Editorial: Get over fear of change

Kanoa Lloyd, TV3's weather reporter.

Back to the Future II may have been set in 2015, but sometimes it seems like we've gone way back to the past.

It was reported this week that TV weather presenter Kanoa Lloyd had been getting stick for using te reo Maori in her reports.

People had written to her asking her not to refer to New Zealand as Aotearoa, and she says she gets weekly complaints about using Maori words.

Wow. Obviously some people have nothing better to do.

So what if Ms Lloyd brightens up a gloomy forecast with a bit of te reo?

Thanks to fancy TV graphics we know exactly which areas she's talking about when using Maori, so why bother complaining?

I know why. It's fear. Fear that it will catch on, that we'll all start having to call the North Island Te Ika-a-Maui before long.

That we'll have to learn to pronounce Aotearoa or kia ora or po marie correctly.

At least we have a relatively enlightened bunch in Rotorua. I can't remember the last time a reader complained during Maori Language Week about our use of te reo in key features in the Rotorua Daily Post.

That's not to say there hadn't been complaints, but it seems that, quite rightly, people have got used to te reo in their lives.

It wasn't that long ago singer Hinewehi Mohi caused a stir by daring to sing the New Zealand national anthem in Maori before an All Blacks match.

There was outrage at the time, but now for many - for most even - the anthem isn't complete if it doesn't start with "E ihowa ..."

Of course you'll always get dinosaurs complaining about anything that threatens their world view, even something as benign as a Maori greeting.

But then look at what happened to the dinosaurs.