04/06/2022
Here's a couple of interesting video clips from my (very distant) past. I first practiced immigration law in New Zealand and this was a case I started and had to take all the way to the Privy Council in London (this was still NZ's highest court at the time). We lost repeatedly at every level in NZ, but the Privy Council ruled that we were correct to argue that the law made about two thirds of Western Samoans NZ citizens. The case was overturned by a special sitting of the NZ parliament before I even got back to NZ! https://tpplus.co.nz/.../falemai-lesa-ma-lona-finau-mo.../ https://tpplus.co.nz/.../oral-history-project-highlights.../
Falema’i Lesa tells her experiences with the dawn raids, and her fight for Sāmoans in New Zealand regarding their NZ residency status for the very first time.