Our government conveys to the future generations of Aotearoa that the past
actions of the crown were wrong.
and that the treatment of your ancestors was wrong.
We convey to you our deepest and sincerest apology.
We want our apology to be in a manner that has meaning to Pacific peoples.
I also hope that our presence and apology here today,
helps weave together our connections as people.
Today I stand on behalf of the New Zealand government
to offer a formal and unreserved apology to Pacific communities for the discriminatory
implementation of the immigration laws of the 1970's that led to the events of the Dawn Raids.
Definitely a victory for people power and, you know come here to be seen pretty much aye
because you know, quite often you know us on the margins we're always forgotten but you know the
idea that the government can come and apologize, you know, nationwide is a victory for us people.
I thought that was the moment there, to me, because that culturally that
makes sense to us, and then our leaders came and hugged her and and forgave her.
It was very, very good today, yeah. I hope that all the people who were actually,
you know, went through that pain, their families would accept it.
We will support the development of a historical account of the Dawn Raids which can be used
for education purposes, as part of this the community will have the opportunity to come
forward and share their experiences.
I mean, this is one of the things one of three things that Josiah and I wanted to achieve
through the petition, which is the apology, the debate with the House of Representatives but
also the legacy fund, which we obviously just heard now. So, it's still fresh at the moment,
I want to sort of go back and re-listen to the things that Jacinda actually talked about.
I think, you know, in any western democracy this is just unheard of;
a historical wrong, a massive wrong has been acknowledged and the government takes practical
steps to offer the apology but then also practical offerings of support for future generations.
The fight's been an amazing one, The Polynesian Panthers-
amazing what they've established. But the fight continues I think, and I think that's
what came out of today. The people are really overjoyed with, you know the real apology - the
'ifoga' - was very real, but I think their expectation is that the process will continue.
Bawling my eyes out, honestly, just in the crowd um
just the, I don't know man, just thinking about like people in the past you know
those who aren't here with us anymore and I guess for those people who
saw this as a normal thing and just to be able to be in the presence of our people, our leaders and
for this part of history to be acknowledged. Well, you know now we're going to keep following it up,
keep the government accountable.
I think we should all be thankful and we should all look forward to
a great future that we all have together.
I hope the next generation will not think of the bad things that had happened, they weren't alive
when - a lot of them probably - they weren't present. So, they are New Zealanders and they
should be proud of the fact that they are (from) New Zealand and they should do the best for, their
being Samoan , but also being New Zealanders because we have chosen New Zealand as our home.