Foster-Bell Paul: Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 07 April 2016. Volume:712;Page:10343. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National): Tēnā koe e Te Kaiwhakahaere. Tēnā koutou katoa e ngā mema. In rising to take a brief call in the Committee stage debate on Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill I too want to remember my grandmother as Marama Davidson who has just resumed her seat did with her grandmother. I would also like to thank the Attorney-General the Hon Chris Finlayson for passing around some interesting historical notes about the treatment of the Māori language in various communities. Reading those notes reinforced to me something that my grandmother actually told us about when we were very small children.My grandmother Lena Foster is Te Aupōuri from the very far north. She went to a school in the Hokianga that was I guess one of those schools that was founded under the Native Schools Act 1867 which some members have already referred to. I can recall that at the age of about 6 or 7—it must have been around about then because “Poi E” had just been released and was charting in the top ten—I was on a beach holiday at a little place called the Nook. Not Nuk Korako; Nook spelt “N-o-o-k” which was a very popular little beach and swimming spot near Pārua Bay just outside of Whangarei. On that holiday we were there in the caravan with grandma and grandad and I remember her telling us that as a small girl at that school in the Hokianga she was one of those people who had been struck for speaking the language of her ancestors with an old-fashioned 1-foot wooden ruler on the knuckles.As a 6 or 7-year-old I thought that it was extraordinary that anyone would be punished for wanting to communicate in a language. I always admired people who were fluent in another tongue and had that language capability and I just thought that it was absolutely extraordinary that any system would permit the persecution and prohibition of the speaking of any language. However those notes provided by the Hon Chris Finlayson which were very interesting did back that up entirely and provided a wide range of testimony. It always impressed me that my grandmother was able to sit and listen to Te Karere every evening and understand what was being said but it seemed strange at the time that she never chose to speak that language. That is why my father never picked it up and that is why we his children were not fluent.I was very lucky I suppose that in the third form at high school I had ĒrimaHēnare the late father of Peeni Henare—whom I would like to also acknowledge today—as a social studies teacher. He made sure that as part of the curriculum that was delivered there knowledge and awareness of Māori culture—tikanga—was included and a few Māori words were snuck into the lessons. It is a wonderful thing that we have moved beyond that stage of very bad treatment of the Māori language and those who choose to speak it to recognising in this bill that Māori is a taonga and it is actually the iwi themselves who are the kaitiaki of that language.The State may never have actively sought to persecute Māori even though that happened within State institutions such as schools. Similarly it can never be entirely left up to the State to be the defender and protector of a language. It must be the people to whom that language belongs who are the true champions and defenders of the language. I think that is dealt with very appropriately in the bill and I would really like to congratulate and acknowledge the Minister for Māori Development the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell—who I think is my fourth or fifth cousin—for his careful work his dedication and his labours. I thank him for the intensive work that has gone into getting this bill to the Committee stage in the House.This bill repeals the Māori Language Act 1987. It has got a number of provisions that have been discussed already in the Committee stage and I look forward to taking perhaps a further call after there has been some more debate.