Say the Name: Aotearoa.

Winston & Shane VS Immigrants and Te Reo.

And when we first came here
We were cold, and we were clear
With no colours in our skin
Until we let the spectrum in

Say my name
And every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

Songwriters: Florence Leontine Mary Welch / Paul Epworth.

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“What did Gerry say?”

To be honest, with multiple people talking at once and yelling, it was hard to hear what was said, but listening to the follow-up dialogue pointed to something I couldn’t believe I was hearing in Aotearoa in 2025.

WTF? Gerry Brownlee just ruled out using the word “Aotearoa”, saying it should be “NZ” or “Aotearoa NZ”.

I watched Oral Questions live, and this wasn’t the one I’d tuned in to hear. However, with NZ First involved, even the most innocuous of questions can become a battleground for the culture war they’re determined to fight.

Dr Verrall vs the Minister of Health

I tuned in to hear a detailed question from Dr. Verrall, the Labour health spokesperson, to the newly appointed and questionably qualified Minister of Health. It struck me as farcical that a layperson would explain matters to an expert.

Question #4 read, “Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL to the Minister of Health: What were the departmental resourcing and clinical capacity factors that Health New Zealand said led to delays in the assessment of Mr Daniel Walker's cancerous lump on his testis, and what, if anything, was being done to address these factors at the time of Mr Walker's referral to Nelson Hospital's urology service in June 2024?“

Dr Ayesha Verrall and Simeon Brown. Image montage: BeFunky.

It will probably come as no surprise that his answer was full of weasel words and without a hint of genuine sympathy. Dr Verrall asked whether it was correct that while care was delayed due to the lack of a surgeon, as the cancer spread, the government removed the hospital's power to recruit to fill the need.

Simeon could not say anything; this is the reality of what happens when money is put before lives.

Subsequently, Labour’s Peeni Henare stuck it to him too, and he became an angry elf. I didn’t notice any actual foot stamping, but he became quite inflamed. I was only sorry that as the Minister of Health, he seemed more concerned about defending himself than critical delays in diagnosis. I couldn’t imagine Dr Verrall ever doing that.

Green Marxists

I should’ve anticipated a few headline-worthy fireworks from NZ First after a typical performance in question #3, which I joked completed my card of phrases for the day.

BINGO! Winston just called Chlöe a Marxist!

Chlöe asked Luxon, “Is the Prime Minister somehow convinced that, this time, it will all trickle down?”

Needless to say, Christopher did not justify such an obvious question with an answer, because as we all know, in Luxon-land, all growth is good

However, Julia, commenting on the post, had a thing or two to say to the Prime Minister:

“You know what helps businesses thrive? A country with good infrastructure and a healthy, well-educated populace.

Thanks to his lot perennially reducing the obligations of the wealthy to contribute a fair share and the other lot lacking the balls to tax fairly, instead we have failing infrastructure, an aging population who is going to be ever more dependent on our creaking health system, and (sorry) many second-rate teachers and other professionals, because so many of the good ones are opting for the better wages and life they can find across the ditch or further afield.

Hey, but at least we're saving a few bucks because Seymour worked out how to feed our kids $3 portions of mass-produced slop!”

Government MPs yelled out “Communist”; such was the idiocy of the exchange. To be fair to the Speaker, things got a bit confusing, as demonstrated by this exchange:

SPEAKER: Just hang on—hang on. It's your own side—

Chlöe Swarbrick: I'm in the Greens, Mr Speaker.

SPEAKER: Oh, you are quite right, too.

As if to say, “Hold my Beer”, Chris Bishop subsequently escalated things, calling the Greens “De-growth Marxists” and angrily shouting “GROWTH IS GOOD!”

It’s hard to take Bishop seriously. He says dreadful things while simultaneously trying to pull off a lad on the pints look, giving it a large. The way he speaks in parliament gives the impression that he thinks the whole thing is a joke.

Did that Immigrant just use Te Reo?

So to question #9 - “RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister of Immigration: Does she stand by her statement that ‘We know the importance of family reunification in this Government’; if so, does she think it's fair to deport people who have been born in Aotearoa, separating them from their communities and families?”

I’ll discuss what was said below; however, if you like, you can watch the video or read the Hansard transcript.

Ricardo’s question seemed innocuous and like good advocacy. You may have seen this week's story about Daman Kumar, who was born here but has no experience in India. However, Immigration NZ were planning to deport him there before the Minister intervened in the case.

Ricardo Menéndez March. Image: Stuff.

As a question on record, Winston had the opportunity to prepare, and he pounced:

“Point of order. Mr Speaker, this is a very serious point of order. Why is someone who applied to come to this country in 2006 allowed to ask a question of this Parliament to change this country's name without the referendum and sanction of the New Zealand people?”

Let’s be clear: No one was trying to change the official name; Aotearoa is simply how many of us refer to our country.

Winston objected to the use of te reo for the country's name, but he was more concerned about someone who wasn’t born here saying it. This is exactly what it looks like, and we all know it, but some people don’t want to say it.

To be fair, the Speaker did okay, at least to begin with. He said, “The person asking the question is an elected member of this House. If he is using a name that's not acceptable to others listening, then I can't do much about that other than to say the point is acknowledged.”

