Last week was Maori language week. Speaking te reo appears to have become New Zealand’s new cause célèbre.
While on the surface it may appear to be a worthy objective, there is a radical political agenda behind this seemingly innocent cause.
The former co-leader of the Maori Party Marama Fox revealed the plan in a Listener interview just before the last election. She explained that the path to Maori control of New Zealand hinged on te reo becoming compulsory in schools.
She said it was all ‘plotted out’: “It would take 36 years – 12 election cycles – for a Maori sovereignty party to share government… it’s a radical vision… but if we believe in it, then we need to march towards it.”
According to Marama Fox, their vision of shared Government involves replacing our Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy with a “unique form of governance that would favour Maori customs, principles and values”.
She explained that the thinking of New Zealanders needs to be shifted to achieve this goal, and a “critical step” is to make “the Maori language a core subject in the country’s schools… People look at things differently once they’ve acquired te reo. It’s a world view. The Maori world view is different and that’s expressed in the language. The language unlocks our history and our thinking”.
In other words, the compulsory teaching of the Maori language in New Zealand schools is critical, if the Maori sovereignty movement is to achieve its ultimate objective of bicultural rule and tribal control of decision-making in New Zealand.
Earlier this month, Victoria University’s Dr Awanui Te Huia shed more light on the role that the Maori language plays in the development of biculturalism: “When Pakeha students make progress toward addressing inequitable treatment of Maori, it can create a sense of partnership and bicultural allegiance. The more proficient a Pakeha student becomes in te reo, the more investment the student tends to make towards their cultural identity development.
“This is where the acknowledgement of the colonial history comes into play. Students who are able to acknowledge they are from a group who has a history that is beneficial to them as descendants of colonisers are able to connect on a level that is more honest. They are able to own the identity and use it to position themselves in a way that acknowledges that history, but is also committed to an equitable society based on Treaty principles of partnership and equality.”
In other words, the teaching of the Maori language provides the opportunity for all-embracing cultural indoctrination. In light of that, it would be more honest, if instead of being called ‘Maori Language Week’, we renamed it ‘Maori Cultural Indoctrination Week’.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, freelance journalist Michael Coote has examined ‘Maihi Karauna’, the Crown’s strategy for Maori language revitalisation, and has provided a comprehensive analysis. He believes its underlying function “is to entrench Maori institutional racism across New Zealand society, using the Trojan horse of Maori language as the means”.
Michael explains: “If a Maihi Karauna-type project were being seriously promoted in another country, many New Zealanders would feel that it represented state coercion, bureaucratic dystopia, incipient fascism, racial supremacism, waste of public resources, and purblind folly.
“The wording of the Maihi Karauna intention is deliberately coy about the mechanism to be deployed, but the means is likely to involve making Maori language a compulsory subject in the primary and secondary school systems and likely also determinative of preferential entry into tertiary education. The youth of New Zealand is to be prostituted to the purposes of government-imposed, taxpayer-funded Maori hegemonism. This kind of strategy is truly worthy of a totalitarian state.
“Maori and non-Maori, attempting the radical Maorification of New Zealand society, are after Maori hegemony over the rest of the country – as close as they can achieve to the status quo prevailing before the Treaty of Waitangi. Nothing less can sate them. Maori language is the means they have found to reach this goal, not least because the Crown has irresponsibly let itself become hogtied into promoting and bankrolling it to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to date, with much more to come. Government intervention is essential to the Maorificationist enterprise, which is dependent on commandeering the state’s power and wealth to make Maori pre-eminence mandatory in New Zealand. Without government intervention, Maori language usage would settle into an equilibrium state of natural supply and demand, which is not fit for purpose in the Maorificationist context. Instead, Maihi Karauna is advocated as the government’s strategy to impose Maori monoculturalism necessarily underpinned by acceptance of Maori racial supremacism.”
Indeed, when questions are asked about why such substantial public resources are being poured into the Maori language, the most common response is that because it’s our ‘official’ language it cannot be allowed to die. This ‘official’ language argument is also used to justify calls for compulsion.
But that argument doesn’t stack up. Governments give languages ‘official’ status as a gesture of respect. It then allows the language to be used in a variety of ‘official’ situations, such as in Parliament, so those who are reliant on them are not disadvantaged.
