Barry Brill - Passports: Reverting to "New Zealand"

Letter to The Minister of Internal Affairs - Hon Brooke van Velden

Kia 
ora
 Minister

The 
media 
has 
reported
 your intention
 to 
restore 
the 
priority 
of 
the
 English 
language
 version
 of
our 
passports.
 In 
this regard,
 you 
might
 be 
interested 
in 
our 
experience 
in
 Mauritania:

On 
27 
October
 2023
 my
 wife
 and
 I
 flew 
from 
the 
Canary 
Islands 
to
 Nouakchott 
in 
Mauritania,
 arriving at
 about 
10.30pm.
 At
 passport
 control,
 we
 were
 asked 
to 
stand 
aside
 until
 the 
queue
 was
 processed.
 Two
 local officials 
(with 
no 
English 
and 
only 
a 
smattering 
of
 French)
 then 
attempted
 to
 process
 our
 entry.

After 
fiddling 
at
 great 
length
 on 
their
 computer,
 the 
officials 
rummaged 
around
 drawers 
and
 consulted 
a
 paper document.
 They 
seemed 
to
 be
 mystified
 and
 frustrated
 and 
spoke
 to
 us 
sharply 
in 
their 
own
 language.
 I
 then
 caught sight
 of
 the 
document
 and,
 recognising 
it
 as
 a 
list 
of
 countries,
 in
 French,
 I 
repeatedly 
said 
'Nouvelle
 Zélande'.
 The officials 
angrily 
pointed
 to 
'Aotearoa'
 on
 our
 passport
 covers
 and
 invited
 me 
to
 find
 it
 on 
their 
list.
 They 
then 
turned
 to 'Uruwhenua' 
and 
indicated 
that 
they 
could 
not 
find
 this 
country 
either.

I
 eventually 
steered 
them 
to
 the
 words 
'New
 Zealand' 
further
 down 
the 
cover 
and 
related 
that
 to
 their
 French 
list
 of countries
 that
 did
 not
 require
 a 
tourist 
visa 
to 
enter 
Mauretania.

It
 was 
after 
midnight 
by
 the
 time
 we
 completed
 this
 rigmarole.
 Although 
it 
might
 have
 had 
its funny 
side,
 nobody
 was seeing
 the 
joke 
in 
Nouakchott 
that 
night.

The 
entire
 purpose 
of
 a
 passport
 is
 to 
communicate
 (visually 
or
 digitally)
 with 
officials
 and
 others
 in 
some 
200 
foreign countries
 that 
the 
bearer
 is 
a 
citizen 
of 
New 
Zealand. 
The 
meaningless
 words 
"Aotearoa"
 and 
"Uruwhenua"
 contribute ZERO
 to 
that
 important
 purpose
 and
 should
 not 
be
 there.

Under
 what
 authority
 are
 these
 two
 words 
included
 on
 our
 passport
 covers?
 I
 can 
find 
nothing 
in the
 Passport
 Act 1992
 to 
justify 
the 
use 
of 
extraneous 
and 
confusing 
words 
that 
are 
unrelated 
to 
the
 identity 
or 
citizenship 
of
 the holder.

If 
it 
is
 argued
 that
 Te
 Reo
 is
 an
 official
 language 
in
 New
 Zealand,
 I
 submit
 that
 factor 
is irrelevant. 
A
 passport
 is
 to
 be read
 outside 
New
 Zealand.

This
 is 
an 
opportunity
 to
 substitute 
common
 sense
 for
 blind
 ideology.

Ngā
mihi

Barry
 Brill
 OBE

Barry Brill OBE JP LL.M(Hons) M.ComLaw is a former MP and Minister of Energy, Petrocorp director, and chair of the Gas Council, Power NZ, ESANZ, and EMCO. He is presently the Chairman of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition.