The case continues to generate controversy and spur efforts to amend the immigration and nationality laws in New Zealand.
[12][better source needed][13] In 2002, Barton, Lesa's lawyer in the case, presented a petition with 100,000 signatures to Parliament, asking for the law to be overturned and the Privy Council judgment to be restored.
Parliament's Petitions Committee rejected the request, but acknowledged there was still a lingering sense of grievance from Samoan towards the New Zealand government for its act during and after the colonial rule.
[14] In 2021, Lesa was in attendance when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern apologized for racist immigration policies of past governments.
[16] Lesa never publicly spoke about the case again until 2022,[4] when she worked on an oral history project with filmmaker Jade Jackson.