A former National Member of the New Zealand Parliament, Anae Arthur Anae is lobbying for Samoan retirees to be compensated if a racist law that stripped Samoans of their New Zealand citizenship in the 1980s, is repealed.

Mr. Anae although born in Fiji, is Samoan and was the first Pacific member of parliament in New Zealand.

According to the Pacific Media Network, Mr. Anae spoke with 531pi's Pacific Mornings on the importance and relevance of the bill saying there are approximately 5000 people that will be impacted and they should have free access to New Zealand, along with the privileges they should have received as NZ citizens.

This comes at the back of a member's bill to repeal the act which is set to have its first reading in Parliament this month.

While this happens in New Zealand, Samoa's Human Rights Protection Party secretary Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi said this was an issue that was brought up with the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand Winston Peters when he came for an official visit last week.

He said even when HRPP was in government they had lobbied for this.

“So what I'm asking for is that every Samoan that's still alive today that has never been to New Zealand and never had a residency in New Zealand, still residing in Samoa, should be entitled to receive the New Zealand Superannuation," Mr Anae told 531pi's.

“They were denied the right to earn it through the correct channels. Now we have to fix it and this is the last opportunity we have with a bill that's gone through like this.”

Mr. Anae's view on the member's bill was also backed by the National's Pacific Blues chair, Christian Malietoa-Brown who said his group have also given their recommendation to the party to support the bill, with some revisions to its scope.

"Our advice would be for them to do it ... [but] for me, it's not a case of amnesty, it's actually justice," Mr. Malietoa-Brown told Levi Matautia-Brown on 531pi.

"You know, [if] you did something whether it was right or wrong, whatever, but now we've got to rectify the situation. And even the Privy Council said that it is wrong so I think it won't be too hard to get it through."

In 1982, over 200 Samoans gathered to hear Parliament debate the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Bill, at the time people from Samoa, like those from Fiji and Tonga could not freely enter NZ.

During high labour demand, many Samoans stayed in NZ after visa expiration which resulted in a monumental legal case where The Privy Council ruled in favor of Western Samoans' residency rights.

The then National led government did not accept the decision and quickly passed a law granting New Zealand citizenship solely to Western Samoans residing in NZ on or after September 14, 1982, or those who later acquired permanent residency.

Mr. Anae also congratulated Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono who submitted the repeal as a Cook Islander for the Samoan people.

He says the National Party should support the Greens in overturning this citizenship law as it's a chance for them to mend a disjointed relationship with Pacific communities.

“If National are smart, they, first of all, got to recognise they don't have a Pacific rep in the house. They have played things in the past that never worked out for us and it's come back to haunt them again.

“So the National Party's got to say, hold on, the facts are right, the people were denied. We should give them what they're asking for. Close the book once and for all, and let's move forward into a future New Zealand.”