Naida Glavish Naida Glavish Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish is a New Zealand politician and Māori community leader from the Ngāti Whātua iwi. From 2013 to 2016, she was President of the Māori Party. Glavish first came to national attention in 1984, when she was a telephone operator for the New Zealand Post Office, and used the Māori language greeting "kia ora" when dealing with callers. She was threatened with dismissal by her supervisor, but the prime minister of the day, Robert Muldoon, supported Glavish's use of the phrase. A member of Mana Motuhake, Glavish stood for the Alliance in the Te Tai
Kia kaha a strong rope made from coconut fibres and used for lashing canoes, weapons, and buildings together. The phrase is used in several different contexts. It is a term of comfort or solace (an equivalent of "be strong - my thoughts are with you"), or (less often) it can serve a similar function to 'kia ora' - an interjection during a speech to indicate support or approval (similar to "hear! hear!"). It is sometimes seen used as a valediction at the bottom of messages. The phrase "Kia kaha" is prominently used in New Zealand's most famous military song, the Marching Song