An MP who didn’t expect to be one, and long-serving Pacific leader say goodbye

As the 53rd Parliament comes to a close, retiring MPs are delivering their valedictories. On Wednesday evening, Auptio William Sio and Emily Henderson said goodbye.

An MP of 15 years, and one of the nation’s most respected Pacific leaders, Aupito William Sio has said goodbye to Parliament.

The former Minister for Pacific Peoples and outgoing MP for Māngere, Sio wore traditional Samoan attire to deliver his valedictory to a packed public gallery that delivered hearty waiata as he finished his final address.

Sio noted the progress he’d seen in Parliament and in Aotearoa generally, but said far more needed to be done.

During his speech, Sio’s retelling of New Zealand’s war crimes committed in Samoa during the 20th century moved some in Parliament and the public gallery to tears.

These were atrocities rarely talked about, but ones which Sio hoped would be more well known thanks to the Government’s work to teach New Zealand history. The history he talked about related to the NZ Police and military assault on the Mau movement in 1929, killing many in what became known as Black Saturday.

He thanked tangata whenua who visited and helped Samoans who kept as prisoners of war at Mt Eden.

“There was the deliberate infection of the local population when on 7 November 1918, the NZ military administration controlling Samoa, led by Col. Robert Logan, made the deadly decision to knowingly allow the ship Talune, which was carrying Spanish Influenza, to dock at Apia,” Sio recalled.

“Logan refused the offer of medical help from Tutuila, American Samoa.”

Recalling our history was a theme carried across Sio’s speech.

He discussed his excitement and emotion when he, alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, apologised for the dawn raids on Pasifika in Aotearoa.

“I couldn’t go to sleep thinking through every detail of what needed to happen, and I cried. Then it seemed like I couldn’t stop crying,” Sio said.

However, he said New Zealand’s immigration settings continued to let down the Pacific.

“By teaching this history, New Zealand can become a better country by understanding the mistakes they’ve made in the past. And future generations can learn not to keep repeating the mistakes of the past,” he said.

Since he resigned as Minister for Pacific Peoples, Sio has continued meetings aboard and domestically with Pacific communities.

“This was my tour of duty with my community where, we’ve cried, we’ve danced, we’ve drank kava on many occasions,” he recalled.

Sio had been the MP for Māngere since 2008. Before then, he served in local government.

Emily Henderson: The Northland MP who didn’t expect to be here

Whangārei MP Emily Henderson says she never expected to be an MP. She was elected in 2020 and has delivered her valedictory speech this evening.

She came to Parliament through the “red wave” of 2020, where the Labour Party secured previously considered true blue seats during its historic election victory.

Henderson started her speech saying she never stood for Parliament to become an MP, but in a protest against the National Party who she said had taken Northland for granted.

Her speech has celebrated the diversity of the Labour caucus, called for greater celebration of diversity and recognition of Te Tiriti.

Henderson said she would “return to her books”, with an interest in reforming the justice system.