The Kia Ora Incident The Kia Ora Incident The Kia Ora Incident is an incident that took place in 1984, at a time when the use of Māori phrases was uncommon in New Zealand. An Auckland telephone operator, Naida Glavish, was instructed to stop using ""kia ora"" when greeting callers after the post office had received a complaint. She refused to do so and was consequently stood down, with the whole affair attracting much public interest. The Postmaster-General, Rob Talbot, convinced the Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, to overturn that prohibition. This event is considered key in the movement to revitalise Te Reo Maori. A
Kia kaha Primary School (Kia Kaha). Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles (QAMR) an armored regiment based at Waiouru uses Ake Ake Kia Kaha as their motto. Kia kaha is also used in the film "Forever Strong", and is the motto of the Highland High School rugby team which features in the film. The trainers of Beachbody's Les Mills Pump home workout program also use this phrase regularly throughout the program. When the 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch on 22 February 2011, following the 4 September 2010 earthquake, "Kia Kaha" became the iconic phrase used by family and friends