A landmark bill aims to restore citizenship.
The Green Party's Teanau Tuiono says his Member's Bill is a significant step towards correcting historical injustice. The Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill seeks to restore the right to citizenship for people from Western Samoa born between 1924 and 1949. This move would rectify a law passed in 1982, which stripped thousands of Samoans of their citizenship despite a Privy Council ruling earlier that year that they were entitled to it.
The bill's passage is credited to the inter-generational efforts of the Samoan community who shared their stories with the select committee. Among those present at its second reading in Parliament today were members of the community whose right to citizenship was removed. Tuiono hopes the bill will go some way to atoning for past wrongs by the state.
New Zealand citizenship wasn't created until 1948, and at the time, New Zealand was administering present-day Samoa. The Privy Council's ruling in 1982 highlighted the injustice of removing NZ citizenship from those who were entitled to it under earlier legislation. If passed, the bill would allow those affected to be eligible for citizenship as of right, rather than having to go through the standard application process.
The bill's progress marks another momentous step towards justice in Aotearoa, with MPs across the political divide showing will to correct historical injustices.