First reading in Parliament for bill to restore Samoan citizenship rights is dedicated to the late Fa’anānā Efeso Collins.
Green MP Teanau Tuiono’s Bill to restore citizenship rights denied to Samoans back in 1982 has passed its first reading.
The ‘Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill’ was presented for its first reading on Wednesday and was passed with the help of the Act Party and New Zealand First.
Tuiono says, “fairness is at the heart of this Bill. We had a group of New Zealand citizens who had their citizenship recognised and then had their citizenship removed by statute. That is unfair.”
The bill would restore the right to citizenship for people from Western Samoa who were born between 1924 and 1949, fixing a cruel and targeted law from the Muldoon era.
“In 1982, the Government rushed through the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act to deny New Zealand citizenship to Western Samoans.
“Earlier that year, the Privy Council found that because those born in Western Samoa were treated by New Zealand law as ‘natural-born British subjects’, they were entitled to New Zealand citizenship when it was first created in 1948. But the Muldoon Government took that right away – choosing to scapegoat a community over the rule of law.
“In March 2003 during the Government, a petition with over 90,000 signatures calling for the law’s repeal was presented to Parliament – but nothing changed.
“There are people alive today who were New Zealand citizens and had this right arbitrarily and egregiously removed through a shameful act. It is well past time to remove this law and put things right, and I’m honoured to have taken a step towards that today.
“I want to acknowledge my brother Faanānā Efeso Collins. I wish he was standing in this house today, and his leadership will continue to guide my mahi on this important Bill. This first reading is for him.
