Lemauga Lydia Sosene (born 14 April 1965) is a

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party, also known simply as Labour (), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descri ...

politician. She was a member of the

Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board is one of the 21 local boards of the Auckland Council, and is overseen by the council's Manukau ward councillors. The board is governed by seven board members elected at-large. The board's administrative area i ...

from the October 2010 local elections until her election to the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives () is the Unicameral, sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers in the New Zealand Government, ministers to form the Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, ...

in May 2022. After completing the balance of Louisa Wall's term as a list MP, Sosene was elected as MP for

Māngere Māngere () is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau, Manukau City Centre and south of the Auckland CBD, Auckland city centre. ...

at the 2023 general election.

Personal life

Sosene's parents both emigrated from

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

to New Zealand in the 1950s. Her father was a founding minister of the

Congregational Christian Church in Samoa The Congregational Christian Church Samoa - CCCS (), is an Protestantism, Protestant and Congregationalism, Congregationalist Christianity, Christian denomination founded in Samoa by missionaries from the London Missionary Society. The ''Congre ...

(EFKS) in

Ōtara Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand (formerly Manukau City), situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland CBD, Auckland City Centre. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tāmaki River. The area is traditionally part of t ...

. Sosene was born in

South Auckland South Auckland ( or ) is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. The area is south of the Auckland isthmus, and on the eastern shores of the Manukau Harbour. The area has been populated by Tāmaki M� ...

in 1965, where she grew up. At some point, her family lived in Henderson in West Auckland. Married to Afoataga Sosene, they live in

Favona Favona is a mostly industry-dominated suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, and is part of the Māngere area. The suburb is in the Manukau ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland city, and is under governance of the Auckland ...

Political career

Local government

Sosene joined the Labour Party in 2000. She was first elected to the

in the 2010 local elections. She was re-elected in the 2013 local elections and 2016 local elections. The board elected her chair in 2013 and returned her to that position in 2016 and 2019. In her role as chair of the board, Sosene has spoken about the impact of overcrowded housing on Pasifika, and the benefit to Samoans in Auckland of a rise in the minimum wage. She supported the extension of Auckland light rail through the Māngere town centre. She resigned from the board in May 2022, following her election to Parliament.

Member of Parliament

At the 2017 general election, Sosene was a list-only candidate placed 44th on the Labour Party list. Labour did not win sufficient representation for Sosene to be elected. At the 2020 general election, Sosene was again a list only candidate for the Labour Party, ranked 54th. Although Labour won more than 63 seats, the election of twelve lower-ranked or unranked constituency candidates prevented Sosene's election at that time; however, she was still invited to participate in the new MP induction process while waiting for the special votes to be counted. She was the highest-ranked Labour list candidate who was not elected at the general election, but she was sworn in as a Member of Parliament on 2 May 2022, following the resignation of list MP Louisa Wall. In 2023, Sosene won the Labour nomination for the safe Labour seat of

, succeeding Aupito William Sio who retired. On 14 October, she won the seat by a margin of 11,712 votes over National's Rosemary Bourke. On 30 November 2023, Sosene was appointed as spokesperson for Internal Affairs, associate Pacific Peoples, and associate Social Development and Employment in the Shadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins. On 7 March 2025, Sosene gained the statistics portfolio but retained the internal affairs portfolio during a shadow

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

. She lost the associate Pacific Peoples, social development and employment portfolios.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sosene, Lydia 1965 births Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand list MPs New Zealand Labour Party politicians New Zealand people of Samoan descent Unsuccessful candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 2023 New Zealand general election