--- title: New Zealand government response to te Reo Māori email addresses description: Research into how many .govt.nz web site contact forms and contact email addresses would accept an email address with a Māori macron (IDN) url: https://www.taiuru.co.nz/reo-maori-email-addresses/ markdown_url: https://www.taiuru.co.nz/reo-maori-email-addresses.md type: post slug: reo-maori-email-addresses author: Karaitiana Taiuru published: 2017-01-26T02:24:06Z modified: 2024-12-25T22:37:59Z language: en-NZ taxonomies: category: - Domain Names word_count: 2765 tokens: 5666 --- # New Zealand government response to te Reo Māori email addresses Research into how many .govt.nz web site contact forms and contact email addresses would accept an email address with a Māori macron (IDN). First published in 2015 here. Contents Methodology. 2 Introduction. 4 Summary. 5 Key findings. 6 Conclusion. 7 Appendices. 8 New Zealand Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 9 New Zealand Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 11 New Zealand Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 13 New Zealand Local Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 16 New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 18 New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 19 Tertiary institutions findings. 22 Polytechnic and Technical institutions findings. 23       Methodology National government departments web sites were mined from www.govt.nz Local council web sites were mined from http://www.localcouncils.govt.nz/lgip.nsf/wpgurl/Profiles-Councils-by-Name-Council-Contact-List   Exceptions were made based on the author’s moral obligations to web sites that impact on individual and national security topics such as the New Zealand Police, SIS, GCSB and CYPS.   Each site was manually scanned for a contact form. Once a contact form was identified, factual information was used in the following fields: Full name: Karaitiana Taiuru Address: PO Box 10286, Christchurch 8145 Phone number: 021 0707507 Other Compulsory fields: Were answered factually Email: karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz Message: Kia ora, My name is Karaitiana Taiuru. I am conducting research into how many New Zealand government web site contact forms recognise IDN email addresses. An IDN email address allows New Zealand’s official language Māori to be represented in the written form and shows the department’s dedication to The Māori Language Act. IDN domain names for the Māori Language were first made available in .nz in 2010. Could you please confirm receipt of this email. Forms who do not recognise an IDN email will be sent an OIA for more information. karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz ENDS.   The IDN email at the bottom of the message was for two reasons: To ascertain if te reo Māori could be used in the comments box If for any reason my email address would not show or the system could not reply to my IDN email, then it was in the comment box.   If the contact form had a compulsory field for type of enquiry the preference was: Website feedback General enquiry.   For web sites with no contact form or forms specifically for customers such as the Selwyn District Council, I used the advertised contact email address, usually <info@.>.   All web site form replies were recorded to ascertain if a department had the ability to reply to an IDN email.   Direct emails Sites that had no web form were emailed directly. The email was sent from: karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz Mail servers: mail.taiuru.māori.nz Email client: Outlook 2013 with Windows 7 Note: The author deemed it of no value to have a macron in the first part of the email address.   The subject was: OIA Enquiry The message was : Kia ora, My name is Karaitiana Taiuru. I am conducting research into how many New Zealand government web site contact forms recognise IDN email addresses. An IDN email address allows New Zealand’s official language Māori to be represented in the written form and shows the departments dedication to The Māori Language Act.   IDN domain names for the Māori Language were first made available in .nz in 2010.   Could you please confirm receipt of this email? Forms who do not recognise an IDN email will be sent an OIA for more information. karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz . ENDS.   