“It is presumptuous and disrespectful to make a decision of such cultural importance for the country without engaging all who live there,” Smith wrote.
Collins said she agreed with Smith and that people deserved to have a say on a matter of such importance.
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“People are starting to get, I think, quite tetchy about that, they’re feeling like they’re not being included in that debate.”
“The public has a right to vote on that.”
She pointed to large corporations and government departments using the term Aotearoa as evidence of its spread without consultation “by stealth”.