He was among a group of people who participated in Dunedin's latest citizenship ceremony.
"I've been here so long, I thought I'd make it official," he said.
He donned his tauvala for the event because national dress was encouraged. Mr Taunga's family was based in Auckland where he grew up before moving to Dunedin to study. He is a recent teaching graduate.
A trip to Australia was now on the cards where he planned to play rugby league and maybe do some relief teaching.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin hoped the new citizens would take full part in the activities available in New Zealand and encouraged them to remain in Dunedin.
Other new citizens in Dunedin were:
Jillian Beath, of Britain; Sally Gable, of Britain; Armando and Jan Genobe, of the Philippines; Eunsong Im, of Korea; Monpeera Intharasri, of Thailand; Kush Lata, of Fiji; Arvind Babu, of Fiji; Jenny Law, of Malaysia; Chien-Wen Peng, of Taiwan; Rupa Sharma, Saurav and Sahana Sharma, of Nepal; Muktar Sheikh, of Somalia; Hailing Situ, of China; Hui and Trent Zhang, of China; Guy Paepe, of Belgium.
