Teenager elected to Pacific affairs advisory committee

Fale Andrew Lesa. Photo / Richard Robinson

He missed out on prefect selections in high school two years ago, but now he is one of Manukau City's most influential teenagers.

Fale Lesa, 19, has been elected to be a member of the Pacific Island Advisory Committee for Manukau City Council.

He is the youngest person to be elected on to the committee, which was established in 1991 to advise the council on Pacific issues.

"I wanted to do it for the youth," he says.

"I'm passionate about youth development and specifically being a voice for Pacific youth."

Mr Lesa will join two others to represent the Samoan community on the committee.

A former student at Manurewa High School, he said his first encounter with politics and decision making at a higher level came when he was chosen to be the Manurewa MP for the Youth Parliament in 2007.

"That's where I saw that this was the way to be heard," he said.

"A lot of kids think that by being in a gang, they're being heard. But how? You do something bad, get taken by police, end up in jail - how are you being heard?

"But if you're involved in the community, you're making decisions about your community, you're influencing people - that's being heard," Mr Lesa said.

Committee co-ordinator Faama Viliamu says the election of a 19-year-old to the committee showed the Manukau and Pacific community's faith in a young person who had worked hard for Pacific people - beating many other "wiser" applicants.

"He's passionate about his community and he really wants to stand up and represent, be a voice for young Pacific people - and people can see that," Mr Viliamu said.

Mr Lesa, also the Pacific Island representative in the Young Labour Party, will take on his new role while in his second year of a joint law and politics degree at the University of Auckland.

A career in criminal or family law seems to be on the cards for Mr Lesa, but he is not ruling out the possibility of a life in politics.

"I want to go where the demand is. But who knows - I've always wanted to be the first Pacific Island Prime
Minister."