The official status of a language, however, does not obligate others to learn or use it. That’s evident when considering that New Zealand’s second official language is sign language – and there are no calls for that to be made compulsory.
The Maori language is not the only front on which Maori supremacists are fighting their cause.
They tried a more direct approach in 2011 through the Government’s Constitutional Review. Driven by the Maori Party, their objective was to deliver a new written constitution for New Zealand, which enshrined the Treaty of Waitangi. While the public overwhelmingly rejected their plan, that hasn’t stopped advocates, like Sir Geoffrey Palmer and the Iwi Leaders Group from continuing to promote the idea.
It now appears that the Labour-led Government is also progressing the supremacy agenda with a vengeance – in spite of Winston Peters, who campaigned on his opposition to all race-based legislation, being a coalition partner.
According to a Cabinet paper released by the Minister of “Maori- Crown” Relations Kelvin Davis, a new Maori Agency, will be set up to oversee the Government’s policy development process. Their audacious plan involved moving the Maori-Crown relationship “beyond the negotiating table to true partnership in commercial, social and cultural opportunities to the benefit of Aotearoa.”
Clearly Labour intends perpetuating the Treaty ‘partnership’ lie to justify bringing racism into the heart of Government.
The concept of a Treaty ‘partnership’, emerged, of course, as a result of the 1987 Court of Appeal ‘Lands’ case – between the Maori Council and the Attorney General – when Judge Cook used the expression, the “treaty signified a partnership between races”. He qualified his view by explaining that “partnership” was used in the common law context of partners in commercial transactions acting towards each other in “good faith”.
While this interpretation was reinforced by the other Judges in the case, it was ignored by the Maori sovereignty movement, which seized on the word to misrepresent the finding and claim that the Court had ruled that Maori had a Treaty ‘partnership’ with the Crown.
Former Judge and Canterbury University Law Lecturer Anthony Willy has totally discredited any suggestion of a partnership in his paper Sovereignty and the Treaty of Waitangi: “On any careful reading of the Maori Council case the Court decided … merely that the Crown and Maori owe each other duties which are akin to those owed by partners to a commercial transaction. The true position is that the Crown is sovereign. In the result Maori and the Crown are not partners in any sense of the word. Indeed it is constitutionally impossible for the Crown to enter into a partnership with any of its subjects.”
However, just as the Maori Party’s plan for a new Treaty-based constitution for New Zealand, would have seen all new legislation assessed for Treaty benefits to Maori, so too, it appears, will Labour’s new Maori Agency. If the Agency is given veto rights over new legislation – to enable it to reject proposed laws that fail to provide sufficient benefits to Maori – it would take racism in New Zealand to a new level, by giving Maori interests ultimate power over government policy-making.
To have overarching race-based power of such deep constitutional significance being established under the cover of a seemingly innocuous Maori-Crown relationship portfolio, shows just how dangerous race-based activism has become.
While information about this newly announced Agency is sketchy, the media are reporting that it will not be authorised to undertake a new review of the constitution – which was one of the main demands put forward by iwi leaders – but that it will be invited to “finish Marine and Coastal Area applications”.
This is an astonishing development. Presumably the Labour Government wants it involved in the negotiation of the 380 claims lodged for Crown Engagement. Yet, since the Agency is expected to have very close associations with iwi groups, and it is iwi groups that have lodged the claims, surely, in the interests of natural justice and the rights of all New Zealanders to ensure the Government’s negotiation process for giving away our coastline is independent, this cannot be allowed to occur.
Unfortunately for New Zealand a small group of powerful tribal extremists and their supporters are having a significant influence on our country. Many elected politicians – including some we might have expected to oppose race-based division – are busy tripping over themselves to help progress the separatists’ agenda.
If the public doesn’t wake up and recognise what’s going on – and rein in the politicians – then it will not be very many years before we are a fully-fledged apartheid society.
Is this really the New Zealand we aspire to?
Marama Fox said we are “12 election cycles” away from that, but perhaps it’s much less, given the enthusiasm with which New Zealanders are jumping onto the te reo bandwagon – clearly oblivious to the political agenda that it represents.
Even the fact that the call for te reo to be made compulsory in schools is no longer seen as radical, shows that the softening up process is well advanced. Unless there’s a push back, it’s only a matter of time before the cultural transformation of New Zealand reaches a critical mass and the point of no return.
