Members of Parliament (MPs) have been advised against complaining about the use of New Zealand's Māori name.

 

The Speaker of the House in New Zealand's Parliament, Gerry Brownlee, has announced that he will not entertain any further complaints from lawmakers regarding the use of the Māori name for the country, Aotearoa, in parliamentary proceedings.

In a ruling made in Parliament on Tuesday, Brownlee stated, "Aotearoa is regularly used as a name for New Zealand." His comments followed a request from Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who asked Brownlee to prohibit the use of the name Aotearoa and suggested that a referendum would be necessary to allow its use in Parliament.

While New Zealand is the legal name of the country and any changes to it can only be made through legislation, Aotearoa—meaning "land of the long white cloud"—has been commonly used about New Zealand in the Māori language for a long time.

"It [Aotearoa] appears on our passports and our currency," Brownlee stated on Tuesday. The name is also featured in the Māori version of New Zealand's national anthem, which is often performed before the English version. 

"If other members do not like certain words, they don’t have to use them. However, this is not a matter of order, and I do not expect to see further points of order raised about it," he added. Members of Parliament are permitted to speak in any of the country's three official languages: English, Māori, and New Zealand Sign Language.

Thousands gathered for Waitangi Day with a focus on Māori rights. A New Zealand mountain recently gained the same legal rights as a person. 

The objection raised by Peters, who is Māori, arose last month when Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March used the name during a parliamentary session. "Why is someone who applied to come to this country in 2006 allowed to ask a question in this Parliament that changes this country’s name without a referendum and the sanction of the New Zealand people?" Peters questioned. Menéndez March, originally from Mexico, is now a New Zealand citizen, as all MPs must be.

Shane Jones, a government minister and member of Peters's New Zealand First party who is also Māori, questioned "the appropriateness of recent immigrants telling Māori what the name of our country should be." At that time, Brownlee encouraged lawmakers to use the name Aotearoa New Zealand to avoid confusion, although he clarified that it was not a requirement.