The Front Page revisited: Is it time to change the name of New Zealand to Aotearoa?

Debate is growing about whether it might be time for the name of New Zealand to change. Photo / Getty Images

The Front Page podcast is revisiting some of the major stories we covered in 2022.

In June, Te Pāti Māori launched a petition to officially rename New Zealand to Aotearoa.

It comes after years of growing acceptance of the Māori name for our islands, seeking to reverse a name assigned to the country by Dutch explorers 500 years ago.

The petition comes during a growing embracement of Māori culture in public life – but with that acceptance has come unsurprising pushback from those happy with how things are.

In September, Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere joined The Front Page to explain the history of Aotearoa and share his view on why a name change could be good for the country.

“Back in 1973, 95 per cent of all New Zealand product was exported to Great Britain,” Tamihere said.

“When the UK joined the European Union, we started our own story of the reclamation of our sovereignty and what that might look like. Everything changed dramatically. We had to find new trading partners. And China is now our largest trading partner, not the UK. We are evolving as a nation and you’ve got to look at this thing in context.”

Tamihere says that the people of New Zealand wouldn’t be the first in the world to reclaim the name of their country.

“If you look at the break-up of the Commonwealth, you have countries like Rhodesia that are no longer named after Cecil Rhodes. They’re named in their own language. And I think that’s where we’re heading.”

More 70,000 people signed a petition released in August asking for New Zealand to be renamed Aotearoa.

But not everyone is on the same page.

A 1News Colmar Brunton poll last year found just 9 per cent of the country were willing to fully replace New Zealand with Aotearoa and just 31 per cent supported Aotearoa New Zealand.

Tamihere says he understands the trepidation some might have about this debate taking place right now.

“When you are in the process of redefining the constant story of your nationhood, a lot of people might think that calling it Aotearoa is about taking something away from them,” says Tamihere.

“When you boil it all down, you can still call yourself a New Zealander if you want to. I want us to be called Aotearoa and I’ve got a right to do that.

So does Tamihere think this change could happen in his lifetime?

Listen to the full The Front Page podcast episode to hear his surprising answer to that question.