Aupito Tofae Su'a William Sio (born 1960) is a politician who became a member of the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...

on 1 April 2008 for the Labour Party as a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

. Since the November , he has represented the

Māngere Māngere () or Mangere is one of the largest suburbs in Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south of ...

electorate.

Personal

Sio is a Samoan who was born in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

and came to New Zealand in 1969. He has the '' matai'' (chieftain title) of Aupito from the Matatufu village of the

Lotofaga Lotofaga is a village on the south coast of Upolu island in Samoa. Lotofaga is also the name of the larger Lotofaga Electoral Constituency (''Faipule District'') which includes Lotofaga village and two other villages, Vavau and Matatufu. The v ...

district on the island of

Upolu Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximatel ...

. He belongs to the extended family called Aiga Sa Aupito, which he now heads, as his father, Aupito Pupu Sio, bestowed the title in a 'fa'aui le ula' from father to son. Sio is a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

and has served as one of their

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. He is married with a family of adult and young children. While growing up in New Zealand during the 1970s, Sio and his family experienced a police

dawn raid A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law-enforcement officers with the aim of using the element of surprise in order to seize evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to hide evidence, resist arrest, be politicall ...

, which disproportionately targeted members of the Pasifika communities. Sio recalled that he was personally traumatised by the raid and that his father, who had recently bought the house, was helpless.

Local politics

Sio served as a

Manukau City Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as " South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...

Councillor, representing the

Ōtara Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand (formerly Manukau City), situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland CBD. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tamaki River (actually an arm of the Hauraki Gulf), which extends south tow ...

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

from 2001. Sir

Barry Curtis Barry Curtis may refer to: * Barry Curtis (actor) (1943–2019), American film and television actor * Barry Curtis (mayor) (born 1939), served as mayor (1983–2007) of Manukau City, New Zealand ** Barry Curtis Park, a park in south Auckland, New Z ...

, the

Mayor of Manukau City The Mayor of Manukau City was the head of the municipal government of Manukau City, New Zealand, from 1965 to 2010, and presided over the Manukau City Council. The mayor was directly elected using a first-past-the-post electoral system. The last ...

, selected Sio as chair of the planning committee in November 2004. In October 2007, the newly elected Mayor of Manukau City,

Len Brown Leonard Charles Brown (born 1 October 1956)) is a former mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, and former head of the Auckland Council. He won the 2010 Auckland mayoral election on 9 October 2010 and was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland on 1 Novembe ...

, appointed Sio

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

, making him the first

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

to hold the position in Manukau City.

National politics

Labour candidate, 2005–2008

In the 2005 parliamentary election Sio was ranked 47th on the Labour party list and failed to be elected by two places. However Labour Party list MP

Dianne Yates Dianne Fae Yates (born 29 November 1943) is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of the Labour Party. Member of Parliament Yates first entered Parliament in the 1993 election, representing the Hamilton East electorate. In the 1 ...

left the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

on 29 March 2008, and Sio was declared elected in her place (the person above him on the list,

Louisa Wall Louisa Hareruia Wall (born 17 February 1972) is a former New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 2011 to 2022. She has represented New Zealand in both netball as a Silver Fern and rugby union as a m ...

, had already been declared elected to replace Ann Hartley). Prior to entering Parliament, Sio was a representative on Labour's national council as Pacific Islands Vice-President.

In opposition, 2008–2017

In the 2008 general election Sio won the

electorate, defeating the incumbent independent (and former Labour) MP

Taito Phillip Field Taito Phillip Hans Field (26 September 1952 – 23 September 2021) was a Samoan-born New Zealand trade unionist and politician. A Member of Parliament (MP) for South Auckland electorates from 1993 to 2008, Field was the first New Zealand MP of ...

by 7,126 votes. In the and s, Sio's majority was approximately 15,000 votes. In 2013, Sio voted against the Marriage Amendment Bill, which aimed to permit same sex marriage in New Zealand, with fellow Labour MPs

Rino Tirikatene Rino Tirikatene (born 1972) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Te Tai Tonga electorate since the . He is a member of the Labour Party. He comes from a family with a strong political histor ...

Ross Robertson Harold Valentine Ross Robertson (born 22 May 1949), known as Ross Robertson, is a New Zealand politician for the Labour Party. He was a Member of Parliament from until his retirement in 2014. He also served as president of Parliamentarians ...

and

Damien O'Connor Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who currently serves as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister ...

, alongside New Zealand First, Brendan Horan (former New Zealand First MP), and 32 National MPs. The Bill passed, becoming

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

In government, 2017–present

Sio was re-elected during the 2017 general election by a margin of 14,597 votes, defeating National Party candidate

Agnes Loheni Agnes Loreta Loheni (born 1971) is a New Zealand politician and a former Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the New Zealand National Party. She was declared elected on 31 January 2019, following the resignation of Chris Fin ...

. Following the formation of Labour-led coalition government with

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

and the Greens, Sio was appointed as a Minister outside Cabinet by the Labour Party caucus. On 26 October 2017, Sio was appointed

Minister for Pacific Peoples The Minister for Pacific Peoples is a ministerial portfolio in the government of New Zealand with responsibility over the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. The role was established in 1984 as Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, prior to which, Pa ...

, Associate Minister for Courts, and Associate Minister of Justice. During the 2020 general election, Sio was re-elected in Māngere by a margin of 19,396 votes, defeating National's candidate Loheni. In early November, Sio became Minister for Courts, while retaining his Pacific Peoples ministerial portfolio. He also retained his associate justice portfolio while picking up the associate

foreign affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

(Pacific Peoples), and

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

(Pacific Peoples) portfolios. After

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

confirmed that the New Zealand Government would apologise for the Dawn Raids of the 1970s and early 1980s, Sio gave an emotional testimony of his family's experiences with a dawn raid, stating that the apology restored

mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being a ...

for the victims of these raids. In mid-December 2022, Sio announced that he would not be contesting the 2023 New Zealand general election and would step down at the end of the 2020–2023 term. He attributed his resignation decision to his family and matai (chiefly) responsibilities, stating that his job as a Member of Parliament was "all-consuming and relentless."

Political views

Sio's stance against the Marriage Amendment Act, which allowed same-sex couple to marry, was not popular among his Labour colleagues. He justified his stance based the beliefs of many Pacific Islanders whom he represents.

Notes

References

External links

Su'a William Sio's official website

New Zealand Parliament profile
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sio, Sua William New Zealand Labour Party MPs Manukau City Councillors Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Government ministers of New Zealand Samoan emigrants to New Zealand People from the Auckland Region Living people New Zealand list MPs Samoan chiefs New Zealand leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Unsuccessful candidates in the 2005 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates 21st-century New Zealand politicians Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election Unitec Institute of Technology alumni 1960 births Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election