Maori Party launches petition to officially change New Zealand’s name to Aotearoa
A political party in New Zealand has said it is “sick to death” of the country’s name and has demanded it be changed along with all European place names.
It’s known as New Zealand around the world, but maybe not for much longer if one Kiwi political party has its way.
The Māori party — Te Pāti Māori — has launched a petition to change the country’s official name to Aotearoa and called for Māori place names to be officially restored in the next five years replacing the likes of Auckland and Wellington.
But the country’s former deputy Prime Minister, who himself has Māori heritage, has said changing the name is “dumb extremism”.
The name “New Zealand” was chosen by Dutch cartographers in the 17th century and harks back to the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. New Zealand has likely been used as a place name for longer than “Aotearoa” with the latter generally traced back to the 19th century.
Before this other Māori names had been used to refer to the various islands separately. The most recognised translation of Aotearoa is “long white cloud”. Originally this referred to just the North Island but in modern usage encompasses the entire nation.
Ahead of last year’s election, Te Pāti Māori said if it won power it would change New Zealand’s name within six years, all towns and cities with “pekaha” (European) names would lose them by 2026, and half of all lessons in schools would be taught in the Māori language (Te Reo Māori) by 2030.
While the Jacinda Ardern-led Labour Party retained power in a landslide, the Māori party - which has two out of 120 NZ MPs - has forged ahead with its plan.
Ancestral names being mangled, bastardised, and ignored
In a statement launching the petition, Te Pāti Māori leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Parker said that it was “well past time that Te Reo Māori was restored to its rightful place as the first and official language of this country”.
“Tangata whenua (Māori people) are sick to death of our ancestral names being mangled, bastardised, and ignored. It’s the 21st Century, this must change,” the statement read.
Successive governments and “the imposition of a colonial agenda in the education system” had resulted in widespread language loss among Māori, with fluency dropping from 90 per cent to 20 per cent over the past 90 years.
“It is the duty of the Crown to do all that it can to restore the status of our language. That means it needs to be accessible in the most obvious of places; on our televisions, on our radio stations, on road signs, maps and official advertising, and in our education system,” they said.
Mr Waititi said that “Aotearoa is a name that will unify our country rather than divide it”.
“Others are trying to use it as a divisive tool, but this is an inclusive tool, where our ancestors consented to us all living on this whenua (land) together. New Zealand is a Dutch name. Even the Dutch have changed their name — from Holland to the Netherlands, for Christ’s sakes!”
Under the plan, the capital of Wellington would become Te Whanganiu-a-Tara, while Christchurch would be known as Ōtautahi. Auckland would become Tāmaki Makaurau
Former Deputy PM: Name change ‘left-wing radical bull dust’
But not everyone is impressed with the idea. Former deputy prime minister Winston Peters, whose father was Māori, doubled down on his initial criticism of the plan last year, tweeting that it was “dumb extremism”.
“This is just more left-wing radical bull dust,“ Mr Peters wrote today.
“Changing our country’s name and town and city names is just dumb extremism. We are not changing to some name with no historical credibility. We are for keeping us New Zealand.”
During the 2020 general election, Mr Peters deemed the proposal “headline hunting without any regard to the cost of this country”. He said it would make New Zealand’s “international marketing brand confusing”.
Libertarian ACT party leader David Seymour wrote on Twitter that New Zealanders “are already free to use Māori placenames”.
“What the Māori Party is saying is it would like to ban people calling our country New Zealand,” he added.
Stuart Smith, an MP with the opposition National Party, had previously even floated the idea of banning the use of Aotearoa by public officials, and party leader Judith Collins has called for a referendum on it — declaring the name was being implemented “by stealth”.
New Zealand has been known by that name since the 17th century.
New Zealand has been known by that name since the 17th century.
Party prepared for the ‘haters’
In August, Wellington City Council was asked to apply the name Waimapihi — now just a reserve and small stream — to an entire prominent hillside, leading to accusations of “wokeism” and people emailing councillors to tell them it “seems hardly essential or important activity”.
Wellington City councillor Tamatha Paul warned that the backlash regarding the proposed renaming of the reserve showed how difficult it would be to change the name of the entire country.
But, she told NZ news website Stuff, it was a fight worth having.
“New Zealand isn’t even an English name — it’s Dutch. It has no relevance to our country. Aotearoa is a name with immense whakapapa (genealogy), and so is Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington).
“I am glad to be a part of a generation who will throw away our colonial past and reclaim the mama of this whenua.”
Ms Ngarewa-Packer, the Te Pāti Māori co-leader, told Stuff she was prepared for the “haters”.
“You will always get people who are reluctant to change. Progress and decolonisation scares those who are weak and bigoted,” she said.
New Zealand‘s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that an official name change was “not something we’ve explored”, but that she supported more people using the name.
It’s not the first time a petition has been created to officially change New Zealand’s name.
In 2019, the country’s Parliament’s considered two petitions related to the use of Aotearoa — one asking for the country’s name to be officially changed to “Aotearoa New Zealand,” and the other calling for a referendum on the matter.
At the time, the committee noted that Aotearoa was “increasingly being used as an alternative way to refer to New Zealand”, with references to it in legislation, but it didn’t recommend a name change.
“While not legislated, the use of bilingual titles throughout parliament and government agencies is common,” the committee said.
“We thank the petitioners for bringing this matter to our attention. However, at present we do not consider that a legal name change, or a referendum on the same change, is needed.”
Last year, PM Ardern said that an official name change was “not something we’ve explored”, but said that she supported more people using the name.
https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/maori-party-launches-petition-to-officially-change-new-zealands-name-to-aotearoa/news-story/2f45f60035b0e22ae1b30dd941181616