| |
---|---|
Total population | |
381,642 [1] (2018) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch | |
Languages | |
New Zealand English, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands Māori, Fijian, Rotuman, Tokelauan, Niuean, Tuvaluan | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Tuvaluan New Zealander, Tongan New Zealanders, Pacific Islander Americans, Samoan New Zealanders, Papua New Guinean New Zealanders, Māori people, Māori Australians, Samoan Australians, Tongan Australians, Fijian Australians |
Pasifika New Zealanders (also called Pacific Peoples [2] [3] ) are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands (also known as Pacific Islanders) outside of New Zealand itself. [lower-alpha 1] [1] They form the fourth-largest ethnic grouping in the country, after European descendants, indigenous Māori, and Asian New Zealanders. [4] Over 380,000 people identify as being of Pacific origin, representing 8% of the country's population, with the majority residing in Auckland. [1]
Prior to the Second World War Pasifika in New Zealand numbered only a few hundred. [5] Wide-scale Pasifika migration to New Zealand began in the 1950s and 1960s, typically from countries associated with the Commonwealth and the Realm of New Zealand, including Western Samoa (modern-day Samoa), the Cook Islands and Niue. [6]
In the 1970s, governments (both Labour and National), migration officials, and special police squads targeted Pasifika illegal overstayers. Pacific Studies academic Dr Melani Anae describes the Dawn Raids as "the most blatantly racist attack on Pacific peoples by the New Zealand government in New Zealand's history". [7]
Immigrant Pasifika families settled in the inner city suburbs of Auckland and other major cities in the country, when middle-class Pākehā families were tending to move outwards to newer, more distant suburbs. [6] Pasifika immigrants also tended to replace Urban Māori in central suburbs. [8]
By the mid-1970s, gentrification became an issue for Pasifika communities in Auckland. The cheap housing found in Ponsonby and other inner city Auckland suburbs were attractive to Pākehā young professionals, especially socially liberal families searching for a multicultural and urban lifestyle. [6] As these houses were purchased, the available rental stock plummeted, and Pasifika families who tended to rent more began to relocate to suburbs further out from the city centre. [6] The Pasifika populations in Ponsonby and Freemans Bay peaked in 1976. [6] Grey Lynn continued to have a large Pasifika population (particularly Samoan) until the mid-1980s. [6]
The umbrella term Pasifika, meaning "Pacific" in Polynesian languages, was first used by government agencies in New Zealand in the 1980s to describe all migrants from the Pacific islands and their descendants. [9] [3]
There were 381,642 people identifying as being part of the Pacific Peoples ethnic group at the 2018 New Zealand census, making up 8.1% of New Zealand's population. This is an increase of 85,701 people (29.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 115,668 people (43.5%) since the 2006 census. Some of the increase between the 2013 and 2018 census was due to Statistics New Zealand adding ethnicity data from other sources (previous censuses, administrative data, and imputation) to the 2018 census data to reduce the number of non-responses. [10]
There were 191,391 males and 190,254 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.006 males per female. The median age was 23.4 years, compared to 37.4 years for all New Zealanders; 128,154 people (33.6%) were aged under 15 years, 103,752 (27.2%) were 15 to 29, 129,504 (33.9%) were 30 to 64, and 20,232 (5.3%) were 65 or older. [11]
The majority of Pasifikia were born in New Zealand: 66.4% at the 2018 census, up from 62.3% at the 2013 census and 60.0% at the 2006 census. [12]
In terms of population distribution, 243,966 (63.9%) Pacific people live in the Auckland region, 106,125 (27.8%) live in the North Island outside the Auckland region, and 31,542 (8.3%) live in the South Island. The Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board area of Auckland has the highest concentration of Pacific people with a majority 59.4%, followed by the Ōtara-Papatoetoe local board area (46.5%) and the Manurewa local board area (36.3%). Porirua City has the highest concentration of Pacific people outside of Auckland at 26.3%. The Kaikōura district had the lowest concentration of Pacific people at 0.8%, followed by Waimate District and Queenstown-Lakes District (both 1.0%). [11]
According to responses to the 2018 census, 91.6% of Pacific Peoples spoke English, and 37.8% spoke two languages. [13]
At the 2018 census, 59.4% of Pasifika reported belonging to a single ethnic group. [13] The largest Pacific Peoples ethnic groups – immigrants from a particular Pacific nation and their descendants – are Samoan New Zealanders (182,721 people), [14] Tongan New Zealanders (82,389), [15] Cook Island Māori (80,532), [16] and Niueans (30,867). [17]
