Sharples Pita: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Sharples Pita: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:643;Page:12854] 
10.  
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: Kua panuitia e ia te korero a te Minita mo Nga Take Maori ara “Koi nei te wa tuatahi kia whakanuia e te marautanga te mana o Te Reo Maori hai reo motuhake i raro i te ture” a he aha i hipa ai te rua tekau tau mai i te whakamanatanga o te Ture Reo Maori o te tau tahi mano iwa rau waru te kau ma whitu katahi ano te Tahuhu o te Matauranga ka mohio he mana ano to Te Reo Maori i raro i te ture? 
[ 
Has he read the Minister of Maori Affairs’ statement that “For the first time the curriculum also respects the status of te reo Maori as an official language” and why has it taken 20 years since the Maori Language Act 1987 for education to recognise the status of te reo Maori as an official language? 
] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Education) 
: 
 This is the first time that this Labour-led Government has completed a comprehensive review of the New Zealand curriculum. When the National Government published previous versions of the New Zealand curriculum in the 1990s it failed to acknowledge the official status of te reo Maori. In line with this Government’s strong commitment to te reo Maori we have taken this opportunity to recognise te reo as an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: Is he aware that in 1993 the  
New Zealand Curriculum Framework 
 which I hold in my hand recognised the Maori Language Act 1987 specifying on page 10 that te reo Maori was an official language; if so how does he explain the statement of the Minister of Maori Affairs yesterday that te reo Maori has now been added as an official language when its status had already been confirmed some 14 years ago? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: What the Associate Minister of Education and Minister of Maori Affairs said in his statement was that it was the first time its status was contained within the New Zealand curriculum. This is the first time that the New Zealand curriculum—the overall framework by which education will be practised in our schools—contains reference to te reo Maori as an official language of New Zealand. This is a first and important step in recognising the partnership between peoples in New Zealand. 
Moana Mackey 
: What is the Labour-led Government doing to support the learning of te reo Maori in New Zealand schools? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: We are doing a lot. The Labour-led Government has a specific Maori Language Strategy which includes establishing and investing in Maori television and radio supporting Maori medium education in the kohanga reo and kura kaupapa movement and funding scholarships for teachers of te reo. This work has been driven with enormous enthusiasm and success by the Associate Minister of Education the Hon Parekura Horomia. We are achieving wonderful results: nearly 22000 successful National Certificate of Educational Achievement and Scholarship results were earned by students of te reo last year and from 1999 to 2006 there was an increase of more than 12 percent in the number of students achieving te reo Maori at level 1. These are very pleasing results. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: Why has it taken 10 years for the Ministry of Education to do what the Government Maori Language Strategy was introduced in 1997 to do: to encourage Government departments to implement the Maori Language Act 1987? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I applaud personally the member’s interest in and passion about te reo Maori. As I have just outlined in an answer to a previous member our Government has done a lot to encourage and support the teaching of te reo Maori in New Zealand. Yesterday we launched our first new New Zealand curriculum for well over 30 years. It contains reference to te reo Maori as an official language of New Zealand. I am really proud that that document contains that statement. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: If 2007 is the first time that the curriculum has recognised the status of te reo Maori as an official language what recognition did the Ministry of Education give to either the 1987 Maori Language Act or the 1989 Education Act which provided formal recognition of kura kaupapa Maori and wananga our first kura having been established some 22 years ago in 1985? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I feel we are splitting hairs here. The education system gave a lot of focus to te reo in earlier periods and so it should have but for the first time we have explicitly stated in the document that is the framework for all New Zealand schools that te reo Maori is an official language of New Zealand. That is something to be applauded and that is why my colleague Parekura Horomia made that statement and so he should have. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: I seek leave to table page 10 of the  
New Zealand Curriculum Framework 
 1993. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.