Meanwhile, to advance the Government’s official Maori language strategy of having one million New Zealanders who can speak at least basic te reo Maori by 2040, and 150,000 who can speak it as a primary language, the public service with its 348,000 employees is being targeted: “In order for the Crown to recognise the value of the Maori language, and to deliver quality services to Maori communities, it needs to ensure the public sector can ‘speak’ the language itself. By doing so, it will have both a direct and indirect impact on language revitalisation.”
In a recent article for Newsroom, a lifelong member of Te Reo Maori Society, John McCaffery, wrote that under the Maori language strategy that has been authorised by the government, the end goal of empowering Maori leadership in partnership with the Crown is achievable: “We must first ensure tamariki Maori become fluent in numbers great enough to raise the next generations in te reo. With the rapidly growing non-Maori support and numbers of speakers we can become the truly bilingual bicultural nation promised to Maori in signing the Treaty of Waitangi 148 years ago.”
If you have concerns about the Government’s Maori language revitalisation strategy, we would strongly urge you to say so. According to the website, an “analysis of the submissions will inform the final strategy which will go to Cabinet in November”. Clearly, in situations like this, all opinions matter. You can make a submission on the Te Puni Kokiri website HERE or by sending an email to maihi.karauna@tpk.govt.nz by 5pm 28 September 2018.
THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
Do you support the objective of the Government’s Maori language revitalisation strategy?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| IF the remaining part-Maori tribalists wish to speak their own doggerel – that’s fine with me – but NEVER EVER expect me to do so. If they want to waste their childrens school hours in this pointless exercise they will be missing-out on vital subjects which would assist them in being good citizens and earning a living. | Aunty Podes |
| I am ‘tangata whenua’ (naturalised) but I am not ‘taketake’ (indigenous) to this nation of New Zealand and I choose to speak and write in the English language, not te reo Maori. This does not mean that I don’t have a reasonable understanding of NZ Maori culture and te reo Maori phrases. Probably better than most New Zealanders! Nor does it preclude me from embracing the multi-cultural diversity that this fledgling nation has to offer. Family language is taught and nurtured in the home and should not be compulsory forced onto the community at large unless it is expected as the primary language of that country. New Zealand’s primary language is English as demonstrated by this Country’s immigration requirements for skilled migrants to meet a minimum standard of English in their application. There is no requirement to read, write or understand te reo Maori. I have an ongoing 10 year battle with Kapiti Coast District Council over their anarchist stance of inserting a false macron into our Territorial name. In addition, I have recently written to Work & Income NZ for them to cease corresponding with me in te reo Maori. I urge others not to allow the multi-cultural New Zealand I want for my grandchildren to be trashed by those who think they are personally responsible for any past Maori grievances or that Maori should have special ethnicity privileges in this country. | Martin |
| If they want to speak maori all well and good however do not foist it on everyone. The language an variations of it are only spoken in the Pacific region so it is a pointless exercise learning it. | Allan |
| Get these Maori ratbags out of the trough. They’ve always been a raggy bunch of tribal war-mongerers (or should I say war-mongrels). They want revenge. They are cunning. We must be awake to their stealth tactics and make sure they never gain access to the power they seek. Never I say! | Robert |
| Children’s education should not be politicised – yet kiwis have become so dozy, that the idea of compulsory maori language in schools hardly stirs us. This is akin to the Hitler Youth movement in Nazi Germany, also accepted by a cowed and indifferent society. Is this what we have become, indifferent to our children’s education? I haven’t seen anything in the press that questions what benefit compulsory Maori teaching brings to the child – and that should have been our first question! Do we not care about our children anymore? Or are we just all caught up in the Maori Zeitgeist? Both Hitler’s movement and the Maori’s are based on race, yet nobody seems to notice this. I am all for children – and adults – learning a new language. But why can’t parents and children have a choice? Spanish or Mandarin would surely be more beneficial to the child. If people want to learn Maori, then what is stopping them learning it right now? Ahah, because few individuals want to.The only reason the government is forcing every child to learn Maori is not for the child’s benefit, but for their own social-engineering reasons – just like Hitler, in fact! Why are we allowing our children to be used as political pawns??! For Gods sake! | Geoff |
| Hell NO! It is largely a constructed language now, not recognised for world trade or finance.Limited for education purposes… | Mark |
