Reti Shane: Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill — Recommittal In CommitteeCWH Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeReti Shane: Te Pire mō Te Reo Māori / Māori Language Bill — Recommittal In CommitteeCWH Third Reading[Sitting date: 14 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10633. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. E rau rangatira mā e ngā iwi katoa tēnā koutou. Ko Ngāti Maniapoto rāua ko Ngāti Wai ōku iwi nō reira kia ora mai tātou. E hikohiko ana ki te kōrero e pā ana tēnei mahi hirahira i tēnei rā. Mō ngā iwi katoa Te Reo he taonga. Mō ngā iwi katoa tēnei pire e kaha Te Reo mō te wā e heke mai nei. Nā te mea i tēnei tāima e tū ana ahau i roto i te aroaro o whaikōrero whakamiharo ka mahi te kupu nā ā ka huri ki te reo tuarua.[Greetings Mr Assistant Speaker. To esteemed ones and to all tribes I acknowledge you collectively. My tribes are Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Wai so greetings. I am enthused to make a contribution today on this significant matter. The Māori language is for all tribes and it is a treasure. This bill is for everyone and the language must be resolute in future times. At this moment I am standing before an audience of eloquent speech-makers in Māori who use it well; because of that I turn to the second language.]In the presence of such beautiful Māori language speakers my humble offering pales. None the less I want to commend this bill for how it embodies and preserves Te Reo in New Zealand culture. Clause 6A(2)(e) in Part 1 of this bill talks about how “knowledge and use of the Māori language enhance the lives of iwi and Māori:”. I believe this to be true and I believe it to be true for all New Zealanders.Educational organisations recognise that being bilingual conveys definite benefits to students. They are more creative in their thinking they have greater awareness of the syntax of language they are more sensitive to the nuances of communication and they are better able to detect hidden patterns and figures. In the learning context I did enjoy Minister Parata’s description in the Committee of the whole House of learning Te Reo and coming home and being corrected by her whānau.There are many paths to learning Te Reo. My path was different. I had been in and out of night courses over the years and could not quite get to the next level. For me the tipping point actually came in my early 40s. For my path I had been running a free marae-based medical clinic west of Whangarei for 10 years. We reached our 10-year celebration and the local people said: “Shane you do everything for us. What can we do for you?”. I said: “I really need to get to the next level of Te Reo. That’s my goal. I’ve been in and out of it but I haven’t got there. Can you help me with that?”. What they said to me was: “Yeah sure Shane. Here’s what we’ll do. First of all everyone who comes to the clinic from now on who speaks Māori ka kōrero i Te Reo anake—they will only speak Māori to you.” The second thing they said was: “Kura kaupapa is not an environment for adults to learn Māori but the principal of the local kura kaupapa is of this area. If we speak with him and he agrees here’s the deal: one morning every week you will go to the kura kaupapa and you will take a 20-minute health message and teach it to the children there.”So around about 2005 for the first term every Thursday morning if you looked at my appointment book you would see it struck out with “home visit”. No I was not on a home visit; I was sitting on a children’s chair at the kura kaupapa immersed in Māori learning Māori with the children. Children were forgiving—they forgave me my poor pronunciation. But what that immersion did do was tip me into that level of confidence and to the next level of speaking. For that I am very grateful. I am grateful to the community and I am certainly grateful for the people at the kura kaupapa.This was my path to Te Reo but many paths can arrive at the same destination. What is important is that we start the path and keep moving. In that spirit then and in the short call that I have here I would like to commend the Minister for Māori Development I would like to commend officials and I would like to commend the Māori Affairs Committee led very ably by my friend and colleague Nuk Korako. In conclusion I commend this bill to the House.