Te Reo On Road Signs - a terrible thing

How NZ Quietly Ran Over Bilingual Road Signs

In the dead of night, somewhere between a policy U-turn and a cultural backpedal, New Zealand’s Bilingual Road Sign programme was quietly flattened, without ceremony, warning, or a single orange cone. The signs won’t be changing, but the message is clear - Te Reo Māori, please use the service lane.

Despite spending over $1 million and asking the public what they thought (spoiler- most were fine with it), Ministers Simeon Brown and Chris Bishop decided that bilingual signage was just a bit too much drive for too little mileage. No grand announcement, no policy funeral. Just a quiet burial in the national “not currently a priority” graveyard, right between “child poverty strategy” and “climate adaptation”.

The Transport Minister’s office offered a helpful non-explanation - “The Bilingual Signs programme is not currently a priority for NZTA or the Government.” Which is bureaucratese for “Shhhh, maybe no one will notice.”

Except, of course, Māori leaders did notice. Bayden Barber and Helmut Modlik called it what it is, a cultural setback. But they were drowned out by the deafening silence of ministerial inaction, a sort of reverse karanga, calling nothing into existence.

Apparently, it was too hard to have Haere Mai / Welcome on a green sign. Too divisive. Too confusing. Too expensive, they’ll say, though $1m wouldn’t buy a decent pothole repair in Auckland these days and this from a government happy to splash tens of millions on “rebranding” public services and legally re-labelling the Treaty principles.

In truth, bilingual signs weren’t a risk to safety, unity, or navigation. They were a threat to monocultural comfort. They dared to suggest that Māori might belong in public space as much as anyone else and so, in the spirit of good colonial compromise, we shelved them with a smile and a shrug, mumbling something about “efficiency”.

So welcome back to one-lane culture. In English only. Unless you’re lost, then maybe try asking your nan, because the signs sure won’t help.

🚨 Government Announcement

MEDIA RELEASE: “Clarity and Efficiency: Government Commits to Signage That Speaks One Language - Fluently”

For immediate release from the Office of the Minister for Transport, the Hon Simeon Brown

The Government today reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring clear and comprehensible infrastructure outcomes for all New Zealanders. The proposed Bilingual Road Signage Modernisation Programme is not currently a designated high-priority initiative, due to evolving infrastructural exigencies and a focus on strategic alignment with the Government’s core policy pillars - Simplification, Streamlining and Selective Engagement.

“The Government supports the visibility of Te Reo Māori in appropriate and targeted domains,” said Minister Brown, “but road signs are about rapid cognitive processing and hazard mitigation, not linguistics.”

The Government will instead consider alternative non-signage-based channels for bicultural expression, such as optional cultural awareness training modules for regional contractors and revised formatting in footnote acknowledgements on cabinet papers.

“Our roads are for driving forward,” said Minister Brown. “And our Government is doing just that, at speed and in one clear language.”

✉️ Letter to the Editor - From the Māori Language Commission

Te Puna Mātauranga o te Reo Māori

Kia ora,

Today we write with deep sadness and sharper clarity. Our language has once again been told it is welcome on the marae, the pōwhiri, and the Waitangi Day stage, but not on the road signs of this country.

The shelving of the bilingual signage programme is not just a bureaucratic decision, it is a cultural erasure by convenience. Years of consultation, community buy-in and thoughtful policy design have been buried without acknowledgement. No closure. No kōrero. Just disappearance.

This was not about road safety. It was about identity. A public symbol of belonging, of partnership, of tangata whenua being visible in everyday life.

Let’s be honest. It was never “too confusing” to read “Haere Mai | Welcome”. What’s confusing is how this Government can claim to honour Te Tiriti while quietly ghosting every sign of it.

To all who believe this decision is not your fight—please reconsider. Because when a nation turns down the volume on its founding language, everyone loses something essential.

Nāku noa, nā,

Rawinia Kerehoma,

Acting CEO, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori

✉️ Letter to the Editor - From an Everyday Driver

Dear Editor,

I’m a long-haul truck driver out of Palmerston North. Been driving these roads for 27 years. When I saw the first bilingual signs being tested, I was proud. It felt like the country was maturing, like we were finally giving the mana of te reo a place where everyone could see it.

Now I read that the whole programme’s been quietly binned. No announcement. Just “not a priority.”

I don’t know what’s more insulting, that they pulled the plug, or that they didn’t think it mattered enough to tell us.

These signs weren’t hurting anyone. They helped people like me feel that Māori weren’t just something for the brochures and Waitangi speeches.

So here’s my challenge to every New Zealander who still gives a damn - start saying the names properly. Start asking what signs used to say. Don’t let this Government shrink our world back to one language because it suits their politics.

Let’s not go back to a country with one voice and no echo.

 Dave R. (Ngāti Raukawa), Feilding