IDN and bilingual names Using data from an unpublished report which is due to be published late 2015 “Indigenous Domain Names” (2013), bilingual government department names were cross referenced with IDN registrations. Only one government department had a resolvable IDN address. A more detailed methodology about the govt.nz data is included in that complete report.   MP’s The broad statement about contacting MP’s was made as the .parliament.nz mail server rejected an IDN email address. The three MPs who were contacted on non .parliament.nz emails was done using karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz in the normal course of his work.     Introduction Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) permit the global community to use a domain name in their native language or script. In New Zealand within the .nz domain name hierarchy, an IDN allows a user to register and use the following characters for domain names (web and email addresses): ā ē ī ō ū in addition to the default .maori.nz domain which is also available as .māori.nz (less than 25% of .maori.nz registrations are configured to use its IDN variant)[1].   The Domain Name Commission (DNC) manages the .nz domain name space and protects the interests and rights of everyone who uses it[2].   In 2009 Karaitiana Taiuru lobbied the Domain Name Commissioner for International Domain Names to be implemented into .nz. A working group was then created by the Domain Name Commissioner who investigated and discussed the technical and linguist issues relating to implementation[3]. In mid 2010 this was technically made possible by recognising Māori macrons in all .nz addresses. Also, by default, all .maori.nz addresses could be used with a macron as .māori.nz     Summary Most of the 158 NZ government department website online contact forms surveyed, would not accept an email with macrons. This included Māori specific departments including: Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Mangai Paho and Parliament who would not only decline an email address with a macron in their online forms, but were the only three government organisations who also bounced emails that were directly sent. Te Taura Whiri (The Māori Language Commission) appears to also not recognise te reo Māori in email addresses when contacted directly.   Contacting an MP via their official .parliament.nz email address will not work. Though the research didn’t conduct research into their alternative emails addresses with the exception of three Māori MP’s who received and replied to an email with te reo Māori macrons.     Key findings The Nelson City council would not allow me to type te reo Māori in the comment box as it contained a macron. If i used a non te reo Māori email address, it would still not all me to write Māori as a comment.   Of the 8 Universities in New Zealand, only Auckland University didn’t recognise te reo Māori emails in their online forms while 2 Universities have no online form.   Of the 19 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics in New Zealand, only 4 institutions recognise te reo Māori emails in their online forms. When institutions are emailed directly, the majority of replies were made to a different email address, suggesting that the customer service was so great, that an alternative contact email was found on the Internet.   New Zealand’s Internet governing body InternetNZ[4] would not allow te reo Māori in an email address when I contacted it for their opinion and to debrief it of my key findings.     Conclusion Technological advancements have been possible for several years to use IDN’s in email and web browsing. Many New Zealand government departments have not kept abreast of that technology which recognised te reo Māori, likely due to financial issues and a lack of benefits to their organisation. Government departments who didn’t recognise macrons in web forms were largely using a government’s Common Web Platform (CWP) Silverstripe [5] which at the time of the research was not IDN compatible. Though to the credit of the open source developers, they had committed to rectifying this situation as a priority. All of the government departments who do not accept te reo Māori in their contact forms have bilingual names that appear on their web sites, and many government departments expressed an interest in registering their bilingual name as a domain name. It is also common for web sites to be managed by content or communications teams and individuals who have no need to poses appropriate technical skills nor the need to keep abreast of the latest web and Internet trends.     