In 1993, Samoan-born Taito Phillip Field became the first Pasifika member of parliament (MP), when he won the Otara electorate seat for Labour. [18] Field was joined in 1996 by Samoan politicians Mark Gosche and Arthur Anae (the first Pasifika MP from the National Party), and by Winnie Laban in 1999. In 2008, Field left the Labour Party and formed the New Zealand Pacific Party, a short-lived political party aimed at representing conservative Christian Pasifika communities. [19]
For the 2008 New Zealand general election, Samoan-born Sam Lotu-Iiga was elected as MP for Maungakiekie, and was joined by Labour list MPs William Sio and Carmel Sepuloni, who was the first MP of Tongan heritage. In 2010, Kris Faafoi entered parliament by winning the 2010 Mana by-election, becoming the first MP of Tokelauan descent. In 2011, Alfred Ngaro became the first MP of Cook Island descent by winning the Maungakiekie electorate. Further Pasifika MPs entered parliament in the 2010s: Asenati Taylor for New Zealand First (2011), Christchurch East MP Poto Williams (2013), Manukau East MP Jenny Salesa (2014) and Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki (2017).
The 2020 New Zealand general election saw the largest cohort of Pasifika MPs entering parliament: Terisa Ngobi, Barbara Edmonds, Tangi Utikere, Neru Leavasa for the Labour Party, and the first Pasifika MP from the Green Party, Teanau Tuiono. [20] [21]
The Auckland Council has had three Pasifika counsellors since its founding in 2010: Alf Filipaina and former National MP Arthur Anae representing the Manukau ward since 2010, and Efeso Collins in 2016, replacing Anae's for the Manukau ward. In 2022, Collins announced his run for the 2022 Auckland mayoral election. [22]
The demographics of New Zealand encompass the gender, ethnic, religious, geographic, and economic backgrounds of the 5.1 million people living in New Zealand. New Zealanders predominantly live in urban areas on the North Island. The five largest cities are Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Tauranga. Few New Zealanders live on New Zealand's smaller islands. Waiheke Island is easily the most populated smaller island with 9,420 residents, while Great Barrier Island, the Chatham and Pitt Islands, and Stewart Island each have populations below 1,000. New Zealand is part of a realm and most people born in the realm's external territories of Tokelau, the Ross Dependency, the Cook Islands and Niue are entitled to New Zealand passports.
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of 113,729 km2 (43,911 sq mi), it is the world's 14th-largest island, constituting 44% of New Zealand's land area. It has a population of 3,997,300, which is 77% of New Zealand's residents, making it the most populous island in Polynesia and the 28th-most-populous island in the world.
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania.
Auckland is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland metropolitan area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing 33 percent of the nation's residents, it has by far the largest population and economy of any region of New Zealand, but the second-smallest land area.
Massey is a northern suburb in West Auckland, New Zealand. It was formerly a northern suburb of Waitakere City, which existed from 1989 to 2010 before the city was amalgamated into Auckland Council. The suburb was named after former Prime Minister of New Zealand William Massey. Massey is a relatively large suburb and can be divided into three reasonably distinctive areas, Massey West, Massey East and Massey North. Parts of Massey East are also known as 'Royal Heights', which is home to the Royal Heights shopping centre.
Tangaroa College is a state coeducational secondary school catering for years 9–13 in Ōtara, Auckland, New Zealand.
Papakura is a southern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council.
Samoan New Zealanders are Samoan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Samoan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand's most sizeable ethnic minorities. In the 2018 census, 182,721 New Zealanders identified themselves as being of Samoan ethnicity with 55,512 stating that they were born in Samoa, and 861 stating that they were born in American Samoa.
Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand, situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland City Centre. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tamaki River, and is surrounded by the suburbs of Papatoetoe, East Tāmaki, Clover Park and Flat Bush. The area is traditionally part of the rohe of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, and the name Ōtara refers to Ōtara Hill / Te Puke ō Tara, a former Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki pā and volcanic hill to the north of the suburb. From 1851 to 1910 the area was part of the Goodfellow family farm, and during the 1910s the area was an agricultural college run by the Dilworth Trust.
