Government and business leaders explain their organisations' te reo Māori names
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
The trend for government agencies and departments to adopt te reo Māori names has crossed into the private sector, and is gathering pace.
Some government agencies are now known primarily by their te reo names like Kāinga Ora and Oranga Tamariki, but most agencies important in the business world have been less forward in promoting their te reo names, even if they’ve had them for decades.
That’s changing with the Retirement Commission now using Te Ara Ahunga Ora as its primary name, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Te Pūtea Matua giving both its te reo and English names equal prominence.
And the first of the big industry lobbying bodies, the Insurance Council of New Zealand, has now adopted a te reo name: Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa.
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Other non-governmental agencies are looking to follow suit, including the Banking Ombudsman.
The Banking Ombudsman is one of four financial services complaints schemes, which have been criticised in submissions to Government for the low number of complaints they attract from Māori customers.
There are also some private organisations with te reo names which may soon gain prominence.
This week Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) launched with an advertising campaign for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori with the strap line: “We are Te Pēke o Aotearoa, the Bank of New Zealand”.
Te Pēke o Aotearoa is a name BNZ has used in marketing to Māori customers and businesses for some time, but most customers would never have heard it used before this week.
Te Rau Kupenga, managing principal of Te Amokura Consultants, which provides Te Ao Māori advice to the government and business, said adopting a te reo name could send a message to the community that an organisation had a willingness to serve the whole community.
“I don’t consider that a bad thing,” he said.
Adopting a te reo name had to be accompanied by the right intentions, he said. It also had to be accompanied with action. Organisations had to ask themselves what they were going to do to better ground themselves in Aotearoa and represent the whole community.
“We are starting to shift our view and perspective. It all starts with a name,” he said.
Stuff, which also has the te reo name Puna, asked six of the most commonly reported on financial organisations with te reo names to explain them.
Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa
The Insurance Council of New Zealand has adopted a te reo name.
In 2019, it translated its Fair Insurance Code into te reo and sign language.
“The next step in our journey was the change how we present ourselves to the world. Having only New Zealand in our English name only highlighted a mono-cultural view which failed to reflect a fundamental aspect of our country's heritage,” said Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa chief executive Tim Grafton.
This year, the council adopted a joint English te reo name, after seeking expert opinion, Grafton said.
Te Pūtea Matua
Adrian Orr, governor of the Reserve Bank, said the name Te Pūtea Matua was not a direct translation.
“It actually talks about our place, the place of the Reserve Bank with Aotearoa New Zealand,” said Orr, who copped some online criticism for the increasing Māori language and inconography.
“Pūtea often means gift, or money, and matua means senior, or primary, so we are the primary source of finance for Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s a great name that tells people exactly where we are and what we are about.”
The name is becoming quite venerable. It was first adopted in 1989, but Orr said: “We didn’t start putting it our banknotes until 2016.”
That was under former governor Graeme Wheeler.
The style choice on the Reserve Bank website is to have the te reo name in the same font size as the English name.
That reflects the growing prominance of the use of te reo within the organisation, which styles itself as the Kitiaki, or guardian, of the financial system.
“It’s a beautiful thing to be able to use te reo,” Orr said.
Te Ara Ahunga Ora
Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson said her organisation's te reo name more accurately reflected the essence of the organisation than its English name.
“Te ara means a pathway, and ahunga ora involves planning and aspiration, so Te Ara Ahunga Ora means The Pathway to Wellbeing, the long pathway in the context of working towards retirement wellbeing,” she said.
“We lead off with our Māori name these days Te Ara Ahunga Ora not the Retirement Commission because the Māori name is much more reflective of who we are,” she said.
On its website its English name sits below its Māori name, and is in a smaller font.
Te Komihana Tauhokohoko, Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko, and Te Tari Taake
The Commerce Commission went with a direct translation of its name, and unlike Te Pūtea Matua or Te Ara Ahunga Ora, it has not pushed its te reo name.
Adrienne Meikle, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko chief executive, said: “We’ve had our te reo name since 2014 in recognition of the partnership under Te Tiriti of Waitangi, in recognition of te reo Māori as an official language of Aotearoa, and in recignition of our work with all New Zealanders.”
Liam Mason is general counsel for the Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko the Financial Markets Authority, which regulates conduct in financial markets and services.
“Our ingoa Māori reflects a commitment we are making to better understand the unique features of te Ao Māori and the Māori economy,” Mason said.
Te Mana Tātai Hokohokowas working to understand how to incorporate these into the way it worked, and regulated financial services for the country.
Gary Baird, one of the deputy commissioners at Te Tari Taake the Inland Revenue said the department adopted its te reo name in the early 1990s, a decade in which National-led governments predominated.
The name is a direct translation with tari meaning department and taake meaning tax, he said.
This story has been amended to reflect that the Banking Ombudsman is one of four financial services complaints schemes criticised in submissions to the Government for the low number of complaints they attract from Māori customers. Updated at 5.33pm, September 16, 2021.