| We no longer listen to RNZ as we want to hear the programme not to be battered with smart announcers pushing a language that is of no use in the real world. | Patricia |
| No taxpayer money should be wasted bankrolling the teaching of Maori compulsarily in our schools or workplaces. | Carol |
| Frightening that elements in our society want to rush headlong into apartheid and racial supremacism instead of looking into the myriad of social problems that are already present. I personally find many aspects of this culture obnoxious and the language contrived. I will never use or even listen to this so-called Maori language. There are many new languages such as digital and tech for all generations to learn in this modern world. For NZ to sink to a te reo standard is to go to a banana republic status. | Monica |
| Waste of money | Simon |
| What harm can it do? Essential preparation for a bicultural AND multicultural future … and a binational Constitutionalism. | Wally |
| Inverse racism at its worst as decisions are made unilaterally by a small group, first people or not, on our unique society. | Audrey |
| I do not listen to, speak or understand the Maori language. It should never be a compulsory subject taught in schools. There is little enough learning time in the school day as it is with all the pressures of today’s curriculum and the standard of English grammar, spelling and vocabulary shows a steady decline as the years pass. Science and technical subjects, also are required in today’s world. Speaking Maori serves no useful purpose and just wastes precious classroom time. | Chris |
| a waste of time money | Barry |
| In 1984 $3 million was spent on the teaching and promoting of the Maori language. It is now about $600 million and there are less Te Reo speakers now than there were in 1984. Good investment?? Doesn’t look like it to me. So the only way to increase fluency in Te Reo is to make it compulsory when the figures clearly show that the population aren’t , on the whole, interested. If the demand is there teach it. If not it should be voluntary. You can do quite a lot with$600 million. | Mike |
| No way.The Labour part of this coalition government is simply pulling out all stops to ensure the Maori seats are held by them.I warn kiwis against Ardern and the inept cronies around her ,this rabble could and are doing irreparable harm to the concept of fairness to all New Zealanders. There has never been such an incompetent government as what we have now and they are for Maori come what may,Racism at its best | Don |
| stone age crap. no use to anybody except the radical pc poofters. | ROSS |
| In this day and age a bilingual New Zealand is a crazy p[pe dream and especially here in the South Island. The present enthusiasm will soon fade and will be yet another exhorbitant expense to load the poor working Kiwi with! | Ron |
| People should never be relieved of their freedom to choose. Most people are sick to death of forced Maori-isation. Its at near saturation level thanks to our PC left wing. | Paul |
| not bloody likely | John |
| This is dangerous stuff. Civil wars have started for less than this. The National and Labor political parties are solely responsible for this situation with sycophantic MPs like Finlayson being allowed to grant the Maori race everything they desire without thought of anything other than to stay in power – total greed! | Rex |
| NO I do not – recognized the propaganda of the percentage who approve it, for what they were – just where did they get the figures from? | Marie |
| Language is for communication. We need less languages, not more. | Dorothy |
| Culture and language are none of the government business. How did we go from the government serving the people to coercing the people? | Kynan |
| It seems incredible to me that a tiny proportion of our population – less than 2 or 3% can reasonably describe themselves as Maori yet based on lies they seek and are getting more and more influence and control. Pity we aren’t a democracy any more! | Laurie |
| This is not something that a government is responsible for. This is a cultural thing. Now if the so called “maori” of New Zealand, lets call them native descendants, wish to perpetuate their language, then it is up to them to put that in place. The truth is that it already been tried, and it has failed, and we all know the reasons for that. So now the natives want the state to MAKE the country learn their dead language which is of no use internationally, or indeed in New Zealand. This is clearly a breach of human rights to force the native language onto those who do not need it, or want it. Perpetuating this stupidity is not going to end well for New Zealand. This racist approach to society has another name, and that is fascism, and I won’t stand for it. | Neil |
| It doesn’t have a world wide coverage, I would rather learn Mandarin. | Frank |
| Maori culture as we know it is a culture of violence and until recently (only 150 years or so) canabalism. Our gaols are overflowing with baby killers and wife beating Maoris who tattoo their faces to look as much like their warlike forebears as possible. Perpetuating the past will lead us all knowhere. If the truth hurts, it’s too bad !! | Brian |