Appendices New Zealand Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 9 New Zealand Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 11 New Zealand Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 13 New Zealand Local Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 16 New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 18 New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 19 Tertiary institutions findings. 22 Polytechnic and Technical institutions findings. 23     A. New Zealand Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. Name URL Notes Replied Education New Zealand http://www.elections.org.nz AG Research http://www.agresearch.co.nz Department of Conversation http://www.doc.govt.nz NZQA http://www.nzqa.govt.nz Replied to say they were not compliant. They cannot send to an IDN, only receive. Education New Zealand http://www.enz.govt.nz/ Converts email address to PunyCode on the fly. Manual. Will follow up to state if form is IDN compatible despite the email working Ministry of Health https://www.health.govt.nz Te Taura Whiri http://www.korero.maori.nz/ Land Information New Zealand http://www.linz.govt.nz Manual Ministry for Primary Industries http://mpi.govt.nz/ Manual/Automatic Ministry of Education Earthquake Commission http://www.eqc.govt.nz Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet http://www.dpmc.govt.nz Converts email address to PunyCode on the fly. Manual Callaghn Innovation www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz Converts email address to PunyCode on the fly. Govt www.govt.nz Study In New Zealand studyinnewzealand.com Middlemore Hospital middlemore.co.nz Manual Ministry of Health moh.govt.nz Department of Conversation doc.govt.nz Manual/Automatic The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet dpmc.govt.nz No       B. New Zealand Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. Name URL Antartica New Zealand http://antarcticanz.govt.nz/ Auckland Transport https://at.govt.nz Beehive https://www.beehive.govt.nz Canterbuiry Earthquake Recovery https://cera.govt.nz Careers New Zealand http://www.careers.govt.nz Civil Defence http://www.civildefence.govt.nz Commission for Financial Capability http://www.cffc.org.nz/ Department of Conversation http://www.doc.govt.nz/ Environmental Protection Authority http://www.epa.govt.nz Environmental Protection Authority http://www.epa.govt.nz Financial Markets Authority http://www.fma.govt.nz Governor General https://gg.govt.nz/contact Health Quality & Safety Commission http://www.hqsc.govt.nz Human Rights Commission http://www.hrc.co.nz Maritime New Zealand http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment https://www.mbie.govt.nz/ Ministry of Consumer Affairs http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz Ministry of Health https://www.health.govt.nz Ministry of Primary Industries http://mpi.govt.nz New Zealand Artificial Limb Service http://nzals.govt.nz New Zealand Legislation http://www.legislation.govt.nz/ New Zealand Trade and Enterprise https://www.nzte.govt.nz/ Ombudsman http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz Productivity Commission http://www.productivity.govt.nz Statistics New Zealand http://www.stats.govt.nz Statistics New Zealand http://www.stats.govt.nz Study Link Te Mangai Paho http://www.tmp.govt.nz Te Papa http://www.tepapa.govt.nz The Serious Fraud Office https://www.sfo.govt.nz/     C. New Zealand Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. Name URL email Reply Notes Auckland District Health Board http://www.adhb.govt.nz/ ADHBCommunications@adhb.govt.nz Automatic Are moving to the non IDN compliant CMS Bay of Plenty District Health Board http://www.bopdhb.govt.nz/ communications@bopdhb.govt.nz No CAA http://www.caa.govt.nz info@caa.govt.nz No Commerce Commission http://www.comcom.govt.nz/ contact@comcom.govt.nz Automatic Community Matters http://www.communitymatters.govt.nz community.matters@dia.govt.nz No Creative New Zealand http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/ info@creativenz.govt.nz No Customs http://www.customs.govt.nz/ websitemanager@customs.govt.nz No Department of Internal Affairs http://www.dia.govt.nz/ webmaster@dia.govt.nz No Employment Relations Authority http://www.era.govt.nz/ Excluded No Government Superannuation Fund Authority http://www.gsfa.govt.nz/ enquiries@gsfa.govt.nz No Horowhenua District Council ttps://ecouncil.horowhenua.govt.nz enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz Yes Didn’t know what an IDN was Immigration New Zealand http://www.immigration.govt.nz/ EXCLUDED No Inland Revenue http://www.ird.govt.nz