Green MP Fa'anana Efeso Collins has died today after a decades-long life as a campaigner and champion for South Auckland and Pacific communities.
Emergency services rushed to treat the first-term MP after he collapsed at a charity event earlier this morning. He was later pronounced dead by paramedics.
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw said after news of Collins's death broke that Aotearoa had lost one of its "kindest, most dedicated champions of fairness and equality".
Over both his career of advocacy and politics, Collins stuck closely to his roots, highlighting the issues that mattered to South Auckland and Pacific communities.
In the early 1970s, Collins was born and raised in Auckland's Ōtara to Samoan and Tokelauan parents, who emigrated to New Zealand before his birth.
He said in his maiden speech to Parliament: "My parents arrived in New Zealand in the early 1960s, told that this was the land of milk and honey.
"Dad started off as a taxi driver with South Auckland Taxis, and mum on the factory floor at New Zealand Forest Products in Penrose."
He was the youngest of six children. Later in life, the Ōtara local attended Auckland University, where he studied education in the 1990s.
It was at university where he found his roots in student politics.
Collins delivered his statement just six days before his death. (Source: 1News)
As the first Polynesian president of the Auckland University Students' Association, Collins was known for his oration skills and became known for powerful speeches on campus.
"I went on to write my Master's dissertation on brown flight, critiquing the Picot reforms that have wreaked havoc on our public schooling system.
"That period was also a challenging time for my family because we were being told by our teachers to stop speaking Samoan at home and only to speak English.
"My parents didn't want us to fail at school, so we were allowed to speak English at home and over time we stopped speaking Samoan altogether."
He went on to work as a public servant and in the education sector.
Collins entered politics in 2013, when he was elected to the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board and later became its chairperson.
In 2016, he was elected to Auckland Council's governing body as one of two councillors representing the Manukau ward, affiliated with Labour. Three years later, he was re-elected in 2019 with the highest number of votes in the ward.
1News’ Pacific Correspondent reflects on Collins’ legacy. (Source: 1News)
He said in his maiden speech to the council: "Auckland's accidental property millionaires club is yet to reach the people of Manukau. Today, hundreds of children in my ward went to school hungry. Hundreds of our kids slept in cold garages and cars last night.
"And hundreds of those very families take the little they have, forced to decide between paying for food, the power, or the rent from week to week. Those stark choices are disempowering and demeaning.
"I know this reality because it's the reality our family lived with, for years in Ōtara.
"And so it is for these constituents — the people that I sit beside in church each Sunday, shop with at Hunters Corner, barter with at Māngere markets and wait at the train station with at Ōtāhuhu that I stand with, and for."
Collins had a Pentecostal upbringing, with his "deeply personal" faith remaining a strong presence in his life until his death. His father was also a church minister for a time.
His presence in church communities saw him advocate against the legalisation of same-sex marriage. A decision he later regretted and apologised for.
At the council, his votes usually aligned with other centre-left councillors but deviated on issues like Auckland's regional fuel tax on equity grounds. Collins vehemently opposed the tax on the grounds it was unfair to the poorest in his ward.
The Manukau councillor drew headlines in 2021 when he called for the cancellation of TVNZ reality show Police Ten 7, saying it fed on racial stereotypes.
Police were later called to his home after bomb threats were made against him, whilst the councillor faced a wave of online harassment.
Throughout his time in local-body politics, Collins' name often came up in discussions for Parliamentary candidate selections in South Auckland.
However, he eventually gained national prominence when he ran to become Auckland's mayor in 2022, hoping to succeed two Labour-aligned mayors who preceded him.
During the election, the two-term councillor campaigned on a flagship policy of making public transport free, and bet his odds on driving votes from traditionally low-turnout and on-average poorer parts of Auckland — like the south and west.
It’s a two-horse race between Efeso Collins and Wayne Brown. (Source: 1News)
Collins ultimately lost that race to businessman and former Far North mayor Wayne Brown, by a significant margin. Months later, he left Labour and joined the Greens.
The politician, who was eventually elected on the Greens' list, said he believed his former political party had been taking votes from South Auckland "for granted".
Ranking eleventh on the list, Collins was elected as the Greens took a record share of the vote at October's election. He made his maiden speech to Parliament only last week.
"It is an indescribable feeling to stand up and address this House. As a son of Samoan immigrants who made the mighty Ōtara 274 — Southside hard — their home, I am well aware of the giants whose shoulders I stand on and the masters whose feet I learnt at."
He continued: "I haven't come to Parliament to learn — learning happens as a matter of course through reflection. I've come to this House to help. Helping is a deliberate act.
"I'm here to help this Government govern for all of New Zealand, and I'm here to open the door, enabling our communities to connect better with this House."
Collins said: "We commit to working across this House as a nation and with each other irrespective of our postcode, income bracket, skin colour, or level of qualification attained.
"But, in order for that work, we must come with humility, the desire to listen, and dare I say it, maybe speaking last.
"If I was to inspire anyone by getting to this House and my work over the next three years, I hope that it's the square pegs, the misfits, the forgotten, the unloved, the invisible - it's the dreamers who want more, expect more, are impatient for change, and have this uncanny ability to stretch us further."
Collins is survived by his wife, Fia, and his two daughters.
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