Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations,and State Enterprises — Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission)

First off again, in my most humble opinion, I say that Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori is one of the most unloved, underfunded, and overworked of Crown entities. I say this not as a jibe against the Government but to declare that here we have a receptacle of New Zealand’s language—one of the official languages of New Zealand. The other official language is New Zealand Sign Language. Something that members of the House may or may not know is that the English language is not recognised as an official language of New Zealand. We think it is, but it is not recognised in any statute. So I just leave that there on the side; I think it should be.

I worry that the receptacle of the indigenous language of this nation is absolutely underfunded. It struggles on a daily basis to complete projects like the dictionary of New Zealand Māori, which is a first in relation to many, many indigenous peoples around the world. The commission cannot, by virtue of its financial situation, take money from what is known as Mā Te Reo and put it into the finalising of the dictionary project. As I suppose I was a prime mover, in my years as Minister of Māori Affairs, for the initial Mā Te Reo funding, I say to members that I was able to shoehorn that funding out of the Rt Hon Bill Birch. To the former Minister of Māori Affairs in the chair tonight, the Hon Dover Samuels, I must give congratulations on the job that he did when he was Minister in getting Mā Te Reo funding—in terms of keeping it and making it of some use to our language.

But I think we should be able to go a wee bit further than that in the future, and I am looking forward to the day when we look at Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori as a receptacle, as an icon, of our nation’s language. It should be not only us looking at the commission and respecting it as such but also those across our waters, those across the seas, and thinking: “Yeah, maybe that is what we should be doing in terms of our language.”

I think a lot more Government organisations should be listening to, and following the lead of, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. They, along with Government, set the Māori Language Strategy. Sometimes I think the Māori Language Strategy over the past few years has been a bit wayward. That is not because our Ministers are particularly dumb; it is because it is such a topic that we fall over ourselves in trying to do the best and right thing. I think sometimes we should leave it to the experts to figure out what our strategy should be, and we should get in behind entities like Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.

I will not speak for too much longer other than to say I hope that one day—whether it be in the time of this Government or the next—Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori will be placed on a pedestal where the holder of the nation’s indigenous language should be, and be funded, staffed, and listened to, accordingly. The little mention that I made before of New Zealand’s other language—English—should also be recognised in statute—recognised as an official language of this country. Kia ora.

Te mea tuatahi māku kei te mihi atu ki a koe, e Tau. Nāu nei i tū ki te whakanui i tō tātou reo rangatira i tēnei pō, kei te mihi atu. Kei te maumahara ahau i te wā i a au e tamariki ana, haere ahau ki te kura, harakau e mōhio ana ki te reo Pākehā. Engari, pēnā e kōrero ana ahau i roto i tō tāua reo rangatira, āe marika, kua wepuwepungia ahau e ngā kura māhita.

[First and foremost I want to thank Tau, who stood up tonight to praise our chiefly language, and I acknowledge that. I recall the time when I was a youngster and went to school, I did not know any English. But when I spoke in our chiefly language I was strapped repeatedly by the teachers. Yes, indeed.]

I thank the member Tau Henare for his contribution. I am reminded of when I used to go to school, not so long ago. The only language I could speak was my own—taku reo rangatira. God help me if I was caught speaking my own language within the school ground parameters, because we did not have the anti-smacking legislation in that time. The teacher, Mr Simpson—I remember him very clearly—was a tall, very strong Pākehā, and he was the only Pākehā in the Whakarara Native School. When he said “Thou shalt not speak Māori.”, we had to listen to him, or otherwise it was the old tradition of six of the best. Every time he dealt to me, I got seven—he could not count. That was my initiation into the difference between the Māori language and the English language.

I concur that the Māori Language Commission has a tough job. It is not easy, especially when one is dominated by another language. I also say, as we commemorate Māori Language Week, that the theme this year is tourism and the Māori language. It is significant that when our manuhiri come across to enjoy our landscape and their wish is also to have an experience with Māori, they too get an experience of what the Māori language is all about. Perhaps that will convey to some of our colleagues in this Chamber how important Māori language is to this nation. Kia ora tātou.

Report noted.

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