Naylor Jono: Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNaylor Jono: Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 07 April 2016. Volume:712;Page:10336. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONO NAYLOR (National):Tuatahi he mihi ki Te Atua nāna nei ngā mea katoa ngā mihi ki a koutou ki ngā hoa o Te Pāremata tēnā koutou. He pai te rā nei mō Aotearoa.[Firstly acknowledgments to God who created everything and to you fellow colleagues of Parliament greetings. This is a good day for New Zealand.]Today is a good day for Aotearoa New Zealand. It is a good day in that we are moving forward with this Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: It’s the best bill.JONO NAYLOR: I hear it is the best bill from the best Minister. This is I think a very positive thing for New Zealand. This is a very good bill.I know that we are taking all parts together but today in this contribution I want to focus on Te Wāhanga 1 and in particular on te whiti 3(2). In that subclause there are some really important things that are said: “Ko te aronga o tēnei Ture—(a) he whakaū i te mana o te reo Māori hei—(i) reo taketake mō Niu Tireni; (ii) taonga hoki mā ngā iwi me ngāi Māori; (iii) reo hoki ka kaingākautia e te motu; (iv) reo whai mana ā-ture hoki mō Niu Tireni; (b) he tuku āwhina hoki hei tautoko hei whakarauora hoki i te reo Māori.”There is something in particular I want to focus on out of that and that is this particular phrase that is used “reo hoki ka kaingākautia e te motu;”—a language that is valued by the nation. I think it is too easy often for people like myself European New Zealanders Pākehā or whatever it is that we refer to ourselves as from time to time—I think “skinny white boy” was one I used in my second reading speech but I am not so skinny anymore. This is an important factor for us to think about because too often as I say people like me think of Te Reo Māori as something that is important for Māori and it is.Kelvin Davis referred to it and again drew our attention to the fact that it is a taonga for Māori for iwi for hapū for whānau but actually if we are going to move Te Reo Māori forward it is going to have to be something that is important to all of our nation. I think that statement in the bill to some degree is aspirational because unfortunately I do not know that Te Reo Māori is valued by our whole nation. I think it is beholden on us as the leaders of this nation who sit in this Parliament on behalf of our nation to actually make a statement and put a stake in the ground—which I believe we are doing through this bill—to say this is important for all of our nation.I posted my second reading speech on Facebook—sometimes we do these things and we do not know what is going to happen. I had an overwhelming response to that on social media. It was incredibly humbling to see that happen. My record number of posts reached on Facebook—I am not a huge success on social media as usual in normal terms—was 14500 people. Well the reach of that post went to 98000. Almost 100000 people ended up viewing the video of that second reading speech. I cannot explain that to any degree but what I can say is that the comments and the encouragement I have received say to me that actually now the people of Aotearoa New Zealand are starting to value Te Reo Māori. They are starting to understand the importance of this language to our nation as a whole not just to Māori.I have been humbled by the number of people who have been encouraged by what I said have been encouraged by things that have been said right through this House and are encouraged by the intent of this bill. This bill I believe is something that is going to take us further. It is going to make us stronger as a nation and it is going to ensure that as we go forward we will be a better and stronger nation.I do want to focus on Te Wāhanga 1 still but in te whiti 4(3) it says: “Kāore e herea e pāngia rānei e tēnei wehenga ngā haepapatanga o te Karauna e pā ana ki te reo Māori.” Sorry that is not particularly good andeven for those people who do speak Te Reo Māori I will give them the English as well because they probably did not understand my Reo then because I was a little bit rushed. I just want to focus on this section where it recognises the importance of the Māori language as a taonga for iwi and for Māori. Here in clause4(3) it says that this section does not limit or affect any responsibilities of the Crown in relation to the Māori language. I think that is a really really important factor.I totally support the establishment of Te Mātāwai and I think it is incredibly important that actually a certain level of the responsibility around the language is taken up by Māori and that the Crown does not presume to be able to do that on behalf of Māori. But I think the Crown is also still beholden to ensure that we play our part in ensuring that Te Reo Māori has its place—as has been referred to by previous speakers—within this House and within our legal proceedings and to ensure that it remains in that status as one of our official languages of New Zealand.So I really look forward to seeing the continued passage of this bill through the House. I am excited by it. I think it is going to produce some positive effects for New Zealand going forward. I am exceptionally proud of the fact that although there has been very much a collaborative approach—and I know there has been across the Māori Affairs Committee by all parties in this House—one of the things that I do just want to remind people about is that this is still part of the Government’s programme of legislation. This is not members’ day; this is all of us agreeing together. But actually some of the criticism that people have had over time sometimes around this—although I have had mostly positive feedback on Facebook there was the odd negative bit that presumed that the National Party was not actually interested in doing this. But this is a Government bill. I am proud to stand behind it and I am really going to be pleased to see its passage and for it be a part of New Zealand going forward. Kia ora.