The new Consul-General of Samoa in Auckland New Zealand, Afemata Palusalue Faʻapo II has urged the Samoan community in New Zealand to put aside their political differences as they embark on a new journey together for the betterment of Samoa.

He emphasised this in his speech at the welcoming ava ceremony hosted by the New Zealand-based Samoan community at the Fale o Samoa in Mangere to officially welcome him as Samoa's new representative in New Zealand.

"This service is that of the government of Samoa's for its people based here in New Zealand to serve them through usual services that are needed to make things easier such as traveling, as well as any other services needed to improve the lives of our people based here in New Zealand," he said.

"Importing of goods from Samoa, development projects needed to be established in Samoa by New Zealand for the betterment of Samoa, boosting of tourism in Samoa and so forth as this is one of the key assistance for the economy of Samoa.

"Especially with our workers being recruited from Samoa to New Zealand for seasonal employment.

"The Office of the Consulate General are representatives of the Government of Samoa in New Zealand and I won't interfere with your political opinions and affiliations but my urge is that we don't sides in carrying out this role.

"Everyone is equal and there is no biasness but we do call that we work together as I can't achieve anything on my own as well as this office and the Trading Commissioner without your support."

During the ava ceremony and the traditional ava exchange of words, some men from both the hosting side and the guests' side mentioned their political affiliations although it seemed like sarcasm as often is in such ceremonies.

In February this year, the government appointed Palusalue to serve as Samoa's consul-general in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Cabinet approved Palusalue's post as well as two other diplomatic posts in New Zealand: Afioga Afamasaga Fa'amatala Toleafoa as Samoa High Commissioner in Wellington; and Va'atuitui Apete Meredith as the Trade Commissioner in Auckland.

Palusalue is a Samoan politician and former Cabinet Minister born in 1956. From 2011 to 2016 he was the leader of the opposition Tautua Samoa Party.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1996. He served as Parliamentary Undersecretary to the Minister of Justice. After being re-elected in 2001, he was appointed to Cabinet, first as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, and then as Minister of Communication and Information Technology. After the 2006 election he became associate Minister of Finance.

He left the opposition, Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) in March 2008 and joined the opposition as an independent MP. He later became a founding member of the Tautua Samoa Party. 

As a result, in May 2009 he was one of nine Tautua MPs declared to have resigned their seats under an anti-party hopping law. He was subsequently reinstated after the Supreme Court of Samoa overturned the law and declared the formation of new parties legal.

In January 2010 new anti-party-hopping laws came into force, barring MPs from declaring their support for political parties or organizations with political aims other than the party they were elected for. 

As a result, along with Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi and Va'ai Papu Vailupe he was deemed to have resigned his seat. He was re-elected in the resulting by-election. 

In December 2010 he was elected deputy leader of Tautua. He was re-elected in the 2011 election and re-elected deputy leader. Following Va'ai Papu Vailupe's loss of his seat for bribery and treating he became party leader. He lost his seat in the 2016 election.

In 2017 he was conferred with the chiefly title of Afemata.

He contested the 2021 election as a candidate for the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party but was unsuccessful.