Flavell Te Ururoa: New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — In Committee 
Flavell Te Ururoa: New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15558] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Madam Chairperson. The pronunciation of that call was a very good effort indeed; thank you very much. Today as members know we put out a statement in the House and I thank members this evening who listened to that discussion today. If there has been one benefit already then it is that members have taken stock of their pronunciation in general and they have taken a little bit more care. That is very much appreciated. So ka nui te mihi ki a koutou katoa. 
[ 
Much appreciation to you all. 
] 
There was a lot of discussion around the issues the Hon Trevor Mallard raised. I thought that I would take a brief call—anxious as members are to pass this legislation I suppose—just to set the record straight about a couple of things that some members may not know. They are raised in the light of clauses 1 and 2 and the issues that Trevor Mallard raised earlier. The first thing is the matter raised by the Minister in the chair the Hon David Parker which is that Maori is an official language of New Zealand—of Aotearoa—and that New Zealand Sign Language is the other official language. I am told that even in terms of the statement we made today English exists as a lingua franca. What is a lingua franca? It is a language used as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different. 
Hon Member 
: Is that so? 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: Yes; I learnt that today which is pretty good. 
Rodney Hide 
: Your Latin ear’s good. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: Ha ha—I thank Mr Hide. The second thing which is another important notion that I think is good to put in front of the Committee is that New Zealand’s citizens can request to be addressed in Maori in a court of law and the court is expected to provide a translator. But oddly enough the proceedings are recorded only in English. So that might give us a lead as to where we are heading in terms of response to Mr Mallard’s comments. 
The third thing I want to put in front of the Committee that might be of interest is that most public services are available only in English and the fourth thing is that some Government departments will provide translations or Maori-speaking public servants on request. Key Government documents such as the census and other documents of concern to Maori are usually translated into Maori. 
So what is the point of some of those key points of information? I suppose it is to come back to the matter that Mr Mallard raised. He talked about the fact that the title of this particular bill starts off in English “New Zealand Geographic Board” and then in brackets it has “Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa”. Clause 1 states: “and may also be cited as—(a) the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 2007; or (b) Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa Act 2007.” I cannot remember the term that Mr Mallard used in terms of how it is set out— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Style. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: Style! So I suppose we might throw back that challenge and say that if Maori is the official language of Aotearoa and not English as Mr Mallard acknowledged a little bit earlier—and there is also New Zealand Sign Language—then perhaps the easy answer is to put the Maori title there as the official language and follow it up with the English title. In terms of let us say the official language notion the proposition of putting the Maori version in front is I hope a response to Mr Mallard’s call around this particular issue. I suppose that in raising the issue we are put in a position to be able to open up that debate to a number of bills—in fact if not to all bills in this Parliament—on the basis that Maori and New Zealand Sign Language are the official languages of this country. Therefore one might suggest that they go at the front of the title and not at the back and certainly not in brackets. That might be able to help the Minister in terms of future developments or in fact help the whole Government or any Government about how they might set out bills from here on in. It would certainly create an awesome precedent and in particular line up with some of the discussion that was placed in front of the Committee today. Kia ora.