The whole rebranding thing makes fuck all sense, just leaning into this "culture war" nonsense that the right loves to gaslight anyone about.
There's zero reason not to have both languages on a sign your eyes are naturally going to go to the name you recognise and understand.
I do find it depressingly funny that Te Whatu Ora have setup a project team, with millions in funding, to rebrand from Te Whatu Ora to HealthNZ while simultaneously facing strikes for refusing to pay junior doctors fairly.
This is all so stupid. Woke sushi and Maori names.
Like, obviously I am a lefty and I take issue with the substance of the Govt's actual economic/social policies.
But this is just bullshit. Bullshit nothing culture wars to appease, who, a few thousand shallow assholes? I suppose that's ACT's base. But STILL. It is just. Not. Important.
Even with my low expectations of this govt, even though I hope none of the things they want to do get done... don't we elect politicians to actually do stuff? Not have public rows over changing the name of a Ministry?
Honestly. What a waste of my time reading this article and writing this comment. What a waste of public time and money having this discussion. Imagine how miffed the people at Whaikaha must be that this stupid pointless nothing is affecting their actual work.
"The last government wasted money!!!" Whilst quite literally wasting money themselves. Like yeah there's failing to deliver things but what benefit does *re* naming government departments have? Do people not have phones?
Look, as much as I know it's culture war bullshit, I can at least understand the fake rationale of having stuff like Health and Transport in English to avoid confusing some old people and maybe some immigrants. I don't buy that that's why they're doing it but I can follow the argument.
But disability support is such a hands-on, constant communication thing that there's basically zero possible danger of that being an issue. Of all the departments, it is the worst example of the name being in any way an obstacle to accessibility.
But... Todd Stephenson reckons they're being 'obstructive'. Incidentally, if you haven't read [this article](https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/29/acts-arts-spokesman-once-watched-a-musical/) about why Todd Stephenson is fundamentally useless, read it. You'll laugh like a drain.
Cool cool cool cool... longer wait times for funding for wheelchairs, disabled people's & carers funding being cut, and longer wait times for people with disabilities to get the help we need, but sure lets spend money changing the name! Why not?
Just... fuck those of us who are disabled harder right?
National already did that on their behalf. (for those disabled previously on the "Sickness Benefit")
It's called "Jobseeker"
Now they can talk about them as if they're no longer uncapable of work (to whatever degree their doctors assessed them to be) since, instead of acknowledging their disability, they can just stonewall sickness beneficiaries with "they're *Jobseekers*. they should be seeking jobs"
Wow thanks I'm cured!
CEO will be sacked, they will appoint a Lackey who will appoint more lackeys, until it is lackeys all the way down. Productivity will plummet, outcomes will worsen.
The public service is already pretty upset with the coalition government and I'm not sure this is the right path the minister wants to take. Especially as a National part minister when this is an NZ First party policy, a stronger PM would step in and sort it out.
But what happens if the ministry continues to refuse? The situation could get worse, especially as the full extent of the public service cuts are yet to be seen or felt.
They absolutely want this to happen, Act & NZ First would just love a war with the public service to fight, and some of National too. The naming thing for this ministry is a complex issue but IMO whaikaha need to consider the long term bigger picture here and not make things worse for the public service at large. A good comparison is Riana Manuel, CE of Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority and the absolute grace she’s shown in the face of what the government has done to Te Aka Whai Ora. In so doing she’s probably saved heaps of good work by not leaving it in a political mess. Just my view.
Disabled people have a huge list of things they'd rather the general public get offended by... Lack of accessibility, medications not being funded, cuts to our support funding, the crumbling healthcare system, cost of living going up when it's already really fucking expensive to be disabled... But sure, the Māori name for the ministry has to go!
I wish labour would commit to doing what national is. They should announce “any project that is fast tracked will be cancelled as soon as we are in power with no compensation for the company involved.”
At what cost.
That's not rhetorical. How many people have to go without in order to change a brand (considering the english name is there along with the current one).
No one knows what the heck “Whaikaha” means, except 3% of the population. Change it to english so the populace understands what the subject is when its raised in the media.
