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Talkback callers in support of changing our name to Aotearoa

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Thu, 7 Feb 2019, 8:51PM
The new cricket uniform for the New Zealand cricket teams got Andrew Dickens thinking. (Photo / Radio Sport)

Talkback callers in support of changing our name to Aotearoa

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Thu, 7 Feb 2019, 8:51PM

Should New Zealand change it's name to Aotearoa full time? 

A petition has been launched to officially include the Maori name in our official title. 

The possibilities were highlighted on Waitangi Day, when the New Zealand cricket teams wore Aotearoa on the shirts for their test against India.

Andrew Dickens says that the change got him thinking about how things can progress slowly and eventually be accepted.

"Little by little, inch by inch, things change. When in the nineties, a woman decided to sing the New Zealand national anthem at Twickenham, first in Maori and then in English, there was shock and outrage, but now it's perfectly acceptable."

Most talkback callers were in favour of the change, saying that it simply makes sense to incorporate it until our name. 

Caller Jamie says that if the flag referendum had included the option of a name change, he would have voted in support. 

However, callers were less enthusiastic about including more New Zealand history in our education. 

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