| This government should support what is best for all the people of New Zealand, not for a minority that wants to rule over everybody else. And since Maoridom was not united before the treaty of Waitangi which option will be taken? | Pieter |
| No no no | Russell |
| back to the stone age. | William |
| Wake up NZ,before it is too late! | Alan |
| I hope a lot of New Zealanders wake up to this subversive take over. Unfortunately our present government is helping to promote ccompulsion with their current spin. Also a lot of naive young people are being so easily persuaded. | Laraine |
| There are far greater issues right now, and it seems minority groups and union are hurrying the process for their issues left right and centre. Having just spent the last three years going through the Family Court it iis obvious that we are losing our way here in NZ. | Denise |
| The Govt.must not coerce the public st large to speak maori, but including it as a voluntary option at school is okay. | Peter |
| In this world the language is archaic and totally useless. Get real. | Steve |
| Should we not have a culture week each for the other cultures within our society. Maori is not the only race “with culture” and I for one am not Maori but I am a New Zealander (5th generation). I have a culture which is written (not mythology) and has been tracked for 1000 years. Much Maori culture has been Europeanised and is now seen as pc by and rammed down our throats . | Elizabeth |
| I reject all race based initiatives in government,regardless of intent | Bud |
| Since when can you take a lauguage that uses about 3 thousand words, and adapt it to one using 20,000 words, and still say it is the offical language? | Al |
| I think it’s great there is a new interest in speaking Te Reo. However it should NEVER be made compulsory. It would be of no use outside of NZ, and not much use for daily life inside NZ. English must always be our primary language, as this has become the defacto common language around the world. Many students would struggle learning a second language if that is not their forte. | Chris |
| I do not – there is no community advantage. But out of confusion, comes who knows. | Maurice |
| At the age of 67, and a New Zealand born European, I am sick of having the Maori language and culture shoved down my throat by a bunch of extreme racialists. The racial views have been getting worse for the last 30 years or so and is driven by a small bunch of lazy extremists who are milking the money pot for themselves, not their people. The Maori’s have received billions of tax payer dollars (imagine how well off we would all be if those billions stayed in one pot for the benefit all New Zealanders), much of which has been wasted. Better they use some of their windfall to teach their own to speak their language. | Ken |
| This is getting scarier by the week. The true face of the sinister agendas of the tribal elite and their executioners( M Fox etc) is revealed more and more. Fact is that they are planning basically a total transformation of NZ society based on their twisted perception of how this country has to be run and controlled. Big brother on a somewhat smaller scale but no less sinister. But that these developments are coming to pass we can solely blame the incessant appeasement politics of the established parties who were and are instrumental to destroying what is left of our democracy. But the danger also lies within the general populace who are totally apathetic to the numerous warning signs detectable all around us. Teachers and parents alone have basically so much power to put an end to all this bullshit if they only had the guts to go on strike as a body and the parents countrywide simply withdrew their children from school to set an example. Simple as that!! But — we already have a whole generation of snow flake sissy parents and teachers who bent over backwards and accept anything what is forced upon them in the name of tolerance and so called bi culturism. This fact alone will accelerate developments and the only way out is to have a political alternative in form of a conservative party promoting the Swiss model of ruling by binding referendum. If this does not come to pass we will be doomed. By the way— I have sent a submission to this whatever outfit and I am sure that they will give a fiddlers fart about any submissions against their plans. This submission facility is all but window dressing !!!! | Michael |
| I support true Democracy. Zimbabwe here we come. The Government will be grabbing back more farms next. | Terry |
| we have to get rid of this government quickly before it does as much permanent damage , as did the Clark led fiasco ! | Roy |
| Time it was realised that making te reo compulsory in schools will be about as successful as was the subject of Latin. The priority for a country wanting to be multicultural is obviously the learniing of zEm English and there is still along way to go before that objective is achieved! | Nev |
| Why don’t they leave thing alone and let people take the Maori Language if the want it. The Governments keep on wanting to force on to people. Just leave it alone. | Robert |
| I am sick and tired of Maoris in this country constantly wanting everything for nothing. Surely it is time they stood on their own feet, and accepted their responsibilities like everyone else has to. | Tim |
