New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that would formally declare “New Zealand” as the country’s official geographic name in law.

Party leader Winston Peters said the “New Zealand (Name of State) Bill” aims to stop what he called “a bunch of unelected bureaucrats, officials, government departments, and politicians trying to change our country’s name by stealth.”

Peters said the bill would ensure only Parliament and the people have the authority to determine the country’s official name, not public servants or government agencies.

“The vast majority of New Zealanders are shocked at this insidious creep of misguided and misinformed cultural history of the name ‘Aotearoa’,” he said.

He argued the name Aotearoa was historically inaccurate, saying it was not the original Māori name for the country.

“Any true historian or cultural expert would know that it was never the original Māori name for New Zealand and we should not allow it to be misused for cultural virtue signalling.”

Peters referred to colonial-era politician William Pember Reeves, who he claimed incorrectly used the name in the late 1800s, and said modern cultural advocates had wrongly embraced the term.

He also pointed to comments from South Island iwi Ngāi Tahu in 2021, saying the tribe acknowledged the term Aotearoa originally referred only to the North Island.

The bill, he said, would provide constitutional clarity and legal certainty.

“The name ‘New Zealand’ is recognised around the world as the name of our country, and any uncertainty about that risks our global economic markets and political identity that we have built, and spent billions of dollars promoting, over many decades.”

“Our country’s name is New Zealand and should not change unless the people of our country decide to change it.”