By Mel Taylor

Yesterday Te Pāti Māori presented a petition calling for an official name change from New Zealand to Aotearoa.  The petition gained over 70,000 signatures, a significant amount albeit not being representative of the majority of New Zealanders.

The petition also calls for the Government to officially restore the te reo Māori names for all towns, cities and place names.

In a press release yesterday, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer stated that “people are hungry for change. There is a new generation of Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti who want to see themselves reflected in our country’s identity. Who recognise that the status quo is no longer consistent with who we are as a nation”

“Tangata whenua are fed up with our language and our tupuna names being bastardised and ignored in the 21st century.”

Te Pāti Māori, who received less than 1% of eligible votes, are also demanding that all New Zealand places are given Māori names, as well as the renaming of New Zealand itself.

The last time there was an attempt to change New Zealand was in March 2016. A referendum by then-Prime Minister John Key saw the majority of New Zealanders vote to keep the New Zealand flag.

The cost of that referenda was 26 million dollars, paid for by New Zealand families.

And in the darkening economic climate of New Zealand currently, there has been no robust discussion around the taxpayer funding of referenda.

Even more alarming is that, with a Progressive majority in parliament, every item in the petition can be implemented without any public involvement, circumnavigating democracy yet again.

The economic, social, democratic, generational and cultural damage done to New Zealand will likely be felt for generations.

And the name Aotearoa will have become a title of division rather than a beacon of unity.