| What a waste of our country’s time and money. Half the young population cannot even speak or spell English correctly – isn’t that more important in this day and age? | Valerie |
| When we have a bunch of con men and women controlling this country that call themself politicians who work for us but are bending over so the bunch of half caste gangsters can shaft them and the rest of NZ which is shown by all the crap that tvnz allows there presenters to pour out of there mouths which gets worse during the stupid goobley gook week they put on the english speaking stations, if they want to let people learn or hear that crap for goodness sake put in on the station that belongs to the half caste mob, mind with all the refugees we are bringing in it may be better to learn arabic. | Richard |
| Please take a realistic look at what you are asking for in “revitalisation of the Maori language. It was the language of a stone-age people who despite being excellent in many ways had failed so far to invent the wheel or use metals. It was a language which had no words for developments and thinking that existed in the western world even two hundred years ago. Today, spoken fluently by a diminishing number, it consists largely of made-up words cobbled from the modern world with a “Maori” sound and would be incomprehensible to the Maori of Captain Cook’s or even Governor Grey’s day. What value can it possibly serve except as an “official language” for state occasions and the like, or of course the racial supremacists. There is no harm in learning a little Maori language (I have myself) but to make its study compulsory would be a sad waste of student time when they could instead be learning something that would be useful all their lives. | Rob |
| No,no,no. We want NZ to go forward not backwards. | Dave |
| Had enough!!!!! | Sheena |
| I do not feel any need to speak Maori | Andrew |
| I do not understand how the use of maori in all Government situations can be justified when it is essentially an invented language. Maori had no written language and certainly no concept of most modern concepts or words. | Graeme |
| I have no problem with those who self identify with being Maori, in learning it, as it is part of their heritage, but what other use has it? It is never going to be used in Commerce or on the International scene and what use it to a refugee from anywhere who is already struggling to get to grips with the primary language of NZ – English? | Ted |
| NZ language is a hybridization of languages spoken here and culture is how we all live. It is something that evolves. As Latin is a basis of many European languages, it is not required to be spoken today as it is the evolved languages that society communicates with. So should NZ language be able to evolve naturally. | Willy |
| Two main reasons. One is becoming more and more obvious, Control through Language. The Japanese tried that in Korea WW2. A fail and still heaps of resentment. Two The money spent on this is depriving many of their own People. | Geoff |
| English is the recognized language of our great nation. There are more important matters to attend to rather than wasting our money on this | Kim |
| 100% NO – why would I? I am not maori. – and I would be reminded of that fact. In this global world English carries more weight than a language only a handful of people can understand. Where are the extra teachers coming from? – qualified/unqualified? Will the school year/day lengthen if a core subject and which subjects will lose teaching time? Maori qualifications will be useless outside of NZ. In NZ we already have highly qualified medical folk (from overseas) who cannot work in that profession until they pass the English exam equivalent. For maori to put all their eggs in one basket is to do a great disservice to their own folk because their NZ qualifications will not be ratified until they resit the exams – just as others have to. | Fiona |
| One word Paiwan,Maori were never indigenous to NewZealand but mere refugees. | Mike |
| It is the beginning of the plan for Maori takeover and a backwards step of huge proportions. | Gina |
| Racial prejudice, against the white population, was bad enough under National. it is getting a lot worse under Labour. No surprise there and I’m glad I no longer live there. | John |
| The policy will very probably fail in its goals, but once entrenched, at the expense of other learning, it will prove impossible to get rid of as it will be ‘racist’ and ‘unpatriotic’ to question it and point out it’s failure. | David |
| A big NO! NO! | Vaughan |
| Lets have equality- not racial advantage. | Laurie |
| A bit more concentration on the English language would be considerably more useful. | Howard |
| Absolutely not!! Dear God, what is this country coming to. I can’t stand watching our television news because they are so clearly tangled in this mess that they can’t report all sides of what is going on here. Scary indeed! | Maddi |
| Maori or any other language should be learnt by choice, not compulsion. This is a subtle form of extreme racism | Bob |
| Complete waste of money. | Lee |
| we are white | Owen |
| The Treaty of Waitangi was ruled “a simple nullity”, by Chief Justice Prendergast in 1877 and supported by the Privy Council in 1941. Our true founding document of 16-11-1840 which separated us from New South Wales on 05-04-1841 gave us English law only (English language), leaving no room for racial Governance or compulsory te Reo lessons. | George |
