50 Facts About Efeso Collins

Efeso Collins attended the University of Auckland, where he later lectured, and in 1999 was the first Pasifika elected as President of the Auckland University Students' Association.

At the 2013 Auckland elections, Efeso Collins was elected to the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board, and became an Auckland Councillor for Manukau in 2016.

Efeso Collins became a leading national figure for Pasifika rights and identity.

Efeso Collins contested the 2022 Auckland mayoral election as an independent, backed by the Labour and Green parties, losing to Wayne Brown.

Less than a week after giving his maiden speech, Efeso Collins attended a fun run on lower Queen Street, Auckland, as part of a charity event for ChildFund.

Efeso Collins collapsed during the event and died at the scene.

Efeso Collins was born and raised in the South Auckland suburb of Otara.

Efeso Collins was the youngest of six children to bus driver and Pentecostal Church pastor Tauiliili Sio Collins and factory worker and cleaner Lotomau Collins.

Efeso Collins's parents immigrated to New Zealand from Samoa in the 1960s, and were of mixed Samoan and Tokelauan descent.

The name Efeso Collins was selected before their migration in order to support their integration into New Zealand.

At primary school, Efeso Collins was known as "Phillip" because of his teachers' unwillingness to learn how to say his given name.

Efeso Collins was brought up a Pentecostal Christian and later converted to Catholicism.

Efeso Collins later studied education at the University of Auckland, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1997 followed by a Master of Arts in 1999.

Efeso Collins subsequently taught at the university and contributed to four published works.

Efeso Collins was elected Auckland University Students' Association president in 1999 and was the first Polynesian in that role.

Efeso Collins was stood down from his position after he questioned a lack of transparency in the process by which a private company called the Pacific Islands Economic Development Agency was given a $4.8 million Government grant.

Efeso Collins worked at the University of Auckland for fifteen years, running a Pacific student outreach programme.

Efeso Collins married Fia, a diversity and inclusion specialist, in 2011.

At the 2013 Auckland elections, Efeso Collins was elected to the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board as a Labour Party candidate and became its chairperson.

Efeso Collins contested the Labour Party candidate selection for the Manukau East electorate before the 2014 general election, but ultimately, Jenny Salesa was selected and won the seat.

At the 2016 Auckland elections, Efeso Collins was elected to the Auckland Council, replacing Arthur Anae, who did not seek re-election.

Efeso Collins was sworn in as a councillor for the Manukau ward on 1 November 2016.

Efeso Collins won the council's support to lobby the government to ban the sale of fireworks to the public, citing safety concerns.

Efeso Collins supported the council's goal that homelessness should be rare, brief and non-recurring.

Efeso Collins held the view that homelessness and anti-social public behaviour were distinct issues that should not be conflated.

On 27 August 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, Efeso Collins called for the New Zealand Government to grant an amnesty to people who had overstayed their visas in order to encourage members of the Pasifika community to come forward for COVID-19 tests.

On 25 July 2021, Efeso Collins disclosed that he and his family had received a death threat on 19 June in response to his comments criticising TVNZ's Police Ten 7 programme for its negative depiction of the Maori and Pasifika communities.

In January 2022 Efeso Collins announced he would be running for Mayor of Auckland as an independent candidate in the 2022 election.

Efeso Collins received the endorsements of the Labour Party on 28 February 2022 and the Green Party on 15 March 2022, and the endorsement of incumbent mayor Phil Goff.

Efeso Collins's campaign was officially launched in September 2022 by Maori development minister Willie Jackson and Auckland University of Technology law school dean Khylee Quince.

Efeso Collins' policies included fare-free public transport as "the first and best way" to address the city's emissions.

Efeso Collins attributed his election defeat to alleged "unconscious bias" among voters and the postal ballot system which disadvantaged lower-income voters.

Efeso Collins was reported as a likely candidate for the Green Party in January 2023.

In February 2023, Efeso Collins announced he was seeking selection as the Green candidate for Panmure-Otahuhu and a place on the party list.

In mid-September 2023, Efeso Collins received a death threat during the 2023 election campaign.

Efeso Collins came third in the Panmure-Otahuhu electorate with 4,312 votes.

Efeso Collins sat on the governance and administration committee and was appointed the Green Party spokesperson for ACC, commerce and consumer affairs, local government, Pacific Peoples, seniors, sport and recreation, Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, and veterans.

Efeso Collins spoke in Parliament on only three other occasions, opposing the re-introduction of 90-day trials in most workplaces, speaking in support of a social worker registration scheme, and asking a question about the government's proposed Treaty Principles Bill.

Efeso Collins died while in office, on 21 February 2024.

Efeso Collins was historically aligned with the Labour Party, but veered from the party line on a number of occasions, such as opposing the Regional Fuel Tax on equity grounds, and being a vocal supporter of the 2019 Ihumatao protest.

Efeso Collins's politics were generally centre-left, but he had held some conservative positions previously.

Efeso Collins said these stemmed from his strict, Pentecostal religious upbringing.

Efeso Collins was opposed to the Marriage Amendment Act 2013, which legalised same-sex marriage in New Zealand, but later apologised for his actions.

Efeso Collins' niece came out as transgender in 2013, influencing him to move away from these views, despite some family members not supporting her transition.

On 21 February 2024, Efeso Collins took part in a fun run in and around Commercial Bay and lower Queen Street, Auckland, as part of an event for charity ChildFund.

ChildFund New Zealand chief executive Josie Pagani was a friend of Efeso Collins and had asked him to participate.

Onsite paramedics rushed to Efeso Collins' aid, joined by firefighters and off-duty police officers.

Less than an hour after Efeso Collins collapsed Green Party co-leader James Shaw expressed the caucus's "profound shock and sadness".

Efeso Collins was such an authentic, genuine, warm man who had respect for everyone.

Efeso Collins was the first New Zealand MP to die in office since Labour MP Parekura Horomia, eleven years earlier.