Turia Tariana: New Zealand Sign Language Bill — Second Reading 
Turia Tariana: New Zealand Sign Language Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:629;Page:1465] 
TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Today we bear witness to the great event of New Zealand Sign Language being wrapped around our Deaf community providing the warmth and protection of one’s language as a primary means of being in the world. It has often been said that the limits of our language are the limits of our world and today that world becomes progressively larger for some 28000 people who are already familiar with New Zealand Sign Language. It also becomes larger for their families for their communities and indeed for us all. It is a most important day—a day that inevitably draws me back to August 1987 and to the passing of the Maori Language Act that declared Maori an official language of New Zealand. 
Today in conferring that same official status to New Zealand Sign Language we acknowledge the political will the determined commitment of the Deaf community and the recognition of all the specialist support that has made this possible. I particularly commend the Minister for having the insight and fortitude to carry this through—tena koe Ruth. From that day in 1987 on the Maori Language Act has made it possible to recognise te reo Maori in law and allows it to be used in the courts. From the basis of that Act te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori is charged with promoting Maori language as a living language and as an ordinary means of communication. It is from the normalising of Maori language as an ordinary language and a living language that our world has changed and there have now been some 136000 speakers of te reo. 
Indeed I would hasten to suggest that even in this House every single member will have been influenced by the expansion of the use of te reo Maori. We have heard maiden speeches delivered entirely or spoken for the most part in te reo; we have observed the way members have sought to address pronunciation issues and we have heard familiar greetings—tena koe ka kite he patai taku—becoming more commonplace and the Standing Orders Committee will shortly be considering the important initiative in simultaneous translation to initiate facilities for immediate comprehension of te reo. Our world is expanding daily and who knows one day New Zealand Sign Language may be normalised in almost every public setting. It is a long way from the days when Naida Glavish was threatened with dismissal for saying “Kia ora” or our mothers and fathers were strapped for speaking their native tongue. 
For this significant population within Aotearoa the same but different experiences of marginalisation of isolation and of prejudice will also have shaped their memories of expressing themselves in their language. We have heard the stories of deaf children’s hands being strapped behind their backs to stop them from signing. The existence of sign language for years was ignored by officialdom. This new bill confronts all of those days gone by through establishing New Zealand Sign Language with the official recognition of a national language and with the purpose of giving it proper status and giving the Deaf access to interpreters for legal proceedings. 
The Maori Party celebrates this historic breakthrough and will support this bill through its passage in the House. We are pleased for those for whom it serves but it does not go far enough. For we want today to give recognition to a very significant population within the minority Deaf culture. Hearing loss is an important issue that impacts in a major way on our mokopuna tamariki and whanau. Research would suggest that Maori who are deaf make up 30 percent of the Deaf community. For our tamariki and mokopuna the results are particularly stark. In 2001 Maori children under 19 comprised a record 48 percent of the deafness notifications despite being only 19 percent of the population—that is almost half of all notifications of deafness in this nation were for Maori children. If we want to think of closing the gaps this might be a good place to start for in the age groups of 15 to 24 years hearing disability afflicts young Maori at a rate that is 3.5 times more than non-Maori. 
So how do these high numbers of Maori Deaf fare in a world that is frequently dismissive or unprepared to face the challenge inherent in taking up other means of communicating isolated from the very essence of who they are? The world of Maori Deaf is constrained by linguistic and cultural boundaries that could be broken down through understanding of sign language and te reo Maori. One of the most profound experiences in my life was when a young man came here to Parliament into my office and having stood up to mihi to me he sang his waiata using sign and not a sound was heard. I was deeply moved as it made me understand how isolated the Maori Deaf can be from the Maori world. I appreciated that the support he had alongside of him was vital to help us to understand and communicate. 
The significance of this bill today is that for Maori Deaf official recognition increases the likelihood of being able to use New Zealand Sign Language at hui marae and tangi and increases their access to te reo tikanga and whakapapa. Inevitably of course the crunch issue lies in resourcing constraints and we have heard that from other speakers. As I noted earlier Maori are over-represented in the Deaf community yet there is a shortage of Maori teachers signers court interpreters and community aid. 
A particular concern that the Maori Party would like to see addressed and further advanced in legislation is the complete inability of the bill to address the issue of trilingual interpreters and to recognise trilingual interpretation—Maori sign and English. The number of trilingual signers is very few and far between. The Auckland University of Technology trilingual interpreting course was cut as part of the Government’s so-called race-based funding cuts of 2004. It was yet another example of the ethnic targeting no-go zone promoted by the Government. The tragedy of this is that it denies Maori Deaf access into Maori hui where te reo is used. Maori Deaf have every right to understand the true meaning of the processes and korero that occur on the marae. Sign language interpreting helps bridge those communication gaps. 
This bill must make provision for the urgent need to recruit train and retain Maori student interpreters. This is an idea that was first raised at the Taumata Matauranga hosted by Ngati Tuwharetoa paramount chief Tumu te Heuheu in 2001. The hui brought forward the idea of offering scholarships to train sign language interpreters fluent in te reo Maori. Such scholarships are practical solutions that respond to the dreams and aspirations of our whanau for their children’s access to kohanga reo and kura kaupapa through the support of New Zealand Sign Language interpreters fluent in te reo. We know that there are some great things happening for Maori Deaf. The initiatives at Ruamoku Marae and at the Auckland University of Technology in supporting student sign language interpreters are exciting and we also know of the hard work of groups such as Te Roopu Waiora that are focused on the needs of Maori Deaf. 
The Maori Party is proud to promote wider recognition of te reo as the first and official language of this country. We welcome the inclusion of New Zealand Sign Language as another official language and we do so particularly under the opportunities for bi-literacy and even tri-literacy afforded to the nation by virtue of the Treaty of Waitangi. 
Our tupuna have often gifted us with whakatauki to convey a message about the world in which we inhabit. They are ways of conveying the feelings values emotions and visions that serve to help mould our character and discover a universal truth. These language pictures are best expressed in te reo. But for the significance of today I hope my concluding words will benefit from trilingual interpretation. 
Anei tatou na ko te pa ano tatou na he ra ki tua. 
Here we are in the night comforted by the day soon to follow. There is light ahead. No reira tena koutou katoa.