Welcome to part two of our special broadcast, a partnership between Native Affairs and Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Massey University. It’s election year, so we get stuck into political parties over the future of the Māori language, Te Reo Anamata.
Representatives from the Greens, the Māori Party, National, Labour and New Zealand First were asked with an estimated $600 million dollars spent annually on te reo Māori, most of it through education, is it a waste of taxpayer dollars?
National Party List MP Jo Hayes says it’s not a waste of money. “The policies and processes that we’ve done within Government in itself with the Te Reo Māori Bill, through the Māori Select Committee and through our Minister here (Hon Te Ururoa Flavell) we have been able to get all our Māori bills translated into te reo Māori. It’s not a waste of money.”
Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe says, “We’ve got to do better. What we do need is to have policies that enable te reo Māori to be learnt by the wider community.”