Te wiki o te reo Māori: What businesses are doing

Kiwibank’s logo used to say “Kiwis making Kiwis better off”. Yet te pū taka Māori has 10 consonants and five vowels and features no S. So, unwittingly, the bank was dropping the S-bomb.

Sounds like
a small thing to change.

But it was big to Teahooterangi (Teaho) Pihama [Te Ātiawa, Ngā Māhanga-a-Tairi, Tainui, Ngāti Maru], the bank’s head of Māori advisory.

The slogan was a succinct attempt to try to explain what makes that bank different from the big four Australian competitors it was established to challenge. That concept resonated with Pihama. But with the S on “Kiwi”, it just jarred.

“I liked the purpose and what we were doing to deliver on it. But in the back of my mind, I always had this annoying whisper that something wasn’t quite right. I was at a hui and someone kept saying ‘Kiwis, Kiwis, Kiwis’. It was that word that had been annoying me for three years. It wasn’t until I had the bandwidth and licence to begin thinking about these things that the penny dropped.”

The S needed to go. He prepared for some tough conversations with senior staff. It didn’t feel like the most fun thing to tell chief executive Steve Jurkovich that the way the bank had been using a word at the centre of its identity was, um, quite frankly wrong.

But when he told his leader, mentor and Jurkovich’s chief adviser Shelley Robertson, she encouraged him to seek change. Jurkovich – himself learning te reo Māori – agreed. The path was cleared for a small but powerful shift. Last November, staff were told the bank would be dropping the S. At the new Auckland office, the updated slogan glows in neon lights as you exit the lifts – no S in sight: “Kiwi making Kiwi better off”.

Robertson says every senior executive meeting “begins with an hour-and-a-half of te reo and tikanga-based education which is a huge commitment in time but it’s already showing its benefits across the organisation”.

From Hawkins to Air New Zealand, Spark to ANZ, TVNZ to Z Energy, Radio NZ to Herald publisher NZME, Countdown to Foodstuffs, they’re all doing it – embracing te ao Māori (the Māori world) and te reo Māori.

From one who’s trying – “I was embarrassed”

Wellington-based Phil Barry, whose company TDB Advisory annually releases an iwi finance report, has been trying to learn te reo.

“I was embarrassed that I could speak better French than I can my own country’s native language,” he says. “It’s almost becoming necessary now to speak it, in business and government circles. I’m exaggerating a bit but it’s certainly useful to be more fluent.”

He began learning from a relative few years ago but time constraints and being older are impediments.

“It’s given me a better understanding of New Zealand’s history and geography. For example, when I go to Wainuiomata, I now know it’s the place of the big water of Mata. This gives you a different view of a place. By learning te reo, I began to understand more and to look at things through a different lens.”

“It’s terrific. We’ve come so far” – Jackson

Willie Jackson, Māori Development, Broadcasting and Media Minister, says Monday’s te reo 50th commemoration is even more significant to him personally because it was his aunt the late Hana Te Hemara – wife of his father’s brother, activist Syd Jackson – who presented that petition.

“I’m looking forward to that kōrero on the steps with our Prime Minister on Monday as we commemorate the petition and celebrate the week. The reality is, we’ve come a long way. I’m really proud of some of these companies,” he says.

Whittaker’s Chocolate and its Miraka Kirīmi (creamy milk), promoted controversially by Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, was one of the latest high-profile te reo moves by business, he says.

But other changes have been initiated by staff members and he cites Wellington’s Sky Stadium, now a bilingual events centre.

“It’s terrific. So well done to them. Well done to Spark and Vodafone. We’ve come so far. If you look at passengers on buses, trains and ferries in Auckland – they hear announcements in te reo Māori. I’m on Air New Zealand flights a couple of times a week. Every host or hostess, whether Pākehā, Māori or Pasifika, gives a bit of a mihi and some nice words in our language. ‘Tēnā koutou, haere mai, haere mai’, so well done to Air New Zealand.”

Companies have te reo embedded in their business-as-usual manifesto, not just in one-off events for Māori language weeks, he notes.

“Many private companies will announce their initiatives across Māori language week but I can’t divulge their identities,” he hints.

He has complained about RNZ “but I will give them credit because they deserve it in terms of the way they have all their announcers kick off with a bit of mihi. I want my criticism to be seen as constructive”.

He also praises TVNZ, TV3 and Sky TV for huge change.

