Source: Radio New Zealand
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is due to fly to Apia on Sunday evening. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The Prime Minister’s office has denied reports that Christopher Luxon requested to be given a matai title ahead of his visit to Samoa.
Luxon is due to fly to Apia on Sunday evening for a three-day Pacific mission, which will also see him visit Tonga.
It will be Luxon’s first opportunity to bilaterally engage with the recently-elected prime ministers of both countries.
His itinerary in Apia on Monday includes a meeting with Prime Minister La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt, as well as a guard of honour and ava ceremony.
There, Luxon is set to be presented with an honourary matai, or chiefly title, reported by Samoan media to be Tuisinavemaulumoto’otua.
In a livestreamed interview with Samoan outlet Talamua Media, and subsequently reported by Samoa Global News, La’aulialemalietoa said New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Samoa had informed him that Luxon had requested a title.
However, a spokesperson for Luxon told RNZ this was incorrect.
“While the bestowal of an honorary title is a great honour for New Zealand and a mark of our strong relationship with Samoa, it is not something that was requested by the prime minister.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also denied the claim.
“The New Zealand High Commissioner did not request a title for Prime Minister Luxon. As is normal in the preparation for a prime minister’s visit there were detailed discussions with the host government about arrangements,” a spokesperson said.
“The high commissioner asked for advance notice of any important announcements or honours to ensure that the prime minister could be properly prepared.”
Luxon would not be the first New Zealand prime minister to be bestowed a matai title.
Robert Muldoon, David Lange, Jim Bolger, Sir John Key, and Sir Bill English have all received the honour, as has Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters.
The Samoa Observer has reported a letter has been written to Samoa’s Lands and Titles Court to stop the bestowment of the matai title.
La’aulialemalietoa also suggested it would be a “perfect first act of service” for Luxon to endorse and implement the petition calling for visa waivers for Samoans arriving in New Zealand.
“One’s duty as a matai Samoa, is to serve Samoa,” is reported to have said.
A petition with more than 48,000 signatures was handed over at Parliament last month calling for visitors from six Pacific nations (Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu) to be treated the same as travellers from 60 other countries that are eligible for the NZeTA.
While Peters has backed the petition, Luxon is more reluctant, telling RNZ the government had introduced faster, easier, and cheaper visa access, longer visa duration, and a trial for Pacific passport holders travelling from Australia with an Australian visa to enter New Zealand on the NZeTA.
“We’ve been doing everything we can to try and make it easier to secure New Zealand visas, which I think has been important. But also we have to acknowledge that Samoa and Tonga are a major source of overstayers,” he said.
“If we don’t have some sort of visa screening, that problem could be much bigger and that causes a different set of challenges. So it’s just finding the balance through that all.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
