Former National Party MP Anae Arthur Anae. File photo Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A former National Party MP has come out swinging at the launch of a petition by the Green Party, despite campaigning for the same goal.
The Green Party launched a petition calling for visa-free travel for Pacific Island visitors on Saturday.
Anae Arthur Anae launched a similar petition last month.
The former National Party MP said he's been working on the issue for many years and has widespread support across the region.
Anae said he had no idea the Greens planned to launch a petition on the same topic.
"It's not new, I've been working on this for years," Anae said.
"It's quite sad that they have to pick up somebody else's work to make a mark for themselves.
"There are a lot of politicians in the house who know my work on this and know what I'm doing - I just wish they'd stand up and shut them down and say listen, stop being a copycat."
The Green Party has campaigned for visa-free access for Pacific Island nations for several years, including calling on former Immigration Minister Michael Wood to extend the waiver that applies to 60 countries and territories, none of which are Pacific Islands.
Anae agreed it's well past time for the visa rules to change.
"I've got to the stage where I'm just fed-up, and I can tell you Pacific leaders are not happy. They've raised this issue for a long time, and it just falls on deaf ears because Immigration NZ just keeps saying we're overstayers."
But he said Immigration NZ's reasoning that visa requirements prevent overstaying is flawed, as the majority of overstayers are not Pacific Islanders.
Anae pointed to research from the period when the government was carrying out dawn raids on Pacific overstayers which showed 75 percent of overstayers were not from the Pacific, and "weren't touched".
"I guarantee if they wanted to [do] a thorough investigation today they'd find there would be little change to those numbers.
Immigration NZ's most recent data estimates two-thirds of overstayers were not from Pacific nations.
"I'm adamant this time they may look at it this with a different set of eyes and say, enough is enough we have to treat our Pacific equally.
The difference between the Green's goal of removing visas for Pacific Island visitors, and his bid for an automatic three-month visa on arrival, he said, was because the Greens "don't know what the hell they're talking about, to be blunt.
"There are 60 nations around the world who can arrive in New Zealand and get a visa issued on arrival, stamped in their passport, and I'm saying the people of the Pacific should be entitled and treated the same way.
"I'm disappointed the Greens think they can pick up another Arthur Anae idea and make it theirs. I'll tell you what, my Pacific people aren't that stupid. If the Greens are doing this because they think they'll capture the Pacific vote at next year's election, they're dreaming."
Anae was an early advocate for the restoration of New Zealand citizenship for Samoans affected by the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982, that revoked the rights of many Samoans to New Zealand citizenship.
The Citizenship Western Samoa Restoration Amendment Bill, submitted by Green MP Teanau Tuiono, passed unanimously last year restoring New Zealand citizenship to Samoans affected by the 1982 legislation.
Anae is chasing a million signatures from around the world for his petition calling for automatic visitor visas.
"I'm calling out to everyone, wherever you live, whatever you come from, whatever nationality you are, support the Pacific people and tell New Zealand, you have been doing the wrong thing for long enough, it's time to treat them equally."
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