Year 9 and 10 students were treated to an inspirational and informative lesson on New Zealand's recent history by Dr Melani Anae, Rev Alec Toleafoa ,and singer, and songwriter Tigilau Ness, long-time members of the Polynesian Panther Party (PPP).

The Polynesian Panther Party was founded in Auckland’s Ponsonby in 1971. It was formed as a social justice movement to combat the racism and oppression that blighted the lives of Pacific People living in New Zealand. They upheld a policy of no drugs and no violence, advocating for their people's well-being through activism and peaceful protest. 

Their initiatives included providing a pamphlet to explain to Pacific people their rights under the law. They had a police investigation unit that followed police cars around to watch how police conducted themselves. Many Pacifica families were living in appalling conditions, being charged exorbitant rent. The PPP organised rent strikes, to draw attention to the exploitation of these families. Members of the group protested against the Dawn Raids, first introduced in 1974 by Prime Minister Norman Kirk's Labour government, which traumatised a generation of Pacific people. The PPP  joined the Bastion Point Occupation protesting against the Crown's proposal to sell part of Bastion Point reserve for luxury housing; it was on the ancestral land of the Ngāti Whātua, who wanted the land that had been confiscated by the crown back.

 Dr Melani Anae, Rev Alec Toleafoa, and Tigilau Ness, were 16 and 17 years old when they joined the movement. Their challenge to young people today is to stand up against racism wherever they encounter it; to celebrate who they are and where they come from; and to know that education is the way to liberation.