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The Conversation
Tony Ballantyne, Professor of History, University of Otago

New ferry names: Winston calls it woke, but debating Cook’s legacy is nothing new

William West/AFP via Getty Images

With an election looming, it was perhaps unsurprising that Minister for Rail Winston Peters used the announcement of the names of two new state-owned ferries to indulge in a little campaign signalling.

Targetting the “snivelling wokesters” who might take issue with one ferry being named after Captain James Cook, Peters suggested “a mature country does not run from its history” (a point with which I fully agree).

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