committee. This is what people power looks like.
“I also mihi to the cross-party efforts of MPs in deliberating on this Bill in good faith. MPs listened to the voice of constituents and understood the need for justice.
“This has been a special week at Parliament. Yesterday, we saw the immense hope of people power with the Hīkoi against the Treaty Principles Bill. Today, we see how MPs of different political stripes can work together to fix injustice. More wins are possible when we all work together.
“I hope this law change goes some way towards atoning for the mistreatment the Samoan community was subject to. It follows on from the Dawn Raids apology as another big step on the journey of healing that our country had to embark on,” says Teanau Tuiono.
Additional information:
- New Zealand citizenship wasn’t created until 1948. Before then, New Zealanders were British subjects
- At the time citizenship was created, New Zealand was administering present day Samoa (known until 1997 as Western Samoa)
- In 1982, Falema‘i Lesa, a Samoan citizen living in New Zealand, was prosecuted for overstaying. She argued she wasn’t overstaying, as she said she was a New Zealand citizen.
- The Privy Council ruled that, because earlier NZ legislation had treated those born in Western Samoa after 13 May 1924 as “natural-born British subjects” for the purposes of NZ law, that cohort of people received NZ citizenship when NZ established its own citizenship in 1948.
- The Muldoon Government acted swiftly and in 1982 passed the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982.
- The 1982 Act removed NZ citizenship from those people who, under the earlier NZ legislation, had NZ citizenship because they were born in Western Samoa between 13 May 1924 and 1 January 1949, and those claiming citizenship through those people by descent or marriage.
- The Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Act would mean that a person whose NZ citizenship was removed by the 1982 Act will be eligible for citizenship as of right, instead of having to go through the standard residency and citizenship application processes.
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