Ricardo continued, “How is it right for their Government to deport people from New Zealand who only have connections to New Zealand?” But Winston wasn’t done yet, and eventually Brownlee had to intervene, saying:

“That's enough. I think it's probably not an unreasonable thing to perhaps use, if you want to, the two names Aotearoa New Zealand, but not just the one. Quite clearly, the Minister is sworn as a Minister of a Government in New Zealand—simple as that.”

On reading the Hansard transcript, the comment was not as bad as I thought at the time. However, it was still fundamentally that you can say “Aotearoa New Zealand” or “New Zealand,” but the inference was it was unreasonable to say “Aotearoa”.

My friend Gus, whose heritage is Dutch and Māori and whom I’ve known since we were kids, asked, “How did we ever get here? Why are we not proud of our indigenous language?”

Image: BeFunky.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s bloody outrageous, and so too did Kieran McAnulty, who immediately highlighted the significance to the Speaker.

Kieran pointed out that any other translation from English to Te Reo was permitted, as it is one of our country's official languages. Adding, “but now all of a sudden members cannot use the term ‘Aotearoa’ unless they follow it up with ‘New Zealand’?”

There was much to-ing and fro-ing over the merits of NZ vs Aotearoa. To be honest, I’m not so much interested in how we got here; I appreciate there are various points of view and historical arguments. We are where we are.

Personally, I’d be more than happy to see our country renamed Aotearoa. That feels like us, like our part of the world, not the geographic oddity of our English name. But you’ll never get people to agree to that, and there are bigger issues on which to expend time and energy.

I reckon using Aotearoa, NZ, or Aotearoa NZ interchangeably is just fine. We’ve absorbed numerous te reo words into common usage; I can’t imagine anyone complaining about being called a Kiwi, which is, as Sally Bowring would’ve pointed out, a Māori word.

If you didn’t get that last reference, don’t worry about it. If you did, then yes, I had a lump in my throat as I typed it.

If we have to have one official name, then it seems like a no-brainer—it has to be “Aotearoa New Zealand.” It’s not perfect; it’s too long, but I don’t think we’ll come up with anything that more people would agree to.

As the house bickered about history, with Chippy, perhaps unhelpfully, suggesting that Winston had been there for most of it, McAnulty raised a Point of Order:

“Would you also be willing to consider whether it is appropriate for any member of this House to openly question the legitimacy of the presence of another member in order to make a political point?”

Ricardo spoke to that, highlighting that he wasn’t the only MP in parliament who was an immigrant - which is so bloody irrelevant there should be no reason to mention it - and importantly highlighted concerns that such attacks would dissuade others who have immigrated to our country from taking part in our political system.

But there was to be no decorum. Gerry called time after Shane Jones said, “Sir, can you also contemplate the appropriateness of recent immigrants telling Māoris what the name of our country should be?”

All over the fact that the Green MP asked if it was fair to deport someone who was born here in Aotearoa.

Three weeks ago, Jones yelled, “Send the Mexicans home,” and Peters told Green migrant MPs to “show some gratitude.” Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver.

NZ First can’t even handle the idea of a human being changing to reflect who they are, so I suppose they will hardly accept the whole country doing so. But that’s not the point; there ought to be standards, and by no stretch of what those might be were the actions of Winston Peters and Shane Jones yesterday acceptable.

Complaining about an immigrant to our country using a te reo name as if they somehow have fewer rights is pure filth. The ugly side of New Zealand First’s Nationalism, or what Shane Jones called “Patriotism” in his interview with Moana Maniapoto this week.

But let’s call it what it really is, even if Christopher Luxon and Gerry Brownlee prefer to ignore the Xenophobia in the room.

Stuff’s Jenna Lynch had a good report on the events:

There has been talk recently, possibly just a few journalists fantasising, of efforts to thaw relations between NZ First and Labour.

Having senior government ministers question what Kiwis who were born elsewhere can say purely based on the place of birth is revolting. I’d like to see Chippy rule out working with NZ First again by saying, “Not in my Aotearoa!”

To end, I’d like to share a message, by permission, that Te Ariki sent me as this was going on, which I think is quite relevant:

“Following the oral submissions on the Treaty of Waitangi Bill has been thought-provoking. One particularly telling observation is that nearly every supporter of the Bill struggles with the pronunciation of Te Reo Māori.

This is not shared with malice or to diminish individuals, but rather to prompt a deeper reflection on what this signals about engagement with Māori perspectives.

Language is not merely a tool for communication; it embodies culture, history, and a way of seeing the world. When someone advocating for legislative change concerning Te Tiriti o Waitangi demonstrates little familiarity with even the basic sounds of Te Reo, it raises critical questions about the extent to which they have meaningfully engaged with the Māori worldview.

If pronunciation—the most fundamental aspect of engaging with a language—has been overlooked, what does that suggest about their willingness or capacity to grapple with the complexities of Māori perspectives on sovereignty, self-determination, and tino rangatiratanga?

More importantly, does this indicate a broader pattern of disengagement, where perspectives that challenge the dominant narrative are not fully considered or even heard?

This is not simply about phonetics but the cognitive and cultural effort required to move beyond one’s frame of reference. If those shaping policy struggle to articulate the language of the people most affected by it, can we trust that they have truly listened, understood, and reflected on the gravity of what is at stake?”

My apologies, I appreciate it was quite a long one today. What do you think about yesterday's events in parliament or Te Ariki’s comment above?

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Take care, all of you lovely people, and I’ll see you in the comments section. Today, the fabulous Florence and the Machine with Spectrum.