New Labour MP Lemauga Lydia Sosene gives maiden speech

The public gallery sings a hymn as Labour’s Lemauga Lydia Sosene becomes the country’s newest MP, and 12th of Pasifika heritage. Video / Michael Neilson

New Labour MP Lemauga Lydia Sosene has spoken of her “humble beginnings” in Ōtara in her maiden speech to Parliament, which she dedicated to her late parents.

Sosene spoke of championing the social justice her parents had inspired in her, in front of a packed public gallery of friends and aiga (family) this evening, and surrounded by her new Labour colleagues.

There were loud cheers as she began in te reo Māori and various Pasifika languages, and the hymn “E lo’u Tama e” rung out across the House as she wrapped up, and was presented with lei by her 11 fellow Pasifika MPs (10 from the Labour caucus).

Sosene joins the Labour caucus after the resignation of Louisa Wall, an MP of 14 years’ experience and responsible for Marriage Equality legislation, who has taken up a diplomatic role fighting for gender equality in the Pacific.

Sosene said as a “proud Samoan woman raised in Aukilani New Zealand” she hoped to make a “lasting contribution” as an MP.

Her priorities would be climate change, the environment, working to eradicate child poverty, mental health and the health of women especially, along with addressing inequities for Māori and Pasifika.

“I am a strong believer in social justice and continue to promote women,” she said, bringing up the massive pay gap for Pasifika women in particular.

Sosene spoke of her parents migrating from Sāmoa, separately, for work, and raising her and her siblings in South Auckland.

Her mother, a nurse, and father, a reverend, were heavily involved in the church communities, and she recalled her father being approached by local Labour MPs when she was a child, asking him for his support.

She said growing up in Ōtara in the 1970s, with poor public services, showed her the importance of good public infrastructure.

It was her parents’ values, built on supporting “the village”, that drew her to Labour in the first place and prompted her to enter Parliament, she said.

“Our parents protected us by ensuring our daily needs were cared for.

“They both worked hard up to three jobs weekly and sacrificed much for us kids, but we were expected to help out.

“Some troubled youth from our local church families came to live with us, and my mother instructed us to care for them. Those were the lessons my siblings and I learned.

“To care for one another and to serve our community with the best resources we had at that time.”

Sosene formerly worked for Parliamentary Services before becoming an elected local representative on the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board in 2010, spending the last nine years as its chairwoman.

Lemauga becomes the eleventh Pacific MP in the Labour caucus this term, and the twelfth Pacific MP in Parliament.

After the resignation of Louisa Wall, Lemauga was the highest-ranked Labour list candidate who was not elected at the 2020 election.

Sosene’s maiden speech came shortly after the valedictory speech of departing National MP Simon Bridges.