Hundreds of Tongan overstayers have been invited to Waitangi in a bizarre plan they believe will see them become New Zealand citizens. 
Kingi Taurua, an elder of the local Ngapuhi iwi, is offering to adopt them into his tribe, but some could be paying $1,000 on a promise that will get them a passport as well.
Taurua's plans to "adopt" Pacific Island overstayers into his tribe to save them being deported has swept through the Tongan community by storm.
"We establish our own laws and we take into our tribe whoever we want to. If the government is going to take these overstayers away then Maori need to do something about that," says Taurua.
He says he wants to adopt overstayers in a long term plan to try and make them citizens of New Zealand.
However the Tongans who have been working with Taurua are telling their people a different story.
"King Taurua will announce to the government the special thing that is happening this year - we are giving away special residencies, special citizenship to some Tongans, Fijians and Samoans," says former Auckland police detective, Josh Liava'a.
Liava'a goes on to say it will cost around $1,000 per person but that everyone will be given a year to pay the amount off.
Taurua says he had no idea that money is being asked for by his Tongan colleagues in exchange for citizenship.
"If they said they are going to collect money, it's their business. It's got nothing to do with me. My idea is to see if we can actually accept these people, these overstayers into our hapu," he says.
Immigration New Zealand says adoption into a hapu does not translate into citizenship, and collecting money for it is illegal.
"Our advice is to provide that information to the nearest police station. This is potentially a criminal matter," says Lesley Haines from the Department of Labour.
Labour list MP Carmel Sepuloni says the matter needs to be dealt with swiftly.
"It's desperation and the message really needs to be put out to our Pacific community as well, that if it seems too easy or too good to be true, it probably is," she says.
Meanwhile, Taurua says he is looking foward to forming an alliance with Pacific people, and promises there will not be a price tag on it.
Source: tvnz
