Te Pāti Māori co-leader wants the Government to show leadership and push through changes to adopt Aotearoa as a replacement name for New Zealand. Picture / Mark Mitchell
Te Pāti Māori co-leader wants the Government to show leadership and push through changes to adopt Aotearoa as a replacement name for New Zealand. Picture / Mark Mitchell
Te Pāti Māori co-leader wants the Government to show leadership and push through changes to adopt Aotearoa as a replacement name for New Zealand. But Debbie Ngarewa-Packer admits this kapuapa might be a political hot potato that Labour will not want to carry before this year’s election.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi last week appeared in front of the Māori Affairs select committee to discuss a name change to Aotearoa.
Waititi says the party’s push to make Aotearoa the official name of the country has a serious purpose.
He said while the country is facing other important issues like the rising cost of living and the recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle, it can’t lose sight of building a stronger future.
“This is all part of growing the identity of a country that should be deep-seated in the values and the principles - the articles - of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. And so building a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa is important to building a greater nation than we already are,” he said.
Waititi says renaming the country is a step towards becoming a truly bicultural nation.
Ngarewa-Packer reiterated her co-leaders korero (talk) and said her iwi had worked for 20-plus years to change the name from Mt Egmont to Mt Taranaki. The earlier name is now hardly even mentioned she said.
70,000 signed the petition to change the name. Photo / Supplied
“There is a lot of mahi the officials have been asked to do and the process now is from submissions, there is more research that needs to be done before a name change to Aotearoa can proceed,” Ngarewa-Packer told the Herald.
“In principle, the government sounded in favour of this but I don’t know if they will want to see this come up before the election.”
Ngarewa-Packer said the name change was about “us rebalancing and reclaiming our status under Te Tiriti and making sure we give reference to our reo, our culture and everything else as a consequence”.
“It’s about reclaiming our indigenous nationhood.”
Last June, Te Pāti Māori launched a petition to change the name to Aotearoa. It gained more than 70,000 signatures and was presented to MPs at the steps of parliament.
