Activist and former politician Anae Arthur Anae was recognised for services to the Samoan community in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours.

After the awards, he said that the fight for Pacific rights continues. Anae was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Speaking to PMN News, Anae said he was surprised to be given the honour at this point in his life but thrilled on behalf of his communities to be recognised.

Anae has been vocal about Pacific rights for more than 30 years, including taking his advocacy to Parliament when he became the National Party’s first Pacific MP in 1996.

“I joined the National Party and I can tell you this much, every elder of our country said to me, ‘Arthur, don't go there’,” Anae said. “I said, we belong everywhere, and we've got to go and fight there.”

Unfortunately, Anae eventually had to return to those elders to acknowledge they were right and express regret for his earlier decision.

“Sad thing, I had to go back and tell them they were right and I was wrong and I apologised and that's why I walked in the end because I saw it doesn't matter what I was doing I was treated in a way that I don't accept by anybody and I walked.”

Even after leaving the party, Anae’s advocacy for the Pacific community has endured, and he describes being recognised as an unexpected honour.

“It came out as a real surprise to me. I've been around for a long time doing a lot of things for our Pacific people, and so this kind of bowled me over - that it came at this time in my life. But thrilled on behalf of our communities to receive it.”

When asked about his proudest achievement, Anae cited the 1999 introduction of superannuation portability, which allowed eligible Pacific New Zealanders to receive their full pensions upon retiring to their home islands.

Another was the establishment of the Pacific Room in Parliament in 2002. The space was designed to recognise and celebrate the contributions of Pacific peoples to New Zealand society and Parliament.

But he believes his greatest contribution was helping to overturn the Citizenship (Western Sāmoa) Act 1982, which revoked the right to New Zealand citizenship for those born in Western Sāmoa between 1924 and 1948.

Anae first took up the cause in 1997.

In 2003, Anae was instrumental in collecting 100,000 signatures presented to the then Labour government, calling for a change to the law. But the campaign was unsuccessful.

Anae said it wasn't until the matter was introduced to Parliament through Green MP Teanau Tuiono's Member's bill that "opened the gate up the door for us to go back in and do what we did".

Despite the progress, Anae remains critical of the Bill’s implications. “I think you [the NZ government] owe these people 50 per cent of the New Zealand pension.

“They get their citizenship rights, but they remain in Samoa and live there and let's face it, that's precisely what these people want to do.

“The youngest is 77 years old, and they're saying they've got to come and spend 10 years in New Zealand. How ridiculous that they won't get that 10 years. But the worst thing for New Zealand economically is the drain on the services of New Zealand by forcing these people to come to New Zealand.

“So, these are the issues that still agitate me. But something I'm very proud of is that we took what was regarded as the impossible and we made it possible, and that for me is a big high.”

Despite these ongoing challenges, Anae remains hopeful for the future, inspired by a new generation of Pacific leaders.

“There's an army coming behind me who are worse than I am,” he said.

“The new generation will no longer accept being treated by New Zealand differently in any particular way.

“We have proved to people in this country that there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that a Pacific island person can't achieve. Give us the opportunity, and we can do anything, and we've proved that millions of times.”