Background:

The Māori Party are calling for the House of Representatives to;

1. Change the country’s official name to Aotearoa and
2. Officially restore the Te Reo Māori names for all towns, cities and place names.

They say, “It’s well past time that Te Reo Māori was restored to its rightful place as the first and official language of this country. We are a Polynesian country – we are Aotearoa.’

We, the signatories to this petition, say New Zealand should remain New Zealand until New Zealanders decide otherwise. And we say place names are important to everyone and should remain as they are until the local community says otherwise.

We say New Zealand should be united by the things we have in common not divided by our differences.