Brewer CameronCAMERON BREWER (National—Upper Harbour): Talofa lava. We in the National Party are opposing this Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill and I just want to take you through some of our thinking.I also want to acknowledge my long-time friend and former colleague and boss Arthur Anae in the Speaker's gallery and I reinforce what the previous speaker Teanau Tuiono was saying as far as the work and the advocacy that he has done—as have many over many years—when he was a National MP from 1996 to 2002 and ongoingly. Only a couple of weeks ago he was getting around the halls of Parliament lobbying for progression on this issue. So I want to acknowledge Arthur for his long-time fight and of course the many other Pasifika MPs. We have the Pacific select committee room and we know how well represented the wider community Samoan New Zealanders have been over many years now.I also want to acknowledge and pick up from the sponsor our late friend and colleague Efeso Collins and I think it's somewhat fitting today that the Business Committee came out and announced that there will be a parliamentary acknowledgment of Efeso after question time at 3 o'clock on Tuesday 30 April. I'm pleased his former leader James Shaw will be here before his valedictory the next day or two after that to pay tribute to Efeso. So given the audience for this piece of legislation I thought it was important to put out a public service announcement: 3 o'clock Tuesday 30 April for a tribute to Efeso.Our main point on this piece of legislation is that it presents itself in a member's bill situation where we don't think it's the right format or forum. We believe that this has been well canvassed and well argued over many years—one could argue 42 years since 1982. If we look back since 1982 and that Muldoon administration that National Government we've had three Labour Governments since—the fourth the fifth and the sixth—we've had 10 Prime Ministers we've had an array of wonderful representation from our Pasifika community and from our Samoan community and we've had an apology from a previous Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the Dawn Raids in 2021. Again that was an issue going back to the 1970s and of course the National Party supported that apology.So where there is a will to change things from a Government perspective—and we've had 10 Prime Ministers and two National Governments and three Labour Governments since then—there has been the ability to make a statement and to do things. As we saw with the apology for the Dawn Raids the Labour Government stepped up there and also the sponsoring member Teanau Tuiono talked about Helen Clark's apology in 2002. So previous Governments have had the will and done the thing. But our point is that the Governments of the past of many stripes of many different colours—red blue green Te Pāti Māori others—have not taken this up and we would argue it's because legally the arguments have been exhausted over a 42-year period.We are concerned that it creates a legal precedent. Legal experts will say to you that retroactively—retroactively—interesting word—Hon Member: Retrospectively.CAMERON BREWER: —no retroactively" is the legal terminology—reinstating the citizenship of citizens affected by this Act sets a problematic precedent and we want to ensure as have previous administrations led by 10 previous Prime Ministers over four decades that we have a legal framework in place that equates to fairness and equity.So our concern is that it does create a number of unprecedented measures and it also creates a situation where we have got a focus at the moment on managing the immigration settings and adopting them accordingly to fit today's demands and 173000 non - New Zealand citizens migrated here in 2023. You would have seen our immigration Minister Erica Stanford unveil a range of changes to the likes of the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme and also at the weekend she put in a number of measures that will address migrant worker exploitation. So we have got huge challenges and huge workloads ahead of us and a number of legal precedents that we believe that previous administrations—three Labour Governments two National Governments—have looked at it—Chlöe Swarbrick: You're in charge now.CAMERON BREWER: —and have not proceeded on goodwill and some of those people and some of those Governments have been led by constitutional experts like Sir Geoffrey Palmer. This is an exhaustive piece of work that's looked at it and successive Governments have—unfortunately for the other side of the House; unfortunately for their argument—not proceeded on a number of firm grounds.We as a Government understand and continue to foster the strong relationships with Pasifika and Pacific nations. I want to acknowledge the great work that the very busy health Minister Shane Reti is doing as also Minister for Pacific Peoples and if the bill progresses it does and it will have implications on current citizenship settings. So we have given this—previous parliaments—considerable considerable time energy and argument over four decades and we believe on balance that for this to go to select committee at this stage in a member's bill format and forum is not appropriate.The members opposite say "Oh well you're in charge now." Well can I just remind them that they were in charge with the biggest majority in MMP history six months ago. They were in charge with a single-party majority just six months ago. Everyone has looked at this. Successive Prime Ministers have looked at this. Successive Governments have looked at this. We on this side of the House have also looked closely at it. We have also been talking to friends like our friend Arthur Anae. We have also been lobbied hard. We have also taken legal advice. But on the balance of it National will oppose this bill. Thank you."