“You watch the All Black test matches – and I don’t always like the results of the games right now – but you have commentators doing a mihi at the start. Who would have thought Justin Marshall going ‘haere mai, haere mai’ and Tony Johnson, long-time announcer? That’s terrific. They might mispronounce and make mistakes but that doesn’t matter because we won’t develop the language if everyone is a perfect speaker,” Jackson says.

The Lion King is in te reo “and Film Commissioner Dame Kerry Prendergast did her mihi at and she was nervous and shy but she gave it a good go. Everyone acknowledged it and the majority of people were Māori language speakers”.

Asked how he answers critics complaining te reo is being shoved down our throats, Jackson says don’t call them racists.

“I just wish people would embrace what’s happening because the language is for everyone just like when Kiwi go overseas and doing the haka in the pub, or the haka on the streets or win a medal at the games. Our Ngāti Toa gift of the haka for New Zealand is for all New Zealand and the language is for all New Zealand too. The minority who rubbish the language: we just say you should be proud that you have an English and a Māori language in Aotearoa New Zealand. I don’t want to call people racist. We’re not going to move as a nation if we call people racist all the time. We say look, come and be part of us.”

Air New Zealand’s safety video citing Paptūānuku delights Jackson: “We’ve just got to try to work together. It’s not a big language takeover. It’s about complementing what we do. The weather in Māori and English, there’s no need to be offended by that. It’s not like she does the whole thing in Māori. The language adds to the presentation.”

As Broadcasting Minister, he’s pleased the Broadcasting Standards Authority now automatically ignores complaints against the reo. “People are wasting their time complaining about the language. It’s an official language of this country. We have a right to it. I don’t rubbish English, I love English,” – but he wishes his reo was as good as his English.

Nau mai haere mai, mighty Moramora

What’s in a name? Quite a lot if you’re a deep sea cod that has spent centuries perhaps unnamed in te reo Māori, only to be thrust into the linguistic spotlight last year.

“Moramora or the deep Sea Cod is the most recent addition to the official te reo dictionary, and its not-so meteoric rise through the ranks has come about due to an initiative between Countdown, te reo Māori advocacy group Ōkupu, and the Te Aka Māori Dictionary,” the business says.

Project partner, Māori language advocate and co-founder of te reo application Ōkupu, Paraone Gloyne, was working on translations but could find no te reo name for deep sea cod and said it felt like the one that got away.

“Nau mai haere mai to the mighty moramora!” Countdown said when that name was chosen.

Spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin says the fish move is just part of Countdown’s continued effort to incorporate te reo into everyday life in its stores.

Hannifin says Countdown stores serve 3 million Kiwi weekly and employ 21,000 staff, “so we recognise the important role we have to play in supporting the revitalisation of te reo Māori and incorporating it into everyday conversations”.

Bilingual signage is in 190 stores. Greetings to customers and communications via emails, social media and the online shopping website are in te reo.

Every year, Countdown examines how to go further during te wiki so from Monday, customers will see and hear even more being spoken and used across all channels and platforms, she promises. Staff will be encouraged to speak the language and share kai in lunch rooms.

Countdown does “unfortunately get racist comments and complaints. We’re always very clear in our responses that we don’t accept that sort of feedback, that we are proud to be supporting the use of te reo and that those customers are welcome to shop elsewhere”.

Haere atu!

Waka Kotahi changed our roads – and so much more

Waka Kotahi te ao Māori moves are so successful, that it’s not much called the New Zealand Transport Agency any more in common parlance, but by its te reo ingoa.

On motorways, pōhutukawa putiputi blossom on Spaghetti Junction concrete. Distinctive boulders of the historic Māngere stonefields grace motorways in that area.

Pō whenua blessed by Waikato-Tainui tower against the Ranginui on the new Waikato Expressway. Te Tihi [Te Kaahui Hakuturi] are 20m tall pou, gazing down at travellers from the summit of Taupiri Range, acknowledging the path once travelled by the fabled patupaiarehe [fairies] and the forest creatures. The pou are carved from treated radiata pine and painted white with black detailing to acknowledge the spiritual connection which the patupaiarehe have to the land. Each pou looks in a different direction to catch all. This site was lowered by a 57m deep cutting and removal of 1.3 million cubic metres of earth.

Whakataki off Ralph Rd, Huntly, features a giant hinaki (eel trap) strung between two maumahara (canoe cenotaphs). The waka and pou buck traditional design, being pre-cast concrete with stainless steel panels. This portrays themes relevant to the naming of Raahui Pookeka (Huntly) and geographical landmarks on the northern side of the Taupiri Range like Pukemore Mountain and Lake Kimihia. The hinaki theme is continued in the layout of the site forming a symbolic pā tuna (eel weir), showing how migrating eels were trapped.

