Ele Ludemann: From $50,000 to less than $1,000

Minister Brooke van Velden shows what can be achieved when common sense and practicality meets bureaucracy:

Kiwis told us that they wanted their Government Departments to be easier to engage with by putting English names first, as it is the language that the vast majority of the country speaks.

At the same time, I am conscious of the fact that people are facing cost of living pressures in their lives, and that the number one focus of the Government should be making it easier for people to get by day to day.

What I have done with the Department of Internal Affairs is to strike a balance between ensuring people can clearly understand the name of the Department, without spending heaps of time or money on it.

In fact, when officials suggested changing digital branding for DIA would require external consultants and 50 hours of staff time, I suggested I could flip the text myself with Photoshop.

As expected, they did drop the cost estimate after that, and it came to less than $1000.

That the first estimate was $50,000 and 50 hours of staff time is a horrifying insight into the bureaucratic mindset and their lack of respect for taxpayers’ money.

That the revised estimate was so much lower shows what can be achieved with common sense and practicality.

The Department of Internal Affairs is where people go to register their child’s name, apply for citizenship, and obtain their passports. It is important that it is straightforward for people to engage with the Department. Putting English first just makes it easier for people to understand and know they’re in the right place. . .

As a celebrant I have occasional dealings with DIA but I couldn’t tell you what its Māori name is and have no recollection of seeing it.

I went to the website and found it is Te Tari Taiwhenua.

I then went to Te Aka, the Māori Dictionary, which translated Tari as a noose for catching birds or plaiting of several strands; and Taiwhenua as domestic, internal.

I presume that the meaning in the DIA context is the internal or domestic plaiting of several strands.

That might make what the department does clear to someone fluent in the te reo, and I like the poetical sound of the translation but it doesn’t make it clear that this is the place to go to register a birth, death or marriage, apply for citizenship or get a passport.

Ensuring English precedes Māori in the names of this and other government entities isn’t devaluing te reo.

It’s putting the language that most people speak and understand in front of one spoken and understood well by fewer than 5% of us and those responsible for changing the order in which they are written should be able to do it for a very few hundred dollars, not tens of thousands.

If they can’t, they could consult the Minister for lessons in photoshopping.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.