Davis Kelvin: Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavis Kelvin: Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19534. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KELVIN DAVIS (Labour):Tēnā koe e Te Kaihautū. Ahakoa tēnei pire he pire Reo Māori te nuinga o aku kōrero ki roto i Te Reo Pākehā kia mōhiotia whānuitia te motu i ōku moemoeā e pā ana ki tēnei o ngā reo. Ēngari tuatahi tautokongia ana ahau i ngā kōrero i rongo ahau i roto i te Whare i te wā nei. Ki ngā kupu a Tā Hēmi Hēnare ko Te Reo te mauri o te mana Māori e tika ana kia kōrerohia kia tautokongia wēnei kupu i te mea me whakatikatikangia tēnei āhuatanga. Tēnei pire He oranga mō Te Reo Māori tēnei pire.[Thank you Mr Speaker. Although this bill is a Māori language one most of my sentiments will be in English so that the breadth of the nation understands my aspirations for this of the languages. But firstly I support the sentiments that I have heard to this point in time in the House. According to the words of Sir James Hēnare the language is a vital essence of Māori status. Therefore it is right that it is spoken and that these utterances be supported because this trait must be rectified. This bill is a lifesaver for the Māori language.]I just wanted to say that what I have just heard from Te Ururoa Flavell is correct—that Sir James Hēnare said that Te Reo Māori the Māori language is the life-force of being Māori. It is important. I am glad he said that because we need to make sure that the Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill is correct that it is right and that it does what it is meant to do.I also say that although this is a bill about Te Reo Māori I am going to say most of my speech in English because I want people to hear about my dreams for Te Reo Māori. I have a dream that one day I will able to walk into any bank service station Pak ’N Save post office chemist or store and conduct my transactions in Te Reo Māori if I should choose. I dream that Te Reo Māori and English become interchangeable languages so that they can be used confidently by Māori and non-Māori alike in the home in the street in shops in service stations and in supermarkets.Māori were guaranteed all the rights and privileges of British subjects in the Treaty of Waitangi. Article 3 states “… Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her royal protection and imparts to them all the Right and Privileges of British Subjects.” That should include the right to read write and conduct business and transactions in Te Reo Māori just as non-Māori can read write and conduct their business and transactions in the English language if they choose.I am one of those lucky New Zealanders who could and would conduct my business and transactions in either language if I had the opportunity but that opportunity does not exist because despite Te Reo Māori being an official language of New Zealand its true status or lack thereof means that the only way I can conduct my business or transactions in Te Reo Māori is if I am fortunate enough to stumble across a Māori speaker at any given supermarket service station bank post office or chemist. Te Reo Māori may have official status in the law books but it has second-class status in reality out there in the community.I would like to think that the Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill will change all that. I would like to think that the Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill will increase the numbers of New Zealanders who can speak Te Reo Māori so that even if the majority of Māori cannot speak Te Reo at the very least we have a critical mass of Te Reo Māori speakers. My fear is that the bill will create just another bureaucracy that makes plans makes decisions and distributes contracts but that no measurable increase in the number of Te Reo speakers will occur.Unless our people can apply Te Reo Māori in their daily business and lives Te Reo will be learnt in isolation and be seen to be largely irrelevant in everyday life. Te Reo Māori is seen as a ceremonial language used mainly on marae and in mostly exclusively Māori contexts when language actually needs to be seen heard and woven throughout our lives our communities and our places of work and recreation as we go about our daily business. Daily use of Te Reo in all contexts will give the language relevance and encourage more people to speak it. We have to stop treating Te Reo Māori as a tapu thing and allow it to become common like it once was. It will always be our language and it will always be a taonga to us but we need to bring others on board and one way is to stop being so precious about our language.The mere survival of Te Reo Māori is too low a target; we must strive for Te Reo Māori to flourish. We need all New Zealanders to buy into the belief that Te Reo Māori is a language for all New Zealanders. There will be those who say that Te Reo Māori is a waste of time but let us forget about those critics. If more New Zealanders spoke Te Reo Māori the world would not end the sun would still rise in the east the sky