All political parties in the House needed to hear from people in the South, to push for a long-standing injustice to be undone, he said.
Green MP Teanau Tuiono spoke at the South Dunedin Community Hall on Saturday.
He had his private member’s Bill drawn from the "biscuit tin" last year and it could lead to reversal of a 1982 law change, as well as adjustment to a Treaty of Friendship between Samoa and New Zealand.
The Bill passed its first reading in Parliament last month, after it gained support from Act New Zealand and New Zealand First. Only the National Party opposed it.
The Bill would provide entitlement to New Zealand citizenship for a group of people born in Samoa whose citizenship rights were removed by statute.
New Zealand citizenship began from 1949 and the Privy Council ruled in 1982 it also applied to Western Samoan people born between 1924 and 1949 because New Zealand legislation had, in that period, treated them as "natural-born British subjects".
The Bill’s explanatory note said the government in 1982 "did not want a large number of people from Western Samoa" to claim New Zealand citizenship, so quickly brought in a law change.
"At the heart of this Bill is fairness", Mr Tuiono said.
A right confirmed by the Privy Council was unfairly taken away by the government, he said.
Mr Tuiono encouraged both individuals and groups to make submissions to Parliament’s governance and administration select committee.
Written submissions would need to be in by the end of this month.
Dunedin, Invercargill and Canterbury Samoan advisory council spokesman Afamasaga Pavihi said the visit by Mr Tuiono had been helpful.
It enabled people to get a better understanding of the issue, he said.