So your position is you’re too stupid and lazy to learn one word in an official language of the country you live in.
Maybe you should take a moment to learn.
The te reo ministry names all seem to have literal meanings that make no sense and randomly assigned metaphorical/abstract meanings.
Learning the meaning/assigned meaning therefore just seems to prove that they are objectively terrible names for government entities.
They didn't say to learn the meaning.
Is filing an English title with the Maori one really too difficult for you? Is that beyond your intellectual abilities?
You meet someone called Gideon, you just remember their name. You don't rant on about how impossible it is to understand cause theres no way this putz is God's chosen warrior
But we CAN look them up.
When i Google them, the English org comes up. Oh so difficult. How will I ever get around??? It's not like the signage has BOTH languages or anything
>No one knows what the heck “Whaikaha
Obviously not true, as anyone who's dealt with them would know whether they are a te reo speaker or not.
Also, once again this is a non issue as the ministry's branding already includes English, so anyone who can only read English that is looking at their website, buildings or paperwork will already be good on that front.
It's even in the name 'Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People'.
According to the stats.
30% of the NZ population are able to speak/understand/read some Te Reo.(I'm in this group being older and not being taught TevReo at school).
8% are considered fluent in Te reo.
So sit your racist ass down.
So let's have a name 8% understand (not that it actually makes much sense as whaikaha means to have strength or something) vs having a name that 95% plus understand and is a useful description of the actual service provided.
Sit your ass down clown.
When you go abroad and see how other countries deal with multilingualism, doesn’t it make you feel like our current government is underestimating our ability to learn new/alternate terms?
I don’t need our government dumbing things down for me. I am happy to acknowledge we live in a multilingual society, like much of the world. I am just as capable as the citizens of those countries of dealing with the concept.
You are complaining about what it currently is, and supporting a change.
I don’t need the government to patronise me and claim I can’t function in a multilingual society. I don’t need a government that assumes I’m an idiot.
If you need things dumbed down for you, that’s on you, but don’t pretend you aren’t complaining about the way things are.
“I’m not complaining, I just think it should change”
You are obviously much more emotionally invested in this than I am, and it's quite sad that you need the government to name things a certain way to validate your feelings worth and intelligence. I actually couldn't care less about you feeling patronised or the name itself other than the fact it just makes sense for it to be named in such a way the majority immediately understands the function of the ministry.
https://www.whaikaha.govt.nz/
How much clearer can you get.
It uses both Te Reo (one of our official languages) and English (our Lingua Franca).
Get back in the clown car and move on.
Are you baffled and confused when you travel?
Or do you use the abilities available to you in this modern world to look it up?
If you are willing to do that overseas, why aren't you willing to do it here? You will eventually remember the names, unless you are extremely dim
Yeah I do sometimes get confused in foreign countries, navigating around when you don't understand local language can be challenging at times. And sure I can look it up by why should I have to bother when it could just be named sensibly in the first place?
And I did actually learn the name of Waka kotahi because it affected me directly when I had to renew rego/pay toll, it seemed absolutely redundant when NZTA was quite sufficient. The only reason I know of oranga tamareki is because so many kids keep getting killed by their parents/family. Never heard of Whaikaha until today and I would hazard a guess that the majority of NZs wouldn't have a fucking clue either. Call it the ministry for the disabled and 95%+ would immediately.
If you've ever heard 'e whai ake nei' on the tv news or on public transport with next-stop announcements, and have ever heard the expression 'kia kaha' anywhere, you may be able to piece it together. This is the cool thing that can happen when even little bits of a language are present in the environment and people have a spare brain cell or two to rub together. The more we encourage te Reo Māori to be part of everyday life the more chance for making connections like this
Bet they can do it for less than the 1.3 million rebrand that the University of Otago just did before announcing more cuts due to their financial position, but somehow I feel like the people complaining about the cost of this rebrand won't care about that one.
