Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Associate Minister for Māori Development): Tuatahi e tika ana ki te tautoko te kaupapa Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori; e tika ana ki te whakanui i tō tātou reo i ngā wā katoa. Nō reira ki a koutou tēnā koutou tēnā anō tātou katoa. E tika ana kia huri ki te reo Pākehā i tēnei wā ki te whakamāmā aku whakaaro.[Firstly it is appropriate to support the initiative Māori Language Week; it is right to celebrate our language at all times. Therefore to you all greetings greetings to us all. It is appropriate to turn to the English language at this time to ease my thoughts.]I wanted to speak Pākehā for the rest of my speech today to explain the Māori policy the Reo Māori policy which seems to be confused in the media and particularly from the other side.Now we're very clear that we have a universal strategy. Labour's very clear: it's a universal strategy going forward that we want put in all the schools by 2025. Not compulsion—I know we're getting all twisted and broken over the compulsion carry-on. Take it from me I'm someone who advocated down that track for 10 years and got into the most stupid idiotic debates on radio talkback about what's compulsory and what's not compulsory. Then you say Well you pay your taxes compulsorily. You stop at the red lights. You learn maths compulsorily." I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it going on for 10 years about whether it should be compulsory or not compulsory. If we all want a result in the end we should all support the Labour Party policy which is about getting that Reo our Reo into all the schools—available in primary and intermediate; all our Māori Pākehā Pacific Islanders kids talking—by the year 2025. It's a fantastic policy it's a terrific policy and the Hon Nanaia Mahuta expressed it tremendously well on television last week and supported what our Prime Minister's been saying all the time.In this week of the Reo Māori I think it's important to remember the fight for the Reo. The fight for the language was fought by mainly non - Māori language speakers. I worry sometimes as we're progressing that we forget the fight of Ngā Tamatoa of my uncle Syd Jackson of my auntie Hana Jackson and of Marama Davidson's father Rāwiri Paratene. They were all young radicals who fought against society and at times against our own—at times against our own: all the Māori language speakers who thought they were too young and silly and stupid. But they put the challenges down to Māori they put the challenges down to Government and we are here where we are today.I say to a lot of our young guns never forget where the fight came from because whilst we're fighting for the language there are a lot of Māori who don't speak Māori. There are a lot of Māori who try much like my uncle—hopeless you know; couldn't speak a word of Māori—they got worse as they got older. They were absolute fighters for the kaupapa—absolute fighters for the kaupapa—and no less than anybody who is an expert in the language.I say to our matataua I say to our young experts don't you forget that. Don't you judge people on the quality of their language. You challenge them on the quality of their advocacy. We've had a lot of our people—they're fabulous at the back of the marae they're great cooks and they're great at different areas. They're no less than a lot of our young ones coming through. They're great advocates and role models for our people. We have groups of Māori who are mataku ki te kōrero Māori. They're actually speakers of Māori but they are so nervous of making mistakes that they refuse to talk Māori. They don't go on Te Karere; they don't go on Te Kāea. I say to our experts today "Encourage those groups of people." When I went to learn the language when I started getting some fluency in the language in 1989 at Ngati Raukawa they said to us "Why do you come to learn this language?" We waited and we thought "Well we're not sure." And the response from our kaumātua was "It's because of the fear of humiliation isn't it? It's because of the fear of humiliation that you go on to the marae and you can't talk or they come to you and you can't karanga." That was the reality back in 1989 but we're in 2018 now and our people should not be feeling humiliated because they can't speak the language. They should feel proud that they're Māori first and foremost and if they're not speaking the language and supporting the language that should be main point. Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou tēnā anō tātou katoa.[I acknowledge you all greetings to us all.]"