| When will a political party realise what the population really want. I’m sure it is not this maori claptrap that is being thrust down our throats. | Dennis |
| It might be a ethnic language BUT has NO place in mainstream Political ans international business. | Carl |
| I have seen how divisive language can be and how destructive Apartheid was in SA. Now NZ is completely accepting of this situation in this country. Astounding. It will destroy NZ same as it destroyed SA. | Geoff |
| More RACIST MOARI APARTHEID….o yay…so underwhelmed. Once again Labour and Taxinda have fallen below my very, very low standard for politicians and their hangers-on. As for RACIST MOARI? Just crawl back under your rock and leave us teal New Zealanders alone. | Mark |
| World wide we need a common language English is the most likely. Maori is a “museum” language. | gerard |
| Being forced to speak Maori in schools or any where else is not on. and the Government should clearly acknowledge this. | Barry |
| They have no right to give this power to 12-15% of the population. Vote Labour out! | Steve |
| Apartheid is well on its way promoted by Government | Brian |
| Once again Labour are going down a dangerous path in agreeing with Maori. It is time we got rid of this Labour government and their stupid ideas. Lets call a snap election. | Fraser |
| get rid of it quickly | IAN |
| No I certainly do not. By all means let Maori language be a language that students can study but it should not be compulsory. All NZers should be treated equally and no special favours just because you have some Maori blood in you and especially if you are a Maori elete. Also the Treaty of Waitangi was never a “partnership”. The only inference the Treaty gave was that all NZ citizens are to be treated equally. | Keith |
| Definitely not | Richard |
| For having widespread compulsory teaching of Te Reo Maori is an opportunity lost for many – if not most New Zealanders – unless we have to retreat to a past era. Several other languages are of far more value in today’s wide world. | Stuart |
| I don’t know of anyone at all who supports the Governments objective. It’s time all this nonsense was stopped. In the mid 90’s we chickened out moving to Queensland where you are remote from such rubbish. We are sure now regretting not moving — one’s we know who have moved are so happy and well off. This Country is doomed if we progress as we are doing now. | Alan |
| No, it all goes a bit overboard. | Annie |
| Agree that it is very very insidious | David |
| Be afraid very afraid these part Maori zealots are very well organised .They are playing the long game. Softly, softly catch the monkey. If something is not done to derail them they will very soon have control . The only possible course of action I can see is to some how get a referendum to stop the compulsory teaching of Maori as the vast SILENT majority don’t want it but as usual are to scared to get involved and this is what these part Maori zealots are counting on . | Jock |
| To force it on to our children at school or to any other New Zealanders who are not Maori is fundamentally wrong. Dealing with the rest of the English Speaking world and most businesses in NZ, requires a good knowledge of both spoken and written English. Using the Maori language will be of useless value in the real world. Learning Maori by non-Maori should be a personal preference choice only. | Ian |
| Racism directed at non Maori – hell no! | Richard |
| Just another avenue whereby Maori are seeking to gain preferential treatment over the rest of New Zealanders. | Tony |
| Disaster for New Zealannd | Anthony |
| No, can only increase the divide. | Graham |
| Lets end all this racist nonsense now and all become New Zealanders as we should be. Maori activists should be found guilty of treason. | Bruce |
| Will New Zealand become maorified or islamised first? In both cases it will happen because both causes rely on the tolerance, guilt or fear of most New Zealanders. | John |
| Apartheid again | Peter |
| The whole aim of the Maori language revitalisation strategy is to incorporate the anti-white, anti-colonialist message into more and more New Zealand establishments. Perhaps, if instead of pushing compulsory learning of the language we could just offer one or two taxpayer funded TV channels – Oh wait! | John |
| There has been $600 million spent on it already without a noticeable increase of Te Reo speakers | Arthur |
| The Treaty is not a ‘Founding Document’ and was written to solve an issue that existed in 1840 – and has no relevance to the 21st century. | Gerry |
| Modern ideologies dismantle the fabric of society that once delivered order and equity for ALL the peoples of New Zealand into chaos. Race-based co-governance undermines both sovereignty and accountable democracy. | Lauren |
| I think Maori language has a place, but not to such a great extent based on the actual population of Maori people and Maori speakers. | Lana |
