Thousands of Sāmoans are now eligible for New Zealand citizenship after the Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill was unanimously backed by all political parties in Parliament last week.
The bill was submitted by Green MP Teanau Tuiono, and was debated for the third, and final, time, on Thursday last week. The bill will now be taken to the Governor-General for royal assent.
Ōtaki MP Tim Costley said he was proud to speak in Parliament on the subject.
“This bill has been 42 years in the making, or possibly 110.”
The bill overturns the New Zealand Citizenship and Western Sāmoa Act 1982 that had rescinded and annulled any citizenship claims by Sāmoan people living in Sāmoa.
The 1982 act took away citizenship from Sāmoans born in Sāmoa between May 1924 and December 1948, despite them previously having been considered New Zealand citizens by law.
Tuiono’s Member’s Bill argued that those Sāmoans who were born prior to 1949 should be given citizenship.
Costley said the work on the bill had been “fascinating”.
“It has been a fascinating eight months of work for me on this bill (it comes under one of my select committees), and I’ve spoken on this in Parliament in four speeches. It has been enlightening and at times emotional, as I heard the stories of Sāmoan families separated and forced apart. I took great pride in representing not just our region, but our Pasifika community in Horowhenua in particular, and supporting this bill by speaking in favour of it.”
Costley said in his speeches in support of the bill, he shared stories he had been told by members of the Sāmoan community, as well as talking about the “beautiful Pasifika artwork” painted by pupils from Taitoko School that he has in pride of place in his Levin office.
The bill’s final reading was, he said, “an historic day”.
“If any fanau in our community would like to know if it applies to them, please contact my office. Oute matuā lagolagoina lenei pili mo Samoa,” said Costley.
