Visa-waiver for Pacific Islands’ people is now Anae Arthur Anae and the Green Party’s latest project – one I believe will succeed provided they and Pacific Island leaders work together. Mr Anae is reported to be upset with the Green Party launching a petition earlier this month calling for visa-free travel for visitors from the Pacific Islands after he had launched a similar petition last month on the same issue.

“I’ve been working on this for years. It’s quite sad that they [the Green Party] have to pick up somebody else’s work to make a mark for themselves. There are a lot of politicians in the house who know my work on this and know what I'm doing - I just wish they'd stand up and shut them down and say listen, stop being a copycat." (Radio New Zealand, 9 March 2025)

I can understand why Mr Anae is upset with the Green Party. For decades, he fought relentlessly to have the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 repealed so that all Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 become New Zealand citizens as adjudicated by the Privy Council in the case of Ms Falema’i Lesā, only for the New Zealand Parliament to select Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono’s Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill 2 years ago and passed it into law. A lot of the credit for that change in the law went to Tuiono and the Green Party.

The attitude here in New Zealand towards Pacific people has not changed since the 1970s. I recall Sir Keith Holyoake when he was Prime Minister being reported in the media saying   

that Pacific Islanders were nice people, but he would not want one to be his neighbour or marry his daughter. Last week. One immigration advisor, Ms June Ransom said something similar: "Pacific Island people are really lovely people. But they do have a very high risk of overstaying in New Zealand,” inferring that once they are here, “there is not a strong reason for them to return home.” (Radio NZ 12 March 2025)

Why the Pacific Islands people only? Latest data released by Immigration New Zealand shows that more than two-thirds of the 13,895 overstayers are from visa-free countries like India, China, Malaysia, Great Britain, South Korea, and others, although Tonga (2498), and Samoa (1549) topped the list. Just like in 1987-1988, (I was employed by the Department of Labour then). When the Immigration Service was one of its Divisions. More than 43,000 people overstayed their visas. Yet less than 10% were from the Pacific Islands while the rest were from Great Britain, Ireland, the United States, and Europe. However, the New Zealand media referred to Pacific Island people as making up the bulk of overstayers because of the short-lived visa waiver policy in December 1986 by the then Labour Government of David Lange for Fiji and Samoa, which allowed their citizens to visit visa-free for up to 3 months.  

This fear of Pacific Island people overstaying after their visas’ expired coupled with the fact that Pacific nations are not economically and financially important as export markets or sources of tourism and investments for New Zealand like China, Malaysia, India, the United States or the European countries, is what lies behind its government's reluctance to add Pacific Island nations to its list of nearly 60 visa-free countries. Furthermore, Pacific nations are not a serious political or military threat to New Zealand (and Australia), and the belief that they are its friends who will never do anything to damage that friendship or harm her interests has made her ignore their plea for visa-free entry.

When questioned about visa waiver for Pacific Island nations, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said that Pacific visa-free travel was not a focus. "It is something that we continue to consider," he said. "But right now, it is not a priority for us in light of the other priorities that we need to focus the system on and focus immigration New Zealand on." Likewise, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said she was "not going to talk about the things we are talking about [visa-free travel] but New Zealand had a close relationship with the Pacific. (Radio NZ 12 March 2025)

Interestingly, Immigration New Zealand says on its website that New Zealand’s “special visa waiver agreement with 60 countries and jurisdictions [is] to encourage tourism and recognize long-standing relationships.” I thought, Samoa especially, had a long-standing relationship with New Zealand.

It is time for Pacific nations to unite to pressure Prime Minister Luxon’s Government to include them in New Zealand's list of visa-free countries and make it a top priority for the coming Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting. The NZ government will ignore them if they fight this issue individually.

They should also consider the recently signed agreements between the Cook Islands Government and the People’s Republic of China that will enable the latter to research and explore the former’s seabed rich in mineral resources like manganese, nickel, and cobalt. That action by Cook Islands’ Prime Minister, Mark Brown, has unnerved New Zealand and its allies, Australia and the United States. Considering that the Pacific is rich in minerals, its nations can use that as leverage against New Zealand.

Maori leaders should be invited to the Pacific Island Forum. They are more sympathetic to the Pacific peoples’ needs than the New Zealand Government and will support their call for a visa waiver. The latest political polls here in New Zealand also show Te Pāti Maori (The Maori Party) and the Green Party rising in popularity and will likely be coalition partners in the next government. They will push for visa waiver agreements with Pacific nations – the Green Party, like Anae Authur Anae, is doing it already.

For our Pacific governments, we must educate our people about following the law. Leave New Zealand before your visa expires and impose sanctions on those who do not when they return because they are ruining things for others who follow the rules.