The use of “dawn raid” tactics have trampled on Immigration NZ’s “very special relationship” with the Pacific communities, says Māngere MP Aupito William Sio.

The Minister of Immigration, six Pacific MPs and the head of Immigration NZ will meet in South Auckland tomorrow, following the revelation “dawn raid” tactics are still being used in Aotearoa.

“I was appalled, really appalling, I would describe it as Ua soli le mā, (a Samoan saying that roughly translates to ‘you’re trampling on the shame’).

• READ MORE: Other Dawn Raids era reports

“Meaning the way Immigration are conducting the use of their powers of deportation have trampled on a very special relationship with our Pacific communities of Aotearoa,” said Aupito, the former Minister for Pacific Peoples.

Senior Pacific lawyer Soane Foliaki broke the news, sharing a story of his client who was taken into custody after police knocked on his door in the early hours of the morning, frightening his children.

Aupito believes it is his responsibility to hold Immigration to account with recent events demonstrating there is a complete “lack of cultural intelligence” within the ministry.

“And I think Immigration needs to address that immediately,” he said.

In a statement, an Immigration New Zealand spokesperson said it had launched a review into “out of hours compliance visits” and pressed pause on all such operations until the review had been completed.

Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua is not letting this moment slip by either.

In February this year Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told RNZ Pacific he would look at an overstayer petition that was launched by Pacific community leaders almost three years ago.

To be clear, this was a petition, not just for Pasifika, but for all overstayers in Aotearoa, Pakilau said.

When Hipkins was questioned on whether he would make changes to the government’s policy, he said: “I haven’t had an opportunity to look at that issue yet but I absolutely intend to look at it.”

Three months have passed and no changes have been made.

Pakilau has been fighting for change for years. The people he has been fighting for have legitimate reasons to stay and deserve compassion, he says.

“They might have been here during the lockdowns and they couldn’t go back. Or they were here on a temporary visa and it was difficult to go back due to the eruption,” Pakilau told RNZ Pacific in February.

For him the issue is personal — his uncle Teni is a Dawn Raids survivor.

“Teni was here with us in Auckland during the Dawn Raids of the 1970s as part of a migrant work scheme that brought him and countless thousands here to NZ to do work nobody here wanted to do,” he said.

He remembers his uncle calling from Mount Eden prison to say goodbye as he was deported back to Tonga.

Apology ‘still stands’
Jacinda Ardern humbled herself and apologised for the actions of the government in the 1970s.

For many, finding out similar tactics are still being used is painful and even retraumatising.

Aupito said the stakes were very high, the legacy of a very important apology which in his view “still stands” has been “trampled on” by Immigration New Zealand.

He wants Immigration to take a good hard look at its operations.

“I’m gutted, I’m just gutted that the the Ministry of Immigration does not seem to have understood at all the principles that the Ministry of MFAT are using as guiding principles for engagement; manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, arohatanga,” Aupito said.

He has spoken with the Minister of Immigration, the new Pacific Peoples Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister who he says all feel the same way.

While Aupito has not spoken with Ardern this week, he has confidence in Michael Wood.

“I have faith that Minister Wood is someone from South Auckland and he understands what is at stake here and he will pursue that,” he said.

Time to front up
Wood and immigration officials will front up tomorrow at a community meeting.

Overstayers are called to turn up and be heard, not to hide in the shadows afraid.

“This is our time, people. Come and have your voices heard in our own backyard of Auckland,” Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua said.

“Don’t worry if you are worried about being an overstayer they need to hear you. Don’t leave it too late. We are here. We stand with you.”

Aupito has a message for the family that lawyer Foliaki acts on behalf of.

“I just apologise to the family for the behaviour of Immigration,” he said.

• The meeting is at 10am, May 6, at 25 Princes Street, Otahuhu.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The New Zealand Law Society has elected its first-ever president of Pacific Island descent – and its youngest.

Tiana Epati, a partner at Gisborne law firm Rishworth Wall & Mathieson, will officially take on the role in April next year.

The 43-year-old lawyer has no easy task ahead of her.

A Law Society survey released in May found one in five lawyers had been sexually harassed in the workplace, and one in five had been bullied within the past year.

The findings were highlighted again in The Bazley Report, released in July, which revealed a culture of excessive drinking and sexual harassment at law firm Russell McVeagh.

Epati, who has worked as a criminal defence lawyer and an appeals lawyer, said she was aware the privilege bestowed on her came with enormous responsibility.

“The whole complaints process is currently under review, so what will be really important for the next presidential term is looking very closely at what those recommendations are and ensuring that whatever we put to the council and to Parliament for change has been well thought-out, well-researched and considered,” she said.

‘Once chance’
“We really only have one chance to get this right, so we have to get it right.”

Other challenges for lawyers included stress and anxiety, workplace health and safety and diversity of all kinds and inclusion, she said.

“Diversity is wider than just gender. My vision for the society is to lead culture-change by walking the talk,” she said.

“That means more than just me being president, it means actually ensuring that every part of the organisation has cultural competence.”

Labour MP and former lawyer Kiritapu Allan described her election as a departure from the status quo.

“Tiana is the first Pasifika woman… she’s the first brown person to be elected. I just think it is an extreme indication of a cultural and generational sea-tide and shift which I think the profession has been really seeking.

“In light of the findings and the recommendations from the Bazley Report earlier this year, younger members of the profession want to see things change and I think Tiana embodies many of the principles and values needed to do that.

“And, of course, we can proudly claim her in Gisborne as a local-based practitioner.”

Unique background
Epati grew up in Samoa and immigrated to New Zealand when she was 10. She grew up in South Auckland, attended Auckland Girls Grammar and was the only person in her year to go to Auckland Law School where she completed her law degree.

She said her unique background would benefit her new role.

“I come from one of the smallest regions in the country, so I probably have a unique provincial perspective, but I started in a large law firm in Auckland and I worked in government for the Crown Law Office, so you could say I have had one of the broadest contacts with the profession,” she said.

“For the last six years I’ve been a criminal defence lawyer working in Gisborne where the population is 50 percent Māori. So a lot of my work has been around championing the underdog and certainly talking a lot about the importance of tikanga and cultural context when we come to the criminal justice process.”

Epati will replace Kathryn Beck.

Her father, Judge Semi Epati, was New Zealand’s first Pacific Island judge.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.