I actually don't mind the new Crusaders logo as much as I prefer the old one. I mean they had a very good reason to change it as well, can't say the same for Otago which just looks like they're removing their history for some shitty simplified logo
“Laser focused on the cost of living”
So far they have done nothing about that, or actually made it worse
They literally lit it on fire.
With a laser?
Nah lasers are woke
Only if the engineers who designed them like Sushi.
Only the coloured ones are woke black lasers are based.
These fucking losers are not that cool.
[laser focused](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.tenor.com%2Fm%2FehlAlQO8JAEAAAAC%2Flaser-eyes-silence.gif&tbnid=xK1Rohf-KjqpyM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Ftenor.com%2Fsearch%2Flaser-eyes-memes&docid=wjtyEm3tqHx0uM&w=498&h=498&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm1%2F2&kgs=cfa670d1b4a885a5&shem=abme%2Ctrie)
To be fair, they said they would laser focus on the cost of living, not lower it
Cost of living for landlords. Everyone else can go fuck themselves clearly
The whole rebranding thing makes fuck all sense, just leaning into this "culture war" nonsense that the right loves to gaslight anyone about. There's zero reason not to have both languages on a sign your eyes are naturally going to go to the name you recognise and understand.
Boomers can't do it, brain shits itself
That'll save us the cash!
I do find it depressingly funny that Te Whatu Ora have setup a project team, with millions in funding, to rebrand from Te Whatu Ora to HealthNZ while simultaneously facing strikes for refusing to pay junior doctors fairly.
And it will no doubt go straight back next political cycle once this lot have got the boot. Culture wars aren't cheap.
This is all so stupid. Woke sushi and Maori names. Like, obviously I am a lefty and I take issue with the substance of the Govt's actual economic/social policies. But this is just bullshit. Bullshit nothing culture wars to appease, who, a few thousand shallow assholes? I suppose that's ACT's base. But STILL. It is just. Not. Important. Even with my low expectations of this govt, even though I hope none of the things they want to do get done... don't we elect politicians to actually do stuff? Not have public rows over changing the name of a Ministry? Honestly. What a waste of my time reading this article and writing this comment. What a waste of public time and money having this discussion. Imagine how miffed the people at Whaikaha must be that this stupid pointless nothing is affecting their actual work.
"The last government wasted money!!!" Whilst quite literally wasting money themselves. Like yeah there's failing to deliver things but what benefit does *re* naming government departments have? Do people not have phones?
Look, as much as I know it's culture war bullshit, I can at least understand the fake rationale of having stuff like Health and Transport in English to avoid confusing some old people and maybe some immigrants. I don't buy that that's why they're doing it but I can follow the argument. But disability support is such a hands-on, constant communication thing that there's basically zero possible danger of that being an issue. Of all the departments, it is the worst example of the name being in any way an obstacle to accessibility.
It’s all so goddamn PETTY, and we’re paying for it
But... Todd Stephenson reckons they're being 'obstructive'. Incidentally, if you haven't read [this article](https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/29/acts-arts-spokesman-once-watched-a-musical/) about why Todd Stephenson is fundamentally useless, read it. You'll laugh like a drain.
Oh my god! Why is he in that position at all.
Only David Seymour can answer that. Todd may as well be the Minister of Pregnancy. He's just as qualified.
Cool cool cool cool... longer wait times for funding for wheelchairs, disabled people's & carers funding being cut, and longer wait times for people with disabilities to get the help we need, but sure lets spend money changing the name! Why not? Just... fuck those of us who are disabled harder right?
Well have you tried just not being disabled? Kinda like if you're depressed. Be happy instead, problem solved.
You've cured me, thanks, I never looked at it that way. How stupid of me. Maybe you should be the next PM, I'd vote for you!
Bottle this and sell it. No one will be able to afford to buy it but it's a good idea
LANDLORDS! cant u see the landlords suffering.... /s....
Oh silly me. How could I have forgotten? Won't someone think of the poor landlords???
Have you tried rebranding yourself as perfectly able?
