Keisha Castle-Hughes: Kiwi actress gets behind bid to change citizenship access for Māori born overseas

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is getting behind a push to change citizenship access for Māori born overseas. 

The Waitangi Tribunal's considering a claim by Australian born John Ruddock, which calls the fact his children can't get citizenship, unconstitutional.

Ruddock, who's descended from a Treaty of Waitangi signatory, has citizenship by descent. 

Castle-Hughes she has given evidence, after she struggled to get citizenship for her own daughter.

"Aotearoa is the only place that she can go to kura kaupapa, that she can go to kohanga reo, that she can participate in life as a tangata whenua in that capacity."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have yet another urgent why Kungi Tribunal hearing, this
time challenging where the Maori born overseas and their kids
born overseas have an automatic right to citizenship in New Zealand,
even in cases where others would not be entitled to it.
Now the claim was brought by John Ruddick. We've spoken
to him on this show, and it was supported by
the actress Keisha Castle Hughes, who's been there for the
past two days. Keisha, Hello, Cure, So what happened with you?

(00:24):
Is it that your daughter didn't automatically get citizenship because
both you and she were born overseas.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yes, that is correct. So because I was born overseas
to a Mary mother and an Australian father, I have
citizenship by descent. And as it currently stands, once you
have citizenships by descent, you can't pass that on to
your tamariki unless you tamariki are born in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
And so then you came back here, did you try
to apply citizenship apply for citizenship here for her?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Initially I applied for a passport when my daughter was
born in twenty twenty one, and that was the first
kind of instance that I was. I realized that she
didn't have an access way to citizenship, and then from
there it's been a very long winding road with the
Department of Internal Affairs and she's now almost four and

(01:20):
a half and we've just three weeks ago and granted
her New Zealand citizenship.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
And is that because the Minister intervened?

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yes, that was because the Minister intervened.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
I believe Why did the Minister have to intervene? Like
could you would not? Was there not a pathway for
you where you would simply go through the same process
as anybody else applying for citizenship, waiting the five years
and then getting it.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
The petition to the minister is a pathway. So that
was the pathway that I was on. Yeah, and it's
at the Minister's discretion. However, there's there's no the timeline.
There was no timeline to that, as it's kind of
a case by case situation. But the reason that I

(02:02):
had other MPs reach out to the minister directly because
we were on a tricky time crunch because we had
relocated back to New Zealand and my daughter was in
New Zealand on a tourist FEVA, so I only had
a limit of time that she'd be able.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
To be in the kind of I see okay. So
had it been in other circumstances, you would have been
able to follow the normal part. Like, it's not like
she's cut off altogether, right, she would have eventually been
able to get citizenship.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
No, she didn't have she had no direct pathway to citizenship.
So because there's no pathway for citizens of descent for
their children unless their children are born in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Oh, I see okay. Now, so what is your argument
to the tribunal? Are you basically arguing that tongue tafena
would deserve special access to citizenship not.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Necessarily special access? But there's not clear verbient within the
submission as it currently said that fucker puppa pathways, that
there is an act. You know, there's not a way
to quantify a fuck a pupa pathway, and so it's
you know, there's there's some there's some parts of the

(03:14):
direct petition in which you can submit documentation about familial
ties slash fucker papa. However, there's not really anything that's
specific to being Mary or being tongue to Fenua.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Okay, So you're argue, is you're just correct me if
I'm wrong here. This is not being able to argue
familial ties for any ethnicity that is currently in the country.
Is it just for Mardi that you're arguing?

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Why yeh?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
And you know, and to be clear that I was
giving evidence in another claimants urgent case just because we
had a similar situation that he's going through and they've
been asked to give evidence, and the reason being because
for me as a mama and for my daughter who

(04:04):
is Tongue to Fenoa, there were genuine implications in terms
of her not being able to live in New Zealand,
go to school without paying international school fees, receive healthcare,
and also to as tongue to Fenera. And my opinion
is that Altedo is the only place that as Mali

(04:26):
we can be Mary, you know, you're Maori everywhere, but
it's the only place that she can go to Cokopapa,
that she can go to kuhungavill that she can participate
in life as teena in that capacity, and that wasn't
looking like it was going to be a possibility.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Keisha, thanks for talking to us. I appreciate a Keisha Castle,
Hugh's actress. For more from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive, listen
live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
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