​Waipā wins support for te reo

Councils throughout New Zealand have overwhelmingly supported Waipā’s efforts to help improve pronunciation of the Māori language.

At a recent Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference, Waipa District Council sought official support for a simplified process to add macrons to council names.

Mayor Jim Mylchreest said for some time, Council has been battling to adopt the Māori orthographic conventions for the word Waipā, and add a macron to the letter a when using the Council’s full name.

But complex legislation means what should be a simple exercise, isn’t.

“Essentially, we want to be able to use a macron and ensure the word Waipā is written correctly on all official Council documents when the full, official name of Council is used. If it’s written correctly, it is more likely to be pronounced correctly and every language deserves that,” he said.

But it’s not that simple.

Corporate bodies created by statute under the Local Government Act can only have their name changed by complex legal processes. Any change – even the addition of a macron – requires an application to the NZ Geographic Board and will require research and consultation costs. The process can take up to two years with the costs borne by the applying council.

“We didn’t think that made much sense so put a remit to LGNZ asking for a simplified process to add macrons to council names if requested by the council or community,” Mylchreest said.

“Of the 78 councils there, we got 96 per cent support which I see as a resounding vote for common sense.”

LGNZ will now work with central government to better address changes to the names of local authorities.