Poll shows a third of Kiwis want to change New Zealand’s name to Aotearoa

A poll has found that one-third of New Zealanders want to change New Zealand’s name to Aotearoa.

1 NEWS Colmar Brunton’s poll showed 32 percent support for the name change and 61 percent against, mostly older New Zealanders, supporters of the National Party and the Law.

The remaining 7 percent did not know.

Ahead of Maori Language Week last month, the Maori party candidate for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi, announced the party’s policy for Maori tea.

The policy was established to ensure that New Zealand’s name is changed to Aotearoa and that all Pākeha place, city and town names are replaced by their original Maori ingoa (name) by 2026.

NZ First leader Winston Peters called the policy “headline hunting.”

“This is a simple headline search regardless of the cost to this country,” Peters wrote on Twitter.

“It will make our international marketing brand extraordinarily confusing when exports are critical to our economic survival.”

Peters went on to say that the Maori Party was “again rushing down the path of separatism” instead of focusing on jobs, housing, health and education.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did not say whether she supported an official name change, but told the media that she was seeing “Aotearoa” being used more often.

“I hear more and more often the use of interchangeable Aotearoa with New Zealand and that is a positive thing,” he said.

“Whether or not we change it in the law, I don’t think it will change the fact that New Zealand is increasingly known as Aotearoa.”

He hadn’t explored an official name change, but was encouraged as he saw people using it more often.

Law enforcement leader David Seymour said now was not the time to discuss a name change.

“I don’t care if we call it Timbuktu right now.

“When we are at the peak of this crisis and the debt that it has created, then we can debate the name.”

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the party supported a “public kōrero around the use of Maori place names.”

“We are very happy that Aotearoa is now in common use, including in the official name of our own party, and we believe that this widespread use is something to celebrate,” he said.

On 1 News tonight, National Party Leader Judith Collins said she was happy with the New Zealand name.