The site of the 1863 Battle of Rangiriri in north Waikato was significantly damaged when State Highway 1 was re-routed in 1965 but the development of the 4.8km Rangiriri section of the Waikato Expressway offered an opportunity to shift the highway west of the pā site, rehabilitate the area, landscape and interpret the original what had been there. It won a Te Puni Kōkiri award.

Like many arms of the state, Waka Kotahi has been a te ao giant.

Māori senior manager Nicholas Manukau says the kupu for the over-arching programme is the many-pronged Te Ara Kotahi which treats Māori as the Crown Treaty partner.

“We are also delivering on Te Reo Rangatira our Māori language policy which is aligned to the Crown’s strategy on revitalising the language. Our policy includes making te reo Māori more visible, empowering and inspiring our staff to use it correctly and ensuring it is heard and spoken in our work,” Manukau says. Bilingual traffic signage, te reo Māori in newsletters, motorway art and new marae signage launched this year are some visible signs.

But the partnership goes deeper, Manukau says.

Te Ahu a Turanga Manawatū Tararua Highway Alliance struck contracts with 10 Māori-owned businesses and iwi entities for landscaping, earthworks, structures, site security and project support. It employs kaimahi from each iwi partner to promote Māori employment and procurement and 35 per cent of employees are Māori/Pasifika.

Around $700,000 of the Takitimu North Link has been subcontracted to hapū-owned businesses.

Manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, whanaungatanga: Fonterra

Haylee Putaranui, Fonterra’s diversity and inclusion global head, says around 1500 tangata whenua are employed, “mostly in our manufacturing teams”. Tiaki Hunia is Fonterra’s matakahi Māori strategy team leader.

“We have recognised the need to strengthen relationships with tangata whenua and acknowledge the unique contribution of te ao Māori. To enable this, Fonterra has developed its own Māori strategy – Haea te Ata,” Putaranui said.

One big push has been to help staff correctly pronounce place names and areas, particularly site names. Bilingual signage on sites and in farm source stores and bilingual language in farm environment plans is a key to this.

As an organisation, Fonterra says it wants to create a sincere integration and appreciation of Māori culture within its co-operative so manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga and whanaungatanga drive all it does.

Te reo classes are also available to employees.

Unilever’s New Zealand business has 81 staff and is headed by Australians Nicky Sparshott and Cam Heath.

“Unilever NZ is starting out its te reo Māori journey, with only a few intermediate-level speakers at this stage,” a spokesperson said, citing work with Te Kura o Te Piki Te Hauora.

But the two Aussie bosses are using the 50th anniversary to begin learning te reo Māori and learning about te ao Māori.

Art – a key to understanding

Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Council set aside $150m for a decade of activities to contribute to Māori identity and wellbeing. Business, employment and marae development are some key focus areas. But let’s not forget art.

Lou-Ann Ballantyne, Māori strategic outcomes head: “Māori art is integral to identity and last year’s record-breaking Toi Tū Toi Ora exhibition was an initiative the Māori Outcomes Fund supported. It was the largest exhibition in the 132-year history of Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery, attended by more than 140,000. As well, 19,000 Māori visited – 13,000 more than during the same period in previous years. It helped bring Māori art to the forefront of the public psyche and for 5000 Māori, it was their first ever visit to Toi o Tāmaki.”

Each year, the council hosts the Matariki Festival in partnership with local mana whenua. More than 100 events and activities were put on across Tāmaki Makaurau to foster understanding, education and enjoyment.

For the week ahead, the council’s executive leadership team signed up for the Mahuru Māori challenge to speak more reo. All staff are being encouraged to do the same for the week and month.

What’s in a name? FMA explains in video format

Te Mana Tatai Hokohoko the Financial Markets Authority says it’s only in the early stages of exploring how it can incorporate more te ao Māori.

“We want to ensure we are supporting the Crown’s obligations under Te Tiriti. This means understanding the Māori economy, looking at how we can support greater participation of Māori in financial markets and services, and focusing on outcomes to support the financial wellbeing of all New Zealanders,” a spokesman said.

It’s encouraged that many financial services agencies, businesses and people recognise the value that te ao Māori brings. So far, the FMA has focused on internal capability and education, increasing engagement with Māori stakeholders and improving its understanding of the Māori economy.

But for the week ahead, it has a programme of staff activities and last year published a video explaining the story behind its ingoa.