Clendon Park is a suburb of Auckland in northern New Zealand. It is located to the west of Manurewa and north of Weymouth. The suburb is in the Manurewa-Papakura ward, one of the 21 local boards of Auckland Council.
The Pacific Media Network is a New Zealand radio network and pan-Pasifika national broadcasting network, currently owned and operated by the National Pacific Radio Trust and partly funded by the Government. It includes the PMN 531 radio network, PMN News and Auckland-only broadcast station PMN NIU combined are accessible to an estimated 92 percent of the country's Pacific population. The network targets both first-generation Pacific migrants and New Zealand-born people with Pacific heritage. As of 2009, it was the only specifically pan-Pacific broadcaster in New Zealand.
Tongan New Zealanders are Tongan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Tongan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand's most sizeable ethnic minorities. In the 2013 census, 60,336 New Zealanders identified themselves as being of Tongan ethnicity with 22,413 stating that they were born in Tonga.
Lemauga Lydia Sosene is a New Zealand Labour Party politician. She was a member of the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board from the October 2010 local elections until her election to the New Zealand House of Representatives in May 2022. After completing the balance of Louisa Wall's term as a list MP, Sosene was elected as MP for Māngere at the 2023 general election.
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board is one of the 21 local boards of the Auckland Council, and is overseen by the council's Manukau ward councillors. The board is governed by seven board members elected at-large. The board's administrative area includes the suburbs Māngere Bridge, Māngere, Ōtāhuhu, and Favona, and covers areas south of the Manukau Harbour.
Weymouth, also known as Weymouth by the sea, is a southern suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located adjacent to Clendon Park and Manurewa, some 25 kilometres (16 mi) southeast of Auckland city centre, and is sited on a peninsula between the southeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour and that Harbour's Pahurehure Inlet.
The dawn raids were crackdowns in New Zealand from 1973 to 1979 and then sporadically afterward on alleged illegal overstayers from the Pacific Islands. The raids were first introduced in 1973 by Prime Minister Norman Kirk's Labour government, who discontinued them in April 1974. However, they were later reintroduced and intensified by Rob Muldoon's Third National government. These operations involved special police squads conducting often aggressive raids on the homes and workplaces of overstayers throughout New Zealand, usually at dawn and almost exclusively directed at Pasifika New Zealanders, regardless of their citizenship status. Overstayers and their families were often prosecuted and then deported back to their countries.
Amanaki Lelei Prescott-Faletau is an actor, writer, dancer, choreographer, producer and director of Tongan descent, living in New Zealand. As a playwright, she became the first fakaleitī to have her work published in New Zealand with Inky Pinky Ponky. This play was awarded Best Teenage Script (2015) by New Zealand Playmarket. As an actor, she was awarded best performance at the 2015 Auckland Fringe Festival for Victor Rodger's Girl on the Corner. Her acting credits include The Breaker Upperers (2018), SIS (2020), The Panthers (2021), The Pact (2021) and Sui Generis (2022), in which she is also a writer for the TV series. Faletau competed as a dancer in the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in 2011 and has been a judge at the National Hip Hop Championships in New Zealand over several years.
The culture of Auckland encompasses the city's artistic, culinary, literary, musical, political and social elements, and is well-known throughout the world. As New Zealand's largest city and one of the most important in the Southern Hemisphere, Auckland has a rich and dynamic cultural life and a long, multicultural history. Auckland's genesis as New Zealand's cultural heart began with the large-scale settlement of its fertile land by Ngāti Whātua and various Tainui hapū, before greater settlement by further iwi such as Ngāpuhi and the arrival of Pākehā. Auckland's culture derives further from its multicultural demographics, thanks to large-scale Indian, Colombian, Venezuelan, Arab, Cook Islands Māori, Tongan, Tokelauan, British, Irish, Fijian, Chinese, Niuean, Samoan, Filipino, Khmer, and intertribal Māori immigration, among others. From there, these communities established ethnic strongholds.
Leki Jackson-Bourke is a playwright based out of Auckland and is the first Pasifika playwright to win the Creative New Zealand Todd New Writer's Bursary Grant in 2018.