Henare Tau: Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Tau: Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19538. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TAU HENARE (National):Mea tuatahi ki a koutou aku rangatira tēnā koutou. E matua Pita nunui te mihi me taku aroha ki a koe me tō hoa a Tariana mō tō kōrero whakamutunga. Nō reira nunui te mihi ki a koutou me ō koutou whānau.[Firstly acknowledgments to you my esteemed ones. A huge tribute to you father figure Pita and my fond regards to you and you co-partner Tariana in terms of your valedictory speech. So a huge tribute to you and your family.]This Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill formally recognises what most of us in the House have always known and that is that the status of the language is a taonga is a treasure. So what it really does is formalise that. In terms of control in and of itself it is not going to create any more Māori speakers on 31 August or whenever. It does not do that but what it does do is give the ability to Te Mātāwai to put a few things in their places so that there is a development of a strategy that not only keeps the language alive but goes from strength to strength. What was seen as a great day by Māori language enthusiasts 27 years ago was really a piece of legislation forced on the then Government. I think looking back on it that what the Government tried to do with the Māori Language Act 1987 the Broadcasting Act 1989 and even the Māori Television Service in 2003 was to push things along.The percentage of people speaking the Māori language since that establishment 27 years ago has not actually increased a hell of a lot. It just has not. In fact of the number of people who speak Māori more of the people who are speaking Māori today have actually come from initiatives outside of those pieces of legislation namely the kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori. If we need to turn to anybody with a hell of a history in the establishment of those two forms of language education we need to turn our heads and mihi to Matua Pita for all of his work and to all of the whānau who have been involved since those days.With any organisation you have to keep up with technology. You have to keep up with the times. You cannot just sit there and expect that because it was a good idea in 1987 or a good idea in 1945 that it is going to be a good idea in the year 2014. We have seen that with the change of technology. I think that the new technology—and I have heard people talking about the use of technology—is just around the corner if we let it happen if we get in behind it and if we make it happen. I think Te Mātāwai is one of those bodies that will play a major part in enhancing new technology. It is also about taking TV and radio and going to the next level not just a box in your living room or a wireless on the bench in the kitchen. We are talking about 4G. We are talking about the apps that are available to all of our young people out there.Now I am going to deviate away from Government policy. It is my personal point of view that the only real way we are going to have what my whanaunga and colleague Kelvin Davis says that he wants is by having compulsory Māori language in schools. I know it is a thought that most New Zealanders do not wish to think about but have a look at the success of the Welsh language. Have a look at the success of countries that are bilingual. I am not talking about from nought to whenever you leave. I am talking about nought to 16 which is exactly the way the Welsh do it. I am not talking about introducing it tomorrow. What I am saying is why do we not use this as a catalyst to come up with the plan so that in 10 years’ time in 2024 we are ready to go. We have done all the work before. We have nutted out how many teachers we are going to need what sorts of resources we are going to have what we might need and then in 2024 or whenever—but there has to be a date in the future to work to—we can introduce compulsory Māori language in schools.It would do wonders for this nation’s belief that it is a bicultural nation. It would do wonders for race relations. It would do wonders for our ability to talk to people of other cultures. When you learn a second language or even a first language it is easier to learn the next one and the next one. In my 15 years of being a politician an MP I have met children around the world who can speak six or seven languages. They are so comfortable with jumping from English to Arabic to French. It is just amazing. I firmly believe that this is where the nation should go.The last point I want to make concerns the motion put forward by my colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta. I cannot support it but what I can support is giving it to the select committee. The first submission that the select committee should hear is from the tribunal. In fact you could actually eventually see the tribunal playing a bigger part in all legislation that goes before the Māori Affairs Committee just as we ask the Office of the Auditor-General to give us a steer on the number of financials that come before us in the financial reviews. Let us not cut off the ability of the select committee to do its work. Call for the initial submission to be from the tribunal itself and let that be part of the process of seeing this bill through—if it ever goes through. My major disappointment is that the Minister who has introduced the bill the Minister of Māori Affairs is not going to be here and nor am I to see the whole process work out. I think it is going to be a good one and I think we should take it on board. We should not be scared. Let us really have a crack at this as a nation. Kia ora.