Korako Nuk: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: General Debate[Sitting date: 29 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5443. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National):E te Mana Whakawā e mihi atu ki a koe ā huri noa i te Whare tēnā koutou katoa. Ka mea nui ki te mihi atu ki tō tātou Matua Nui i te raki ā ko Ia te tīmataka me te whakaotika o tātou katoa. Nō reira ka mihi au ki Te Kaihōmai mō ka mea katoa. Ā ka maumahara mātou ki a rātou ngā aituā kua wehe ki te taha wairua. Nō reira e koutou rā o ia marae o ia iwi o ia waka haere i ruka ki Te Ara Whānui a Tāne ā ko tua o te ārai haere haere haere.Ko tēnei Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori otirā o te 40 mai i tōna tīmataka. I taku tamarikatanga ēhara tōku whānau i te whānau kōrero i Te Reo i tua atu i tō mātou poua. Nā tō mātou matua i ako kia tū kaha mātou hei Māori heoi tōna wawata kia puta mātou i te ao o te Pākehā. Hei ko tāna kia taunga ki te reo Ingarihi kia puta ai mātou ki te ao o te Pākehā heoi ko Te Reo Māori te utu. I aua tau i te tāmia tonutia Te Reo Māori i te nuinga o ngā kura. Ko taku waimarie i tonoa ahau ki Te Kāreti Tama Tāne o Tīpene i reira ka tīmata taku ako i Te Reo.Ka mutu te kura ka hoki au ki Waitaha ka mutu taku ako taku kōrero i Te Reo. Ka haere ahau ki tāwāhi ki te mahi ka ako i te reo Wīwī o France me te reo Itāriana o Italia. Nā wai ā ka ngaro tōku ake Reo. Kia hoki rawa mai ahau ki Aotearoa ka uru ki ngā kaupapa o Te Rūnaka o Kai Tahu ka ako anō i tōku Reo Māori kia noho ai au ki runga i te pae kōrero o ōku marae o Rāpaku o Te Raki Whakaputa.Hari koa taku ngākau ki te whakarongo ki ngā mema o te Whare nei e kaha ana ki te kōrero i Te Reo i te wiki nei me tā rātou whai kia tika te whakahua i ngā kupu me ngā ingoa Māori. Ka rawe hoki ka kite me te rongo i Te Reo Māori e whakamahia ana i te ao pāpāho. I hoki mai ahau ki Aotearoa i te tau 1998 ā mai i taua tau kua hiki te whakahua me te kōrero i Te Reo Māori puta noa i Aotearoa. Kei te kite atu au i ngā tāngata ēhara i te Māori e aro nui ana i Te Reo Māori hei reo ōkawa i nārā ko te reo taketake o tēnei whenua kāore i kō atu kāore i kō mai. Kei te nui haere ngā kupu Māori kua whai wāhi ki te kete kupu o te hunga kōrero Pākehā.Hāunga tērā kei reira anō ngā wāhi raru kei te heke haere te hunga ka taea te whitiwhiti kōrero i roto i Te Reo. He wāhi nui tō Te Reo i roto i wā tātou tikaka ki te kore Te Reo ka kore te ahurea Māori. Āe he nui ngā Māori ka whakanui i tō tātou ahurea Māori ēngari kāore i te kōrero Māori pēnei i tōku whānau. Whakanuia tō tātou Reo. Hāpaitia Te Reo ki wā tātou tamariki rangatahi. Huakina ngā tatau kia ako ai rātou. Ka nui ngā mihi ki a Hōnore Hēkia Parata mō tana whakautu i aku pātai i roto i te Whare nei i a ia ka whakamārama he aha ngā mahi whakatairaka i Te Reo Māori i ngā kura rīroa me te hōrapa i ngā kura Reo Māori. E whakapono ana au mā te whanaketaka o ngā Kura Reo Māori me te nui haere o ngā kura riroa kei te ako i Te Reo ka taea Te Reo te whakaora me te tūmanako ā ngā rā kei te tū ka tini mano te hunga kōrero i Te Reo ka ako i Te Reo ki ā rātou tamariki. “Kikoraki te tai kahuraki te taoka!”[Greetings to you Mr Speaker and to everyone throughout the House greetings to you all. Just as importantly I acknowledge our Great Father in heaven. He is the beginning and the ending for all of us and so I thank the Provider for everything. We remember them indeed the dead who have departed to the spiritual domain. And so to you the dead of each marae iwi and waka go forth on the Great Path of Tāne to beyond the veil depart journey on farewell.This is Māori Language Week but at the same time its 40thsince it began. My family was not one that spoke Māori apart from our grandmother during my childhood. Our father taught us to stand proud and be staunch Māori however he wanted us to succeed in the non-Māori world. He wanted us to be proficient in the English language to ensure that occurred but the Māori language was penalised. The majority of schools in those years continued to suppress the Māori language. I was fortunate to be sent to St Stephen’s College and it was there that I began to learn the language.When I finished at the college I went back to Canterbury and stopped learning the language and speaking it. I went overseas to work and began to learn the French language of France and the Italian language of Italy and soon I lost my very own language. When I eventually came back to New Zealand I got involved in Te Rūnaka o Kai Tahu projects and began to re-learn my own Kai Tahu language so that I could sit on the speech-making benches of my Rāpaku and Te Raki Whakaputa marae.I have been absolutely overjoyed within as I listened to members of this House attempting to say something in Māori during this week and to pronounce Māori words and names properly. It is truly wonderful as well to see and hear the Māori language being used and promoted by the media. I returned to New Zealand in 1998 and since that year the pronunciation and use of the Māori language has gone up throughout New Zealand. Increasingly I see non-Māori New Zealanders recognising the importance of the Māori language as an official language and indeed as the indigenous language of this nation. And that cannot be denied. More and more Māori words are now finding a place in a non-Māori’s vocabulary list.That aside there are problem areas. The number of Māori who can hold a conversation in Māori is steadily declining. Our Māori language has a vital place in our customs and without it Māori culture will cease to exist. Sure there are plenty of Māori who celebrate our Māori culture but like my family they are not talking Māori. Celebrate our language. Foster it amongst our young people. Open up the doors so that they learn it. I have much admiration for the Hon Hēkia Parata in regard to her responses to my question in this House where she explained what is being done to promote the Māori language in mainstream schools and how Māori-medium schoolsare being extended. I believe that it is possible to recover the Māori language through the development of Māori-medium schools and by increasing the number of mainstream schools teaching the Māori language with the hope that in the future myriads more of those who speak Māori teach it to their children. “A blue tide a treasure!”]The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.