When John Key decided to have a referendum to change our nations flag, which cost the taxpayer well in excess of $26 million, it was widely criticised as a complete waste of money, not only by the left, but also by patriots right across New Zealand.
You would therefore hope that the National Party would have learnt a valuable lesson from that debacle and consequently not propose any further silly changes that don’t align with public sentiment.
However it appears that National, under the terribly misguided leadership of Judith Collins, hasn’t learnt a damn thing.
Today, Newsroom reported:
National MP floats ban on public sector using ‘Aotearoa’
National MP Stuart Smith has found himself advocating a crackdown on public sector use of te reo in a war on a phantom name change, Marc Daalder writes
Analysis: New Zealand's sleek black passports could undergo a revamp to remove the prominent placement of the word 'Aotearoa' - if National Party MP Stuart Smith had his way.
The proposal to prohibit government departments from using 'Aotearoa' in any context is the latest development in Smith's bizarre attack on changing the name of New Zealand to Aotearoa or Aotearoa New Zealand. This is a war against a phantom enemy, however, as the Government says it has no plans to formally change the name of the country, and the use of Aotearoa by the public sector long predates the Labour government.
This is perhaps the dumbest proposal ever to be made by the National Party, which is really saying something when you consider that the blue “team” recently advocated for higher unemployment just to keep wages low.
This deferral to a Trumpian "some people are saying" excuse was repeated by National Party Leader Judith Collins.
"If you look at most of the government agencies, they're now changing it. The Prime Minister changes the way she talks about - you barely ever hear her talk about New Zealand these days," she said.
"I think it is becoming [an official change], that's what people are saying."
You can kind of understand why Crusher might feel the need to compete for the racist vote, being that Act Party leader David Seymour is now a more preferred Prime Minister than she is, even amongst National Party supporters.
Even so, proposing a costly referendum to ban the word Aotearoa is incredibly ignorant, especially when you consider the numerous benefits New Zealand attains from using Te reo Māori. This isn't just an advantage in terms of our own identity as a South Pacific nation, it's also a boon on the world stage as something that sets us apart because of its uniqueness.
When asked about Smith's proposal on Tuesday, ACT Party Leader David Seymour - who now enjoys more personal support among prospective National voters than Collins herself - hit the nail on the head.
"Look, I just think, ultimately, Stuart Smith needs to focus on bigger issues," he said.
Seymour better be careful. He wouldn’t want to ruffle the feathers of his racist supporters again. Many of them couldn't handle the Act Party leader even mentioning the word Aotearoa when the far right party ran a thoughtless "Make Aotearoa Great Again" campaign just before Waitangi Day. In fact Seymour's white supremacist supporters completely spat the dummy about it.
Kiwis are tired of being shut down. #demandthedebate Judith Collins has backed a call for a referendum on whether New Zealand should be called Aotearoa - despite using the term herself while in Government. https://t.co/14CA9xRQF9
— Judith Collins (@JudithCollinsMP) August 3, 2021
What we don’t need in Aotearoa New Zealand however is another competition between Act and National to see whose the most bigoted, which would again be an unwise attempt to normalise racism within our political discourse.
Because not only is it damaging to our own psyche as a highly diverse and multicultural nation, it would also damage our international reputation as well…and that’s not something any Kiwi, no matter what their skin colour, should be supporting.
