Howick ward councillor Maurice Williamson is asking if Auckland Transport (AT) has followed the process it says it’s using to give te reo Māori names to structures that are part of the Eastern Busway project.
As the Times has previously reported, AT has been gifted Māori names by local mana whenua Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki and Ngaati Whanaunga for new bus stations and structures being built for the busway.
The four new stations will be called Pakūranga in the town centre, Te Taha Wai near Edgewater College and Shopping Centre, Koata by Riverhills Park, and Pōhatu in Burswood.
Rā Hihi (sun’s rays) will be the name of the Reeves Road Flyover in Pakūranga.
Taupaepae (to meet or escort your visitors) will be the name of the bridge joining Tī Rākau Drive and Burswood.
Williamson has obtained an AT document that provides an update on the te reo names being gifted to the busway and flyover and explains the process for determining the names of the busway’s stages two and three stations.
He says he’s “on a little bit of a crusade to sort out the names of the bus stations that are going to go along Ti Rakau Drive”.
“There is a formal process, for which I’ve now got the flow chart, for the way things should have been followed.”
The document states the steps AT is following include initial engagement with mana whenua at a southern hui, a mana whenua working group established consisting of local iwi representatives, structures and station names identified by mana whenua, names presented to the [Howick] Local Board for feedback, names presented to elected members for feedback, and names and process supported by the local board.
However, Williamson says neither he nor his fellow Howick ward councillor Sharon Stewart have been presented with the te reo names to formerly provide feedback on them.
“I’m not opposed to dual language,” he says.
“I’m really happy to have ‘Edgewater’ and ‘Te Taha Wai’ as the Maori word, but what I’m really cross about is the suggestion the big names that will be up will be ‘Te Taha Wai’ in big letters, and it may not even on some of the signage have the word ‘Edgewater’.
“The problem I’ve got with it is [according to the most recent] Census, we’ve got signage going up in a language that one per cent of people in the ward can speak.
“But it’s going to possibly be the only language on some signs. So, if someone says, ‘I’ll meet you at the Pōhatu bus station’, I wouldn’t know what that meant.
“It turns out that’s Burswood. If someone said, ‘I’ll meet you at the Koata station’, that was Riverhills Park, but they’re changing it, so it was Gossamer.
“I think the people of this patch, if I said, ‘let’s meet at the Koata station and we’ll go from there’, you’d like to know that’s the one at Gossamer.
“You’d like to know that Pōhatu was Burswood.”
Williamson says he isn’t opposing the names because they’re Māori.
He’s very proud of the name of the Pakūranga electorate, which he represented as the local MP for several decades, and he twice fought the Electoral Commission when it tried to change the name to an English one.
“Ti Rakau Drive and Te Irirangi [Drive] I’m fine with, and everyone knows where they are,” he says.
“But I don’t know anybody, if I said, ‘I’ll meet you at the Te Taha Wai station’, who wouldn’t say ‘where the hell is that?’
“And when I say, ‘that’s the Edgewater Shopping Centre’, people would say, ‘why didn’t you say so?’.
“It looks like this is being done by stealth. There hasn’t been a local board verdict on it, and the local elected people haven’t been consulted and given their views on it, and the local board didn’t make a final decision.
“This is something I’m going to be taking up with the board of AT and saying to them this looks to be naming by stealth.
“The other argument they say is ‘we were gifted these names by mana whenua so it would be insulting to not accept them’.
“But I’m not saying we shouldn’t accept them.
“If that is what mana whenua believe, it’s fine, but how about we also have Gossamer, and Edgewater, and Burswood as names so the 99 per cent of people who don’t speak te reo [understand them].
“If we wanted to have a second sign up, put it up in Chinese, as there’s a hell of a lot of Chinese-speaking people here.
“Thirty-four per cent of people in the ward speak a northern Asian language.
“People will say ‘you’re a racist’. No I’m not, I’m a big fan of Māori names.”
Howick Local Board chairperson Damian Light says it appears there’s some confusion between feedback and approval as the board hasn’t approved the te reo names, as that isn’t its role, but it has provided feedback on them.
Light says he confirmed that to Williamson in writing five weeks ago.
“The Howick Local Board was informed of the gifted names in a workshop on August 10, 2023, the day before the ward councillors were advised.
“At our workshop, members of the Howick Local Board provided feedback, with some members raising concerns about pronunciation and whether people would know where the new stations were.
“In response the Eastern Busway has confirmed they’ll be dual named (except Pakūranga).
“Generally, the Howick Local Board was in support of the names.
“We acknowledge the names have been gifted by mana whenua, which we consider to be significant.
“This is in line with our strategic Howick Local Board Plan since 2020 to ensure ‘Māori culture, language, art and stories are incorporated into the design of public spaces’.”
Light says he understand the decision to name stations is made by AT’s design and delivery committee, and the signage design is part of a regional policy.
“AT reports to the [council’s] governing body (the mayor and councillors) and local boards have very limited ability to influence their processes or policies.”
AT Eastern Busway programme director Tom Willetts says the agency has put in place a robust process for naming the stations, involving engagement with mana whenua, the local board and councillors, and it believes it’s followed the correct process.
“The Howick Local Board and elected representatives were consulted via presentations at the regular Eastern Busway Alliance forums and subsequent email conversations.
“The Howick Local Board chairperson confirmed they were supportive of the names and comfortable for AT to proceed on the basis the names were gifted by mana whenua and subject to the normal processes used by Auckland Transport for naming stations.
“We’re aware of some concerns regarding naming conventions, and AT has confirmed the stations will be signposted in both English and Māori.
“This is consistent with Auckland Council policy which we comply with.
“Adopting the names gifted by mana whenua aligns with our commitment to recognise and provide for the relationship with local iwi.”