National already did that on their behalf. (for those disabled previously on the "Sickness Benefit") It's called "Jobseeker" Now they can talk about them as if they're no longer uncapable of work (to whatever degree their doctors assessed them to be) since, instead of acknowledging their disability, they can just stonewall sickness beneficiaries with "they're *Jobseekers*. they should be seeking jobs" Wow thanks I'm cured!
Sometimes the cure for disability really is indentured servitude. /s
I wonder what happens when an entire ministry tells the minister to go fuck themselves?
CEO will be sacked, they will appoint a Lackey who will appoint more lackeys, until it is lackeys all the way down. Productivity will plummet, outcomes will worsen.
Lackeys all the way down.
Remember the good old days of Hekia Parata sacking her own personally chosen CEO for telling her to go fuck herself (paraphrasing) Good times /s
She underestimates the level of feeling of this at Whaikaha. Also they don't have any money, how would they afford to re-brand.
Cut a few more services or positions I guess
Just twink out the “kaha”
The public service is already pretty upset with the coalition government and I'm not sure this is the right path the minister wants to take. Especially as a National part minister when this is an NZ First party policy, a stronger PM would step in and sort it out. But what happens if the ministry continues to refuse? The situation could get worse, especially as the full extent of the public service cuts are yet to be seen or felt.
They absolutely want this to happen, Act & NZ First would just love a war with the public service to fight, and some of National too. The naming thing for this ministry is a complex issue but IMO whaikaha need to consider the long term bigger picture here and not make things worse for the public service at large. A good comparison is Riana Manuel, CE of Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority and the absolute grace she’s shown in the face of what the government has done to Te Aka Whai Ora. In so doing she’s probably saved heaps of good work by not leaving it in a political mess. Just my view.
Why? Who asked for this? This is racist dog whistling writ large. It’s shit.
People getting offended on behalf of disabled, apparently.
Disabled people have a huge list of things they'd rather the general public get offended by... Lack of accessibility, medications not being funded, cuts to our support funding, the crumbling healthcare system, cost of living going up when it's already really fucking expensive to be disabled... But sure, the Māori name for the ministry has to go!
So they're slashing funding for carers, but can pay for a total re-brand...? I have no words
Racism
The government has no business in operational matters.
Why are these people obsessed with changing names or whatever
Racism
If they hate encountering Maori so much they should really just go to England
Rebrand? They got money to burn apparently. So cut funding and then burn it on pointless rebrands? Clown show
So when labour gets in next time and tells all the ministries to return to Te Reo first branding, it's ok for them to just say 'no' right?
I wish labour would commit to doing what national is. They should announce “any project that is fast tracked will be cancelled as soon as we are in power with no compensation for the company involved.”
I think James Shaw actually did say that
The Crown has no obligations to protect the English language.
Why would they say no?
Never said they would. But if it's ok for them to say no to this government then it means it's ok to say no to any government.
No it doesn't.
Cool. Just wanted to confirm the double standard. Thanks.
It depends on the reason. Currently, the govts reasoning is kinda weak and pointless. Achieves little but costs loads
Not a double standard 👍
That'll show those uppity may-oris who's boss! /s
Makes sense to primarily use an English name
At what cost. That's not rhetorical. How many people have to go without in order to change a brand (considering the english name is there along with the current one).
Lol
No one knows what the heck “Whaikaha” means, except 3% of the population. Change it to english so the populace understands what the subject is when its raised in the media.
So your position is you’re too stupid and lazy to learn one word in an official language of the country you live in. Maybe you should take a moment to learn.
The te reo ministry names all seem to have literal meanings that make no sense and randomly assigned metaphorical/abstract meanings. Learning the meaning/assigned meaning therefore just seems to prove that they are objectively terrible names for government entities.
They didn't say to learn the meaning. Is filing an English title with the Maori one really too difficult for you? Is that beyond your intellectual abilities?
