Q+A’s panel want to see tangible action, changes in policy, and reparations accompanying the Government apology to the Pasifika community for the Dawn Raids of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Saunoamaali'i Dr Karanina Sumeo, a Human Rights Commissioner, told Q+A she welcomes the planned apology, which was delayed by Covid-19 concerns in the capital, but says it must be accompanied by a raft of actions.
"It’s not our government trying to do something nice based on good faith. No, it’s their duty, their duty, to remedy this. And the remedy is not going to start and end with an apology. This may take years, possibly a generation, to make this right.”
In the 1970s both Labour and National governments oversaw a crackdown on overstayers from the Pacific Islands, while largely ignoring British and American overstayers, who comprised around 40 percent of those in the country without a valid visa.
Announcing the apology, Minister for Pacific Peoples’ Aupito William Sio said the community remained traumatised by the events of the Dawn Raids. His family was one whose house was raided.
"You have to remember, we felt as a community that we were invited to come to New Zealand. We responded to the call to fill the labour workforce that was needed, in the same way that they responded to the call for soldiers in 1914. So we were coming to aid a country when they needed us, and when that friend or country felt they no longer needed us they turned on us, trust was broken."
Sefita Hao’uli, Efeso Collins and Karanina Sumeo discuss what should accompany the planned Dawn Raids apology. (Source: Other)
He said the apology was about restoring trust and building confidence in the next generation.
"I do not want my children or any of my nieces or nephews to be shackled by that pain and to be angry about it. I need them to move forward and look to the future as peoples of Aotearoa."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern would not say what the formal apology might involve, but indicated it would focus on the continued impact of the Raids on the Pasifika community.
Auckland City Councillor Efeso Collins argues that an apology alone will not be enough “It’s just political rhetoric to some degree, we’ve got to go further.”
Collins told fill-in host Indira Stewart that “very little has changed” since the days of the Dawn Raid, with Māori and Pacific communities still being subject to racial profiling by the police.
“This isn't just about being sorry, it’s about being better. And being better means we start to implement new policy like repealing the citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 and looking at reparations.”
Sefita Hao’uli, who helps facilitate the RSE scheme for Tonga, says the question facing New Zealanders is “we have learned from the past, but have we learned adequately and enough?”
He argues that “labour mobility and migration of Pacific Peoples is very much at the heart of all of this” and as such, its time for New Zealand to think more seriously about its migration policy describing the current arrangements a “band-aid”.
Dr Sumeo says while Pacific labour remains crucial to the economy, that is not reflected in the wages workers receive with Pacific workers continuing to be the lowest paid people in the country, and there has been a local of urgency to address that.
She believes, “we would fall apart if we didn’t have our migrant workers from the Pacific, from the Philippines, from India, China, everywhere.”
Dr Sumeo argues it’s not just Pacific Peoples waiting to see the details of the apology and any accompanying policy
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