webmaster@ird.govt.nz No Kiwi Saver http://www.kiwisaver.govt.nz/ webmaster@ird.govt.nz No Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade http://mfat.govt.nz/ No Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade enquiries@mfat.govt.nz No Ministry of Youth Development http://www.myd.govt.nz/ mydinfo@myd.govt.nz No New Zealand Teachers Council inquiries@teacherscouncil.govt.nz Manual NZ Transport Association http://www.nzta.govt.nz info@nzta.govt.nz Automatic/Manual Asked what an IDN is so as to send to relecvant person Office of Ethnic Communities http://ethniccommunities.govt.nz/ ethnic.affairs@dia.govt.nz No Parliamentary Information Service http://www.parliament.nz/ parliament.website@parliament.govt.nz Bounced Personal Property Securities Register http://www.ppsr.govt.nz/ EXCLUDED No Pharmac http://www.pharmac.health.nz/ enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz Automatic/Manual Real Estate Agents Authority http://www.reaa.govt.nz/ licensing@reaa.govt.nz Automatic/Manual Social Workers Registration Board http://www.swrb.govt.nz/contact-us info@swrb.govt.nz Manual Super Gold information@supergold.govt.nz No Te Puni Kokiri http://www.tpk.govt.nz/ info@tpk.govt.nz Bounced Te Taura Whiri http://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz info@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz No Tertiary Education Commission http://www.tec.govt.nz/ sectorhelpdesk@tec.govt.nz No The Independent Police Conduct Authority http://www.ipca.govt.nz communications@ipca.govt.nz No     D. New Zealand Local Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. Name URL Responded Westland District Council www.westlanddc.govt.nz No Waimate District Council www.waimatedc.govt.nz No Taupo DIstrict Council http://www.taupodc.govt.nz No Tasman District Council http://www.tasman.govt.nz No Rotorua District Council No Kaikoura District Council http://www.kaikoura.govt.nz IT Manager says form is not compatible though it is Hauraki District Council http://www.hauraki-dc.govt.nz Manual Hastings District Council http://www.hastingsdc.govt.nz No Ashburton District Council http://www.ashburtondc.govt.nz No Buller District Council http://bullerdc.govt.nz No Gisborne District Council http://www.gdc.govt.nz No Hamilton City Council http://www.hamilton.govt.nz Automatic/Manual In response to your question, Hamilton City Council’s website partially accepts IDN email addresses in that when a form is submitted, an email is sent to the Council and the submitted form content is written to a backend database; however currently the sender is not sent an automated response as this part of the process causes an error. We are addressing this with urgency and expect it to be resolved in the short term but despite this if someone with an IDN email address contacts the Council via a contact form on the website, it is received and enters the workflow. Regards, Garrick Laing Online manager | Communication Unit Otago Regional Council http://www.orc.govt.nz/ No New Plymouth District Council http://www.newplymouthnz.com/ No South Taranaki District Council http://www.stdc.co.nz/ Manual Western Bay of Plenty District Council http://www.westernbay.govt.nz Automatic Hastings District Council http://www.hastingsdc.govt.nz/ No Tasman District Council http://www.tasman.govt.nz/ No Counties Manukau Health http://www.countiesmanukau.health.nz No Christchurch City Council http://webforms.ccc.govt.nz/ No Queenstown Lakes District Council http://www.qldc.govt.nz/ No Thames Coromandel District Council http://www.tcdc.govt.nz Manual       E. New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. Name URL Notes Hutt City Council http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/ Hawkes Bay Regional Council http://www.hbrc.govt.nz/ Dunedin City Council http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ Auckland City Counil www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz Enviroment Canterbury http://ecan.govt.nz/ Far North Disctrict Council https://www.fndc.govt.nz/ Nelson City Council http://nelson.govt.nz/ Macrons not allowed in the comment box. Waimakariri District Council http://www.waimakariri.govt.nz Otago Regional Council http://www.orc.govt.nz Horizons Regional Council http://www.horizons.govt.nz/ Auckland Council http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz Timaru District Council https://www.timaru.govt.nz Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes District Libraries http://codc-qldc.govt.nz Waikato District Council https://www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz Selwyn District Council http://www.selwyn.govt.nz/ Ph call to follow up     F.  