Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Ko te mihi tuatahi ki Te Atua nōna nei ngā mea katoa. Ko te mihi tuarua ki Te Whare e tū nei. Tēnā koe. He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa. I te taha o tōku matua ko Roy rāua ko Joan ōku tūpuna. Nō Tinimaka rāua ko Irimotu rāua. I te taha o tōku whāea ko Patrick rāua ko Naira ōku tūpuna. Nō Irimotu rāua hoki. Ko John rāua ko Trisha ōku mātua. Ko Patrick tōku tungāne. Ko Ginny Andersen ahau. Tēnā koutou katoa.[The first acknowledgment goes to the Lord for he is the creator of all things. The second acknowledgment goes to the House before us. Greetings. On my father's side Roy and Joan are my grandparents. They are from Tinimaka and Irimotu. On my mother's side my grandparents are Patrick and Naira. They are also from Irimotu. John and Trisha are my parents. Patrick is my brother. I am Ginny Andersen. Greetings one and all.]I am a product of our education system reluctantly taught Māori 30-odd years ago when it wasn't trendy as it is now. I'm hugely grateful for the fact that I had that opportunity. I'm reminded of when I look at the Māori word for library matapihi ki te ao because to me it is a glimpse through a window into another world and it enables me to understand life from a different perspective. I think that is what this bill does: it provides an opportunity to our young people in New Zealand to have a look through someone else's eyes to understand a culture and a way of being that's different to the one that we know that we grew up in. But saying that this bill is only supported to select committee for the very reasons that Tracey Martin has already raised tonight. They are very real concerns that I share as well. I see the huge strain that our education sector is under and I see the huge strain that teachers are under to deliver Te Reo Māori alone. I will say that I believe I want my kids and I want others to prioritise Māori. I believe that. I believe that strongly. When I was 13 years old and I got to choose in form 3 what language I chose I was told that if I chose Te Reo Māori I wouldn't be in a top stream because it was not an academic language. I was sent home to choose from German Latin Japanese and French. That's only in 1989—that's not that long ago. We have come an incredibly long way. I didn't do it by the way. I did Māori obviously and I was in the third stream from the top. That was because of the support of my parents largely and a home background that didn't accept what was the status quo in the school curriculum at the time. But what is important to note is that we have come an incredibly long way and I would like to acknowledge Kelvin Davis for the massive amount of work that he has put into programmes like Te Ahu o te Reo Māori that encourage and strengthen the ability for teachers to be able to speak in Māori in the classrooms. That is one of the main obstacles that I see as a parent going into classrooms. You have teachers who are willing and wanting to be able to deliver in Te Reo but haven't had the support and the training to have confidence to get up and speak. That is the area that we need to continue to work on: to encourage our teachers to feel confident to love the sound of Te Reo Māori and to be really enjoying teaching it to a classroom of kids who will only then see the joy of it by seeing that same confidence and enjoyment. So I would like to acknowledge the good work that goes on in terms of encouraging and strengthening Te Reo Māori. I believe that we need to continue to do that to be in a position to continue to grow as a country. It is what makes us different to the rest of the world: the fact that we have Te Reo Māori in New Zealand and no other country does.So while I think it's incredibly ambitious to have 10 languages as this bill proposes it still deserves the attention of submitters of the education community of parents and of others who would be overseeing this to have their comments brought forward through the course of submissions. I do think that given the state of the education system after National left it to endeavour to roll out 10 languages for every school is incredibly ambitious. Second language learning does make sense and we know that it makes sense that if someone learns another language it opens up your brain in ways that enable you to be more receptive to learning more things and that is a good thing. The intention of the bill is to strengthen access to a second language in primary and intermediate schools and covering all from year 1 to year 8. So I commend the concept. I have questions around the ability to deliver and I think that we should be speaking Māori much more than we already do. Nō reira kia ora koutou and kia ora e Te Māngai.