About Efeso Collins
Efeso Collins is of Samoan and Tokelauan decent. Raised in Otara, he is the youngest of six children. Efeso is married to Fia, they have a young daughter, and attend a local Samoan church in west...
View ArticlePasifika As?
"Last June hundreds of Pasifika people took to the streets of Auckland to lift the silence on deeply rooted issues of poverty – high unemployment, overcrowded houses, low wages, ailing health and poor...
View ArticleSamoan PM gambles with lives
"More recent research suggests that wealthy organisations that pay big money into government coffers have an unfair influence on government policy and decisions. You need only look to NZ and the...
View ArticlePasifika Education Plan – shifting responsibility
Wearing failure in life isn’t nice – in fact it’s painful. And obviously the government couldn’t handle the failure label, so cunningly gave it back to Pasifika learners in 2013.
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NZRU: what about the Pacific?
Eighty seven per cent was the scorecard the NZ Rugby Union (NZRU) gave itself at its recent annual general meeting. On the back of the All Blacks regaining the rugby world cup in 2011 and a much...
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Cutting Dream Fono – so much for a diverse student body.
In 2002 the University of Auckland established the Pacific Islands Dream Fonotaga as an attempt to outreach to Pasifika young people in low decile schools, with the hope to inspiring them to higher...
View ArticleCitizen A: Martyn Bradbury, Efeso Collins & Selwyn Manning On IPCA Report +...
On Citizen A this week Martyn Bradbury, Efeso Collins, and Selwyn Manning discuss the following issues: Issue 1: Now the IPCA report into Police during the Urewera terrorism case has finally been...
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South Pacific law at uni…
In education theory for migrant and minority groups, we advise teachers that students will be drawn into their subject when they see something about themselves, their backgrounds and their cultures...
View ArticleCitizen A: Martyn Bradbury, Efeso Collins, Selwyn Manning Debate GI Evictions...
On Citizen A this week, host Martyn Bradbury is joined by Efeso Collins and Selwyn Manning to debate the following issues: Issue 1: Is the Glen Innes housing redevelopment for middle class...
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Diversity demands a shift in politics
Student politics seems like a long time ago for me – I chaired meetings that were often highly combative and highly emotional. Some people were great at yelling their points to the group; others...
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Unasa stands for Auckland mayoralty
In my last blog I reflected on the need for a shift in society’s attitudes in order to achieve diversity – the kind of diversity that enables people of all backgrounds and cultures to participate in...
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Fat chance of owning a house!
I was staggered watching the news last night and hearing the PM say that first-time homeowners were still a priority for the government. He was obviously pitching at middle and upper class New...
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Normalizing participation
I don’t normally read the Herald but today a kind person politely offered me a copy at the café I was having breakfast at. Unsure of what to do with the thing I have major distaste for, I went to...
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Labour and Pasifika-style leadership – can Cunliffe do it?
I remember following the 1984 election with excitement. My parents had always voted Labour and were keen for a Lange-Labour win in 1984 because they’d had enough of Muldoon. Whilst I didn’t understand...
View ArticlePretending to be Pacific
Some months ago I was asked by a good friend and colleague at the Salvation Army to be on a commentary panel on the day they released a report on the state of Pacific people in NZ aptly titled More...
View ArticleEmerging Pasifika Leaders
Much of the commentary in relation to the recent Local Body elections has focussed on low voter turnout, ways to improve voter engagement and a couple of marginal seats that swung either way. These...
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Power-up: “fixing” Pasifika students
Well the Ministry of Education are up to their usual acculturalistic and assimilationist activities yet again. This time they’re out in Pasifika communities setting up ‘power stations’ that act as...
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The new ‘brown flight’
I sat down to dinner with a number of old mates from university-days a couple of weeks ago. We reminisced on being able to do all-nighters in the lead up to exams, mocked people about who they went...
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Conferencing equity from the sidelines
Last week I had the opportunity to present a paper at the Equity Practitioners Conference in Perth. My paper looked at shifting the focus of university’s from recruiting Pasifika students to their...
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Victory for Labour
Securing the majority of the 800,000 non-voters will be key to Labour’s chances for success next year. This was a central theme during the leadership selection period which saw the Party surge in...
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