New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. Name URL email Replied West Coast Regional Council http://www.wcrc.govt.nz/ No Wanganui District Council wdc@wanganui.govt.nz No Waitaki District Council http://www.waitaki.govt.nz/ service@waitaki.govt.nz No Wairoa District Council http://www.wairoadc.govt.nz/ administrator@wairoadc.govt.nz No Waipa District Council http://www.waipadc.govt.nz/ info@waipadc.govt.nz Manual Upper Hutt City Council http://www.upperhuttcity.com/ askus@uhcc.govt.nz Manual Thames Coromandel District Council http://www.tcdc.govt.nz/ Manual/Automatic Tauranga City Council http://www.tauranga.govt.nz/ info@tauranga.govt.nz Automatic Tararua District Council http://www.tararuadc.govt.nz/ info@tararuadc.govt.nz Can recieve but not send to IDN Taranaki Regional Council http://www.trc.govt.nz/ info@trc.govt.nz Could recieve IDN but not send to Stratford District Council http://www.stratford.govt.nz/ stratforddc@stratford.govt.nz No Enviroment Southland http://www.es.govt.nz/ communications@es.govt.nz No South Wairarapa District Council http://www.swdc.govt.nz/ enquiries@swdc.govt.nz Manual Ruapehu District Council http://www.ruapehudc.govt.nz/ info@ruapehudc.govt.nz Manual Rangitikei District Council www.rangdc.govt.nz info@rangitikei.govt.nz expired SSL certificate The Porirua City Council webmaster@pcc.govt.nz No Palmerston North City Council http://www.pncc.govt.nz/ info@pncc.govt.nz Automatic Opotiki District Council http://www.odc.govt.nz info@odc.govt.nz No Napier City Council http://www.napier.govt.nz/ http://www.napier.govt.nz/our-council/about/contact-us/email-us/ No Masterton District Council http://www.mstn.govt.nz/ mdc@mstn.govt.nz No Manawatu District Council http://www.mdc.govt.nz/ public@mdc.govt.nz No Mackenzie District Council http://www.mackenzie.govt.nz info@mackenzie.govt.nz No Kawerau District Council http://www.kaweraudc.govt.nz kaweraudc@kaweraudc.govt.nz Manual Invercargill City Council http://icc.govt.nz/ http://icc.govt.nz/website-feedback/ No Horowhenua District Council http://www.horowhenua.govt.nz/ enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz No Grey District Council http://www.greydc.govt.nz/ No Gore District Council http://www.goredc.govt.nz info@goredc.govt.nz Manual/Automatic Clutha District Council http://www.cluthadc.govt.nz/ No Chatham Islands Council http://www.cic.govt.nz/ info@cic.govt.nz No Central Otago District Council http://www.codc.govt.nz/ info@codc.govt.nz Manual/Automatic Bay of Plenty Regional Council http://www.boprc.govt.nz info@boprc.govt.nz No Carterton District Council http://cartertondc.co.nz/ info@cdc.govt.nz Manual Hurunui District Council hurunui.govt.nz info@hurunui.govt.nz No       G.Tertiary institutions findings. Name URL IDN Compliant Auckland University https://uoa.custhelp.com/app/ask No University of Canterbury canterbury.ac.nz Yes Lincoln University lincoln.ac.nz Yes AUT http://www.aut.ac.nz Yes Massey University http://www.massey.ac.nz Yes University of Otago http://www.otago.ac.nz Yes University of Waikato http://www.waikato.ac.nz Yes Victoria University http://www.vuw.ac.nz N/a       H.            Polytechnic and Technical institutions findings Name URL IDN Compliant Aoraki Polytechnic www.aoraki.ac.nz No Bay of Plenty Polytechnic www.boppoly.ac.nz N/A Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology www.cpit.ac.nz No Eastern Institute of Technology (Hawkes Bay) www.eit.ac.nz N/A Manukau Institute of Technology www.manukau.ac.nz N/A Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology www.nmit.ac.nz Yes Northland Polytechnic (NorthTec) www.northtec.ac.nz No Otago Polytechnic www.op.ac.nz N/A Southern Institute of Technology www.sit.ac.nz No Tai Poutini Polytechnic tpp.ac.nz Yes The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz N/A Unitec New Zealand www.unitec.ac.nz N/A Universal College of Learning www.ucol.ac.nz N/A Waiariki Institute of Technology www.waiariki.ac.nz Yes Waikato Institute of Technology www.wintec.ac.nz No Wellington Institute of Technology www.weltec.ac.nz N/A Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki www.witt.ac.nz N/A Whitireia Community Polytechnic whitireia.ac.nz Yes   [1] Unpublished report. Indigenous Domain Names. [2] http://www.dnc.org.nz [3] https://dnc.org.nz/story/internationalised-domain-names-idns-expressions-interest-working-group-0 [4] http://www.internetnz.net.nz [5]