Te Pāti Māori backs Green MP Teanau Tuiono’s Bill

Te Pāti Māori confirms they will be supporting a bill that aims to restore entitlement to New Zealand citizenship for some Samoans who had it stripped from them in 1982.

Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer emphasised Aotearoa’s position in the Pacific and the need for tangata whenua to support tangata moana.

“Te Pāti Māori supports this bill and we will support it all the way through … we have shared struggles throughout colonialism and racist legislation which impacted on some more Pasifika people to the detriment.

“This is about Samoans’ rights being reinstalled and we need to remember why this kaupapa came about.”

Green MP Teanau Tuiono’s bill aims to restore entitlement to NZ citizenship for some Samoans who had the right taken away from them when the Western Samoan Citizenship Act 1982 was passed.

Ngarewa-Packer says it was the fault of previous governments who brought in people from Samoa to help the workforce and then later enforced anti-Pasifika racism which resulted in the Dawn Raids.

“This is part of the parcel of restoring mana from the apology that the Crown gave with the Dawn Raid era and we couldn’t be more humbled and more proud to be supporting our whanaunga, our tuakana.”

The bill has its first reading tonight but 63 votes are needed to determine whether the bill will proceed to the select committee stage.

Only the Green and Labour parties have publicly confirmed they will be supporting the bill.

NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones declined to confirm with Pacific Mornings their position on the bill ahead of their caucus making the announcement. Their eight votes could be key to this bill passing through to the next stage.

Ngarewa-Packer says the coalition government forgets its own interrelationships with tangata Pasifika and tangata whenua.

“What’s under threat by this government is everything that Māori and Pasifika whanau stand for which is our ability to look after our whanau, to look after our wellbeing, our spiritual well being, to look after our ability to contribute to the societies and the villages that we live in.

“We have seen governments, we’ve seen (Don) Brash do this, we’ve seen politicians do this. They come and go. We don’t.”