Michael Laws says changing Gypsy Day "PC gone really stupid"

The Otago Regional Council will revert to using the term Gypsy Day after it renamed the rural occurrence last year in an act one councillor calls "PC gone really stupid".

The term refers to the annual transfer of cows between farms for winter grazing by sharemilkers, traditionally on June 1.

Former regional council chief executive Peter Bodeker last year changed the council"s reference of the day to Mooving Day.

At a regional council meeting yesterday councillor Michael Laws said this was changed "arbitrarily" without any consultation. This followed a complaint from Dunedin city councillor Aaron Hawkins, who said the term gypsy was often used as a slur against Romany people.

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Cattle move past Dunedin Airport, at Momona, during a previous Gypsy Day. Photo / Gerard O
Cattle move past Dunedin Airport, at Momona, during a previous Gypsy Day. Photo / Gerard O"Brien

"It"s PC gone really stupid. This is a really good example of the ORC saying "we don"t care what you think" to the rural community," Laws said.

The community referred to the day as Gypsy Day, he said.

Councillor Doug Brown said he was annoyed when the name was changed. Regional council stakeholder engagement director Sian Sutton said she was in favour of using terms the community used.

"I thought perhaps the community had renamed it Mooving Day."

Council chief executive Sarah Gardner said she would be "more than happy" to start calling it Gypsy Day again.

When asked for a response, Hawkins said he had nothing to add.

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