The road-building agency at that time was believed to be the first government department to dump its te reo Māori name first in favour of its English name.
The New Zealand Herald reported:
The coalition agreement between National and NZ First included requiring public service departments to “have their primary name in English, except those specifically related to Māori”.
NZ First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters criticised the practice of using te reo names for government departments, saying “communication is about comprehension and understanding”.
Yes, it is.
Injecting te reo into press statements and news reportage is one impediment to good communication.
Injecting unfamiliar acronyms, jargon and bureaucratese is likely to further confound an audience.
Two examples could be found on the Scoop website today in press statements headlined…
NZ First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters criticised the practice of using te reo names for government departments, saying “communication is about comprehension and understanding”.
Yes, it is.
Injecting te reo into press statements and news reportage is one impediment to good communication.
Injecting unfamiliar acronyms, jargon and bureaucratese is likely to further confound an audience.
Two examples could be found on the Scoop website today in press statements headlined…
The first statement opened:
Kaipara Moana Remediation is welcoming yet more collaboration with like-minded environmental and sustainability efforts following a Te Uru Rākau organised hui near Whangārei.
That helps sort out the acronym.
The next sentence – we were relieved to find – sorted out the mystery of who organised the “hui” (hui increasingly is favoured by members of the virtueocracy who shy from going to a “meeting”). It says:
The workshop is one of 11 that Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service, Ministry for Primary Industries, is hosting at locations around Aotearoa in the first half of 2025.
Don’t they have a chainsaw to reduce that mouthful to New Zealand Forest Service?
Or maybe it’s political nerve that’s needed.
The second headline is on a statement that advised:
The Ōtorohanga District Council has been given top marks by LGNZ’s Te Korowai programme, recognising the council’s outstanding development across a range of measures over the past five years.
LGNZ?
Local Government New Zealand probably.
And Te Korowai?
The statement explains:
Te Korowai, formerly known as CouncilMARK, is LGNZ’s enhanced improvement framework that supports councils through benchmarking, action planning, and evaluations every three years. The programme provides councils with insights and tools to strengthen governance, leadership, decision-making, transparency, and engagement with their communities.
But wait (as they say) – there’s more:
Ōtorohanga District Council was awarded a Mauri Ora or ‘Thriving’ grade in its latest assessment report, issued by Te Korowai’s Independent Evaluation Panel. To get Mauri Ora, a council must receive top marks across Te Korowai’s four-point range of performance benchmarks which measure governance, strategy, leadership, decision-making, transparency and engagement.
And then:
When last assessed five years ago, Ōtorohanga received a CCC rating under the former nine-point CouncilMARK grading system. The new Mauri Ora rating (equivalent to an A under the CouncilMARK grading system) reflects a significant step forward, highlighting the impact of the council’s efforts to improve service delivery, infrastructure planning, and engagement with residents.
Te Korowai Chair Toby Stevenson says that Ōtorohanga District Council is a shining example of how a small rural council can improve outcomes by embracing change.
Te Korowai operates through three stages: beginning with an integrity survey to allow councils to independently evaluate their performance across six key areas.
This is followed by an on-site visit to enable independent assessors to gather insights from governance teams, staff and community stakeholders, culminating in a debrief and workshop to plan next steps.
And how much time and money is spent on these grading exercises?
Just wondering.
Moreover, we suggest this work might be unnecessary. The Taxpayers’ Union keeps tabs on how councils are performing without – so far as PoO knows – charging ratepayers for the work.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
Kaipara Moana Remediation is welcoming yet more collaboration with like-minded environmental and sustainability efforts following a Te Uru Rākau organised hui near Whangārei.
That helps sort out the acronym.
The next sentence – we were relieved to find – sorted out the mystery of who organised the “hui” (hui increasingly is favoured by members of the virtueocracy who shy from going to a “meeting”). It says:
The workshop is one of 11 that Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service, Ministry for Primary Industries, is hosting at locations around Aotearoa in the first half of 2025.
Don’t they have a chainsaw to reduce that mouthful to New Zealand Forest Service?
Or maybe it’s political nerve that’s needed.
The second headline is on a statement that advised:
The Ōtorohanga District Council has been given top marks by LGNZ’s Te Korowai programme, recognising the council’s outstanding development across a range of measures over the past five years.
LGNZ?
Local Government New Zealand probably.
And Te Korowai?
The statement explains:
Te Korowai, formerly known as CouncilMARK, is LGNZ’s enhanced improvement framework that supports councils through benchmarking, action planning, and evaluations every three years. The programme provides councils with insights and tools to strengthen governance, leadership, decision-making, transparency, and engagement with their communities.
But wait (as they say) – there’s more:
Ōtorohanga District Council was awarded a Mauri Ora or ‘Thriving’ grade in its latest assessment report, issued by Te Korowai’s Independent Evaluation Panel. To get Mauri Ora, a council must receive top marks across Te Korowai’s four-point range of performance benchmarks which measure governance, strategy, leadership, decision-making, transparency and engagement.
And then:
When last assessed five years ago, Ōtorohanga received a CCC rating under the former nine-point CouncilMARK grading system. The new Mauri Ora rating (equivalent to an A under the CouncilMARK grading system) reflects a significant step forward, highlighting the impact of the council’s efforts to improve service delivery, infrastructure planning, and engagement with residents.
Te Korowai Chair Toby Stevenson says that Ōtorohanga District Council is a shining example of how a small rural council can improve outcomes by embracing change.
Te Korowai operates through three stages: beginning with an integrity survey to allow councils to independently evaluate their performance across six key areas.
This is followed by an on-site visit to enable independent assessors to gather insights from governance teams, staff and community stakeholders, culminating in a debrief and workshop to plan next steps.
And how much time and money is spent on these grading exercises?
Just wondering.
Moreover, we suggest this work might be unnecessary. The Taxpayers’ Union keeps tabs on how councils are performing without – so far as PoO knows – charging ratepayers for the work.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
Um, an acronym has to be voiced like a word, not spelt out letter by letter. For instance, 'UNESCO' is an acronym because you say 'you-ness-co' but 'UNDP' is not as you say 'U-N-D-P'.
If you criticise others' use of language, it pays to get it right yourself.
The Oxford Concise simply says an acronym is "a word formed from the initial letters of other words" and a word is "a single distinct meaningful element of speech OR WRITING ..." Even the Shorter Oxford does not say anything about the need to sound it out.
From the Cambridge Online Dictionary: "ACRONYM - an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word." They then use AIDS as an example.
From the Oxford Online Dictionary: "A word formed from the initial letters of other words or (occasionally) from the initial parts of syllables taken from other words, the whole being pronounced as a single word (such as NATO, RADA)."
BUT the Oxford also mentions American usage which does not abide by this rule. Given that Americans don't speak English, that's not really surprising :)
CouncilMARK, whilst unimaginative, suggests the function, and with no te reo , suggests it might be primarily concerned with matters not essentially maori. But Te Korowai and Mauri Ora imply the very opposite. Many folk will consequently not take seriously, whereas maybe they should, or at least the rational non maori parts of. For myself and very, very many others the complexity and confusion introduced by te reo is an immediate switch off.
While others here are consulting dictionaries I consulted thesaurus es to find synonyms for the verbose descriptions of these agencies : hagiographic gushy, blubbery, laid on with a trowel, mushy, , oleaginous oily., unctious, soapy ......
Isn't English lovely in descriptions of craziness ?
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