Pacific Islanders

Two men deported from Australia landed in Christchurch in the past two months, stepping foot on New Zealand soil for the first time.

One man, Fofoa I Vaoese Toese Pei, was born in Samoa. He isn't fully aware of how he qualifies as a New Zealand citizen.

The other, Arona Pere, was born in the Cook Islands, and has been sent to New Zealand because of the New Zealand citizenship that comes with that.

They are part of a growing list of people being deported from Australia to New Zealand.

Mr Toese Pei moved to Australia from Samoa when he was 10-years-old.

Former Labour MP Luamanuvao Winnie Laban leads the list of Pacific people recognised this year.

Luamanuvao was formally invested as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit today for services to education and the Pacific community.

Aupito said all the recipients had made a significant contribution, whether at a community or national level, to make a lasting difference in their communities.

Over the past 10 years, the Immigration Advisers Authority has prosecuted 16 unlicensed immigration advisers and 10 of those prosecutions have involved Pacific victims.

IAA Registrar Catherine Albiston says it's still an area of huge concern for them and they're working hard to continue to raise awareness for Pacific families. 

"It's not okay to give immigration advice if you're not a licensed adviser and you're not exempt and people need to be really careful if someone's offering them immigration advice and they're not licensed or exempt," she says.

The report of the study on the impact of the MoneyMinded programme of the Australian New Zealand Bank in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu was released at the 5th Pacific Media Summit by Jessie Cocker, deputy governor of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga.

Results of the study show that the percentage of participants of MoneyMinded who saved regularly increased in all the four countries.

It went up by 56% for Fiji and Tonga, 44% in Samoa and 40% in Vanuatu.

The temporary migrant labour scheme celebrated its tenth anniversary in Blenheim in July 2017 after initially being introduced in 2007 to assist the New Zealand horticultural industry find a stable workforce whilst improving the economies of the Pacific Islands.

However, RSE Liaison Officer for the Tongan Government Sefita Hao’uli believes the time has come to train workers to transition back to living permanently at home after finishing their time on the scheme.

Among them are Tongans requiring life saving medical treatment like dialysis. While kidney disease is a common ailment in Tonga, treatment isn't publicly available there.

Renal specialist in Auckland Dr Viliami Tutone said the number of non-residents from the Pacific he treats was definitely on the rise.

Dr Tutone, who is a Nephrologist, said it was a tough and sad reality.

"We do have our fair share at Middlemore of non-residents," he said.

A researcher from Waikato University, Apo Aporosa, recently visited Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu to gauge reaction to his study funded by New Zealand's Health Research Council that examines kava and drink driving.

Aporosa said he was advising people to avoid a trend he observed in the Pacific called a 'wash-down'.

He said this is when people drink alcohol after a traditional kava session that can last for hours.

This is Deputy Secretary, Pacific and Development Group, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Jonathan Kings’ message to the 22 NZ Scholarship students taking part in the AUT MFAT NZ Scholarships Programme Completion Celebration.

Years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice have been celebrated at Tuesday’s gathering at AUT, hosted by the University Scholarships Office – an event which also recognises scholars’ achievements while on award.

Elizabeth Papu, a 52-year-old who worked for the Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church, will spend two years behind bars for stealing money and altering the church's records. 

PRN reports the Problem Gambling Foundation's Pesio Ah Honi Siitia says Pacific families, friends or colleagues should speak up and get help if they know someone with a gambling problem. 

The clip, on the popular Fox Sports Matty Johns Show, showed small children attempting to pronounce the 'funniest' player names in the NRL (National Rugby League), most of which being Pacific Islander surnames, 9News network reports.

But the "Footy Kids in Cars" video has not gone down well with players. Former Samoa international Frank Puletua told 9News he was "disappointed that a segment like that got to air without any sort of thought about how it might be perceived by people in Pacific Island league communities."