The late Mr Lua Lepaio, MNZM, Porirua.
Miss Vagi Tania Lepaio accepted the insignia on behalf of the late Mr Lua Lepaio.
For services to the Tokelauan community. Mr Lua Lepaio has been a respected leader in the Tokelauan community in Porirua for more than 50 years. He was a Porirua City Councillor from 1992 to 1998 and was a founding member of the Atafu Tokelau Community Group. In the 1970s he championed an initiative to promote Tokelau culture and language through the Tokelau Biennial Easter Tournament, a sports and cultural competition, which now includes communities from Australia, Hawaii and Tokelau. He helped numerous Tokelauan immigrants to settle into Porirua. He was a leader in the construction of the first Tokelauan community hall, Matauala, in Porirua, which was completed in 1985. He was an elder of the Church of Christ the King in Cannons Creek and gave countless hours to his church community, the Tokelauan community, and the wider Porirua community. Mr Lepaio was a key contributor to the book on Tokelau traditional fishing ‘Hikuleo:o te Papa o Tautai' in 2008, was a member of Mafutaga o Toeaina o Atafu I Matauala, a Tokelau Leadership Group, and was a Justice of the Peace.