NZ Parliament Expresses Sympathy for Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga: Luamanuvao Winnie Laban

Transcript of Yesterday’s Parliamentary Motion at 2pm.

Speakers:

1. Prime Minister John Key
2. Labour Deputy Leader Annette King
3. Green Party Co-Leader Russell Norman
4. Act Party David Garrett
5. Maori Party Co-Leader Dr Pita Sharples
6. Progressive Leader Jim Anderton
7. United Future Peter Dunne
8. Labour Luamanuvao Winnie Laban
9. National Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga
10. Labour Su’a William Sio

Pacific Islands—Tsunami

Hon LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (Labour—Mana) : O le Paia o le Atua i lenei Sauniga Mamalu, O lo’o tatou tapua’i ai ia te ia,o le Alefa ma le Omeka, o le Amataga ma le Gata’aga, o mea uma i lenei olaga e o’o lava i le soifua o le tagata. I greet members in the sacredness of the House of Parliament and our connection as peoples of the Pacific, New Zealand, Samoa, and Tonga. Talofa lava, malo lelei, and warm Pacific greetings.

Early on 29 September, Samoan time, I heard the news of the earthquake and tsunami hitting Samoa. As more information came in about the impact of this disaster, I knew that I must go to Samoa. Phil Goff and Annette King, the leader and deputy leader of the Labour Party, encouraged Chris Carter and I to go to Samoa. We did not want to make any fuss or have any media interviews. We just went as soon as we could. I took the first flight I could get to Samoa, and at 2.20 p.m. on that day I was on the plane to Samoa.

During the next 2 days we visited villages on the southern coast of Opolu—Lalomanu, Aleipata, Poutasi, Lepa, Falealili, and much of the area the tsunami devastated. We also spent time at the Moto’otua Hospital. We met with the Prime Minister, Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi, and other Samoan Government officials. The Prime Minister asked us to attend a meeting of the Samoan National Disaster Coordination and Distribution Committee, and I also spent time with the Hon Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, who is Minister responsible for village councils.

We all talked about how best to help. I went to offer my alofa, support, and encouragement. In difficult times we must be with our people. Members have all seen the photographs in the newspapers and on the television, have heard the voices on the radio, and will all know what things look like in Samoa. Seeing what has happened on the ground was deeply disturbing. Fales were wrecked, churches demolished, villages in ruin, bodies on the beach, and people were scared, traumatised, and in shock.

What the news coverage does not show is the spirit and faith of our people, the alofa, the fa’aaloalo, and agaga—the love, the reciprocity, and spirituality, and our deep belief in God’s love and strength. I was so proud to see the way that Samoans who were suffering were looking after the New Zealanders, Australians, and others who had suffered alongside them, and in turn, New Zealanders and Australians were supporting Samoans. It was great to see that the Kiwi spirit is strong, and everybody was working well together. I was proud to be a Samoan and a New Zealander. I was encouraged by the way that we became one people, one family, in these difficult days.

On Thursday morning we attended the funeral service of my cousin Joe Annandale’s wife, Tui. It was the first of many. Then my cousin Imo took us in a taxi to visit the hospital and all the villages on the southern coast. In the hospital many people were being treated for their injuries and recovering from the physical and emotional trauma. I met a Samoan woman who had lost two of her grandchildren, and New Zealanders who had lost children and other family members. One Kiwi couple had lost their child of 2½ years. In the villages we met Samoans who had lost 10 or more family members. We also met the Taufua family. In Poutasi one of the wives of the pastors had passed on.

The loss is great. So many people have lost everything. The people whom I talked to asked for support to come direct: family to family, village to village, and church to church. In time, the villages will be rebuilt. The scars on the landscape will soon be smoothed away, the trees and the plants will grow again, and schools, churches, and businesses will be re-established. But it will take much longer to heal the loss of family and friends. Those whom we have lost will be with us for ever. “Inside us our dead, our dead are the proud robes our souls wear. We are the remembered cord that stretches across the abyss of all that we have forgotten. We don’t inherit the past, but a creation of our remembering.”

Let us remember those we have lost in the disaster. Let us stand with our people during this time of suffering, and give them support, hope, and encouragement. Let us work together to support the peoples of Samoa, Niuatoputapu, and Tonga with their rebuilding. In English, I say: “The heart of the earth weeps with sadness, but God’s strength will grant us healing and peace.”Tatou te momoe ma manu ae lilo mala e ati a’e. E tagi le fatu ma le ‘ele‘ele o le puapuaga, ae to’a i le Atua lona filemu.