2 days ago
Greens Launch Petition To Restore Te Reo Electorate Names In Capital
Green Party Wellington MPs Julie Anne Genter and Tamatha Paul have launched a petition calling for Māori place names to be restored to Wellington electorates. This comes after the Rongotai electorate was changed to an English name with minimal community consultation and zero engagement with mana whenua.
'Rongotai means 'sound of the sea,' it has been the Te Reo name of our electorate for almost three decades and has been taken away with next to no consultation,' says Green Party MP for Rongotai Julie Anne Genter.
'Our communities deserve to have a say on the name of their electorate. This was a decision based on the feedback of three people. This is not good enough, and this must change.
''Rongotai' accurately and beautifully captured the geography and spirit of our electorate,' says Julie Anne Genter.
'This is yet another attack on Te Reo, we have seen it with road signs, passports and now the name of an electorate,' says Green Party MP for Wellington Central Tamatha Paul.
'We are calling for the Representation Committee to reverse its decision to strip an electorate of a Te Reo name it has had for 30 years.
'It is absolutely ridiculous three people were able to erase and whitewash such an iconic part of Pōneke. Seeing Wellington Central go from one English name to another adds insult to injury,' says Tamatha Paul.
Notes:
Wording of the petition:
We're calling on the Representation Committee to restore the Māori place names for our Pōneke electorates.
RESTORE OUR MĀORI NAMES - PŌNEKE [Petition text]
The Representation Commission announced on Friday 8 August that the reo Māori names of two Wellington electorates, Rongotai and Ōhāriu will be gone from the election in 2026.
Rongotai is being renamed 'Wellington Bays' and Ōhāriu will be split between the new 'Wellington North' and 'Kenepuru' electorates.
Ultimately, these naming decisions were made following a limited public consultation, with only five people submitting on the name changes. Only two people supported changing the name of Wellington Central, and only three people supported erasing the name of Rongotai, with just one submission suggesting Wellington Bays.
Cultural visibility is one of the most important aspects of language revitalisation. Some say that 'The namer of things is the claimer of things'. There were no specific submissions on the name changes from Te Reo Māori experts or mana whenua.
It appears that there were no Māori involved in making these decisions for general electorates. Half of all Māori are on the General Roll so these decisions impact Māori.
We are concerned that Wellington Mayoral Candidate Andrew Little, who is on the Representation Commission, didn't have the foresight to ensure the Commission engaged with local representatives on this issue, and hope that this isn't indicative of his approach to local governance.
We call on the Representation Committee to reverse these decisions, and take seriously the wishes of the communities of Te Whanganui a Tara on the names of their electorates.