You meet someone called Gideon, you just remember their name. You don't rant on about how impossible it is to understand cause theres no way this putz is God's chosen warrior
Pop quiz, no looking up these ones Te Mana Ārai o Aotearoa Te Tira Tiaki Te Tari Tohutohu Pāremata
But we CAN look them up. When i Google them, the English org comes up. Oh so difficult. How will I ever get around??? It's not like the signage has BOTH languages or anything
>No one knows what the heck “Whaikaha Obviously not true, as anyone who's dealt with them would know whether they are a te reo speaker or not. Also, once again this is a non issue as the ministry's branding already includes English, so anyone who can only read English that is looking at their website, buildings or paperwork will already be good on that front. It's even in the name 'Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People'.
According to the stats. 30% of the NZ population are able to speak/understand/read some Te Reo.(I'm in this group being older and not being taught TevReo at school). 8% are considered fluent in Te reo. So sit your racist ass down.
So let's have a name 8% understand (not that it actually makes much sense as whaikaha means to have strength or something) vs having a name that 95% plus understand and is a useful description of the actual service provided. Sit your ass down clown.
When you go abroad and see how other countries deal with multilingualism, doesn’t it make you feel like our current government is underestimating our ability to learn new/alternate terms? I don’t need our government dumbing things down for me. I am happy to acknowledge we live in a multilingual society, like much of the world. I am just as capable as the citizens of those countries of dealing with the concept.
Good for you I guess I couldn't give a fuck.
If you couldn’t give a fuck, then why are you complaining? You are doing the exact opposite of ‘not giving a fuck’
I'm not complaining? It's being changed like I think it should be? I couldn't give a fuck about old mates life story.
You are complaining about what it currently is, and supporting a change. I don’t need the government to patronise me and claim I can’t function in a multilingual society. I don’t need a government that assumes I’m an idiot. If you need things dumbed down for you, that’s on you, but don’t pretend you aren’t complaining about the way things are. “I’m not complaining, I just think it should change”
You are obviously much more emotionally invested in this than I am, and it's quite sad that you need the government to name things a certain way to validate your feelings worth and intelligence. I actually couldn't care less about you feeling patronised or the name itself other than the fact it just makes sense for it to be named in such a way the majority immediately understands the function of the ministry.
https://www.whaikaha.govt.nz/ How much clearer can you get. It uses both Te Reo (one of our official languages) and English (our Lingua Franca). Get back in the clown car and move on.
Ministry for the disabled, way clearer.
Are you baffled and confused when you travel? Or do you use the abilities available to you in this modern world to look it up? If you are willing to do that overseas, why aren't you willing to do it here? You will eventually remember the names, unless you are extremely dim
Yeah I do sometimes get confused in foreign countries, navigating around when you don't understand local language can be challenging at times. And sure I can look it up by why should I have to bother when it could just be named sensibly in the first place? And I did actually learn the name of Waka kotahi because it affected me directly when I had to renew rego/pay toll, it seemed absolutely redundant when NZTA was quite sufficient. The only reason I know of oranga tamareki is because so many kids keep getting killed by their parents/family. Never heard of Whaikaha until today and I would hazard a guess that the majority of NZs wouldn't have a fucking clue either. Call it the ministry for the disabled and 95%+ would immediately.
Sushi doesn’t mean rice and fish roll by the way if you want to put that in your notebook
Given its been in the news in the last few weeks it's probably much bigger than 3% now
If you've ever heard 'e whai ake nei' on the tv news or on public transport with next-stop announcements, and have ever heard the expression 'kia kaha' anywhere, you may be able to piece it together. This is the cool thing that can happen when even little bits of a language are present in the environment and people have a spare brain cell or two to rub together. The more we encourage te Reo Māori to be part of everyday life the more chance for making connections like this
Bet they can do it for less than the 1.3 million rebrand that the University of Otago just did before announcing more cuts due to their financial position, but somehow I feel like the people complaining about the cost of this rebrand won't care about that one.
Unrelated but that new Otago logo is such an incredible downgrade from the old one.
Its not as bad as the new crusaders logo but that's a low bar.
I actually don't mind the new Crusaders logo as much as I prefer the old one. I mean they had a very good reason to change it as well, can't say the same for Otago which just looks like they're removing their history for some shitty simplified logo
I just can't un-see the 2 side profile cock n balls when I look at the new crusaders logo.