The Green Party’s Ngāpuhi and Cook Islands spokesperson for Pacific Peoples says he is thrilled to have led the move to right a significant injustice for the Samoan people.
This week in Parliament, Teanau Tuiono’s Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill became law, restoring the right to New Zealand citizenship that was stripped by the Muldoon government in 1982.
“As it passed, it had all the community up in the public gallery, having waiata. It was beautiful, there were a lot of tears, a lot emotion, so it was humbling to be a part of that. To do a bit to bring that Bill, and now an Act, into fruition. And the website just opened up Tuesday, so people are starting to apply already,” says Tuiono.
Teanau Tuiono says the stripping of Western Samoans’ NZ citizenship rights followed the shameful days of the Dawn Raids in the late ’70s, and it’s great these events can now be consigned to the past.
