Being Pākehā? New poll reveals reluctance to embrace the label – The Elephant

The Elephant is a new online video series that tackles the conversations New Zealanders often avoid. It dives into big, uncomfortable questions, looking beyond the echo chambers in search of a fearless and honest debate. This week in episode 11, hosts Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell ask how we feel about the word ‘Pākehā’.

A new national poll has found most New Zealanders of European descent are reluctant to identify as Pākehā, despite growing public debate about identity, belonging and the country’s colonial legacy.

Commissioned for The Elephant and conducted by Talbot Mills Research, the survey of 1000 New Zealanders of European descent found 45% preferred to identify simply as “New Zealander”, 28% chose “European New Zealander”, and 13% preferred “Kiwi”. Only 13% said they wanted to be known as Pākehā – a figure up just one percentage point from a similar poll in 2013.

The findings reflect what many guests described as the emotional and historical “baggage” attached to the word.

Former New Plymouth Mayor Andrew Judd was blunt about the roots of that discomfort: “Our ancestors came here, we took over, we murdered and plundered, we set up an agreement to try and work together and then ignored that.”

Broadcaster and athlete Eliza McCartney said fear and uncertainty often sit behind the rejection of the term. “If you’re a bit fearful of your own ancestors’ history in this country … then I can understand that putting your hand up and saying, ‘I’m Pākehā’ might seem scary,” she said. “I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that my ancestors might have benefited from the confiscation of land … and then be able to say, yeah, I’m Pākehā.”

McCartney said she now feels more at home with the identity. “The more I’ve learnt te reo Māori, the more I’ve been kind of in Māori spaces, the more Pākehā I feel,” she says.

“It fits better in my mind that I’m from Aotearoa … I’m Pākehā, I’m not Scottish or Irish or European.”

For Māori broadcaster and journalist Tamati Rimene-Sproat, the word still feels unsettled. “When I think Pākehā, I think of the kupu (word) Māori. I don’t think of a group of people or ethnicity … there are no identifiers of identity or culture within that term for me,” he said, explaining his preference to identify as Scottish due to whakapapa and cultural practices.

But indigenous scholar Dr Ella Henry argued the word itself is a gift from te ao Māori.

“The very use of the word implies that you are accepting the gift from Māori people,” she said.

Don Brash of Hobson’s Pledge said he had “no hang-up” about the term. “I’m happy to regard myself as a Pākehā or as a white New Zealander,” he said.

But he rejected the idea that modern Pākehā should carry moral responsibility for colonisation, arguing that New Zealanders today should be viewed as equal citizens regardless of ancestry, rather than inheritors of historical guilt.

For Judd, the identity remains unfinished business: “I’m a Pākehā, a recovering racist … we are broken. We are wrong. And we must change.”

Watch, listen, and join the conversation – new episodes drop every Thursday across digital, social, and broadcast platforms. The Elephant is made with the support of NZ On Air.