would not fall in but maybe—just maybe—we would move a little bit closer to becoming a more culturally cohesive nation.Māori can no longer rely solely on our traditional contexts for language transfer. We need to create non-traditional contexts that to many will feel pretty forced and unnatural but without them the language will struggle. Amongst other things we need to set up Māori-speaking happy hours Māori writing clubs Māori-immersion Trivial Pursuit evenings and Māori-immersion sports teams. We need to support businesses that have Māori-speaking staff write Māori letters to the editor in newspapers and have Māori writing for newspapers. We need to make a plea to Television New Zealand that when it hires the next presenters for the Breakfast show it hires at least one Māori who can engage with tangata whenua in our language even just occasionally.I have concerns about Te Mātāwai. If Te Mātāwai cannot make Te Reo a working language a transactional language and a language that New Zealanders of all backgrounds have opportunities to speak daily then Te Mātāwai will be a waste of time—a bureaucratic organisation that fails to affect what is going on at a flax-roots level. The Minister of Māori Affairs said about Te Mātāwai that “The new strategy takes the spirit of Te Hui Whakatauira and frames it in a model that is proposed as Te Matawai: iwi/hapū and te reo Māori practitioners working in partnership to govern these entities. It also empowers these entities with stronger policy and evaluation roles and improves the legal status of te reo Maori.”The claim that Te Mātāwai puts control of Te Reo back into the hands of iwi is laudable but possibly inaccurate and I doubt Te Mātāwai will achieve the romantic notion that the Minister describes. I attended a hui in Ngāpuhi at Te Kotahitanga Marae. There was not overwhelming support for Te Mātāwai; in fact there were a number of concerns about it. I question how Te Mātāwai and the chosen representatives will be able to represent such a diverse range of Te Reo Māori interests. For starters there is one representative for all iwi from Tāmaki—that is Auckland through to Cape Reinga. Those iwi are listed in schedule 3 of the bill and they number 16 in total. One of those iwi is Ngāpuhi which is our largest iwi. It has many fiercely independent hapū some as large as other iwi listed. They proclaim that the Treaty of Waitangi was not signed by iwi but by hapū and those hapū want to speak for themselves.Before my return to Parliament I worked for the Ministry of Education with most of the iwi listed in schedule 3 on their education and Te Reo plans. Those iwi Reo plans were diverse and I have difficulty in seeing how the Te Reo interests of all of those iwi will be recognised and uplifted. I fail to see how the individual hapū will have their voices heard. Take the Bay of Islands hapū of Te Kapotai in Waikare which is in the valley over from where I come from. They have their own kōhanga reo a special-character Māori immersion school and their own plans for Te Reo Māori. My question is how a representative possibly based in the middle of Auckland will be able to represent the Te Reo interests of my whanaunga in Waikare miles from the nearest town or represent the interests of hapū in Whangaruru or Mitimiti or Waimamaku or Te Hāpua or Poutō or of any of the other many hapū in villages around Te Tai Tokerau for that matter let alone the interests of the 16 iwi listed in schedule 3 so that Te Reo Māori can be read heard and spoken in the home and on the marae and just as important given relevance in daily life by making it a working transactional and business language.I am concerned that establishing Te Mātāwai is a way for the Crown to distance itself from its obligations to protect Te Reo Māori. I would be very concerned if a Minister of Māori Affairs in the future said: “Look Māori iwi—you guys look after that. Use the Treaty settlement money to lift your Te Reo Māori plans and goals.” Māori need an assurance that in the future the Crown will continue its obligations to revive Te Reo Māori and will not for example as I have said tell iwi to prop up Te Mātāwai with Treaty settlement money.The Labour Party supports this bill in its first reading. We really think it is important that hapū iwi and community members all have an opportunity to have their say around this bill. We have concerns. This is not to say that those concerns cannot be ironed out. Before I finish: E hiahia ana ki te tū i tēnei wā ki te mihi atu ki a koe e te Minita e Pita. Tēnei taku wā mutunga kia mihi atu ki a koe ki a koutou ko Tariana ko Tau hoki. Nā koutou i whakapau ō koutou kaha ki te hāpai i a tātou te iwi Māori. Nā reira ka nui ngā mihi atu. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora.[At this point I want to make a stand in paying a tribute to you Minister Pita. This is my final opportunity to acknowledge you Tariana and Tau as well collectively. You collectively have expended your efforts to lift up our Māori people. And so I applaud you all immensely. Salutations well done and thank you.]