| Definitely NOT -NO _NO_ . This must be the most offensive idea in world history, This is insane – to make the language compulsory in a failing education system where children are already missing out on learning all they need to equip them in a global economy. The language is of no use whatsoever anywhere else. NZ will lose credibility with all our trading partners and ignored worldwide. Who will take time to try and understand a new language pushed onto its citizens in an apartheid nation???. This government has to act FOR THE WHOLE NATION to bring EQUALITY to all and remember THEY WERE ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE!!! Stop this insane bowing and scraping to a minority who are no more than 5% (when you take into account true heredity) of the total population. If you can’t address this question for the GOOD OF ALL THE PEOPLE then I call on this government to resign. One important point – the translation from maori to English is not honest. It has been changed to suit every unjust claim and STOP using the p word to describe the early immigrants and descendants. We are NOT ‘white devils!!!. | CM |
| 1.5Billion Chinese have been learning English so that they can communicate with the world. Now Maori want to isolate us from the world by enforcing a language that only 150,000 people can kind-of speak. By the time they have finished New Zealand will be world renowned as Pipi eating song singers. | George |
| If Maori want to revitalise their language by all means let them do so, but not at taxpayer expense. Perhaps a useful use of “settlement funds”??? | Andrew |
| This is blatant racism. | Leslie |
| Anyone is free to learn any language they want but it should not be compulsary school is for setting you up to be a reasonable adult that can contribute to society in many ways What does our government of understand about that to many handouts not enough effort | Peter |
| We each only have 24 hours per day: we should have the freedom to decide what we do with them, and if we decide NOT to waste any of them in learning the Maori language, that is our decision. | Tony |
| Complete bullshit Long before I read this article it was clear to me that this was just another ploy by the self enriching maori leaders to ride the Histroical Guilt fires and further their own persoanl agenda’s | Gary |
| No it is all too much | Tom |
| We are in a very dangerous situation that few people seem to realise. There needs to be a sustained pushback against the totaliarian push that is on to promote all things Maori to an unassasable position. We need a new political party of the right-urgently!! | Roger |
| We the people of New Zealand have been sucked in by the Greenies, the god bothers and the 80% of the population who are thick as a plank | Bill |
| The Maori language is completely unsuitable for communications in a modern world, saturated as it is with itmyth and legend generated by a stone-age culture. I am completely against the imposition of that language in the education of forthcoming generations of young New Zealanders. | Victor |
| When the Maori people spend some of their millions from settlements in keeping the huge number of their people out of prisons. Work on eliminating the gangs who control drugs in NZ along with young Asians I would then have some empathy for their language. | Brian |
| Absolutely not! | Campbell |
| It is a gross waste of taxpayers’ hard earned money and will further drive the wedge between Maori and the rest of NZ. Its clearly part of the ‘sovereignty’ agenda. God defend NZ!! | Alan |
| The recent behaviour of our current government and the prospect of a race based, bi-cultural future being inflicted upon a 21st century, multi-cultural country, (just look at the numbers) is deeply concerning. Those who voted for New Zealand First on the basis of its seeming non-racist stance will no doubt be feeling very disillusioned with the party’s lack of leadership and opposition to ongoing developments. | Les |
| I do not have a problem with Te reo teaching being widely available, but only on a voluntary basis. I am totally against the teaching of Te reo in schools becoming mandatory. It reeks of an agenda, and is a waste of scarce educational resources. | Laurie |
| The thin edge of the wedge. Definitely not The New Zealand way where all are deemed equal in law and tax. Wake up New Zealand to this attack. | David |
| Just another step towards apartheid | Peter |
| The legend of “the Tower of Babel” , i.e. that language is a prime root of the enmity between tribes/nations, has existed in various form in various cultures for millennia. Te Reo is a primitive variation of the various Polynesian tongues around the pacific, and because it was never written has no proper basis, structure, or authority. It has no use outside NZ. | David |
| Over time the Maori people have the most to loose if they aren’t able to communicate properly with the rest of the world. | John |
| Please use a common language that we can all understand | William |
| Adult NZers who weren’t forced to study te reo will end up being disadvantaged for jobs and generally in a society where they won’t understand those who, like announcers on our fully taxpayer funded radio network, aggressively stand on their right to speak te reo with no translation. So much for the value of the compulsory English at school for so many of us. Note also that much of te reo now consists of Maorified English concerning things that didn’t exist for Maori prior to European settlement, such as the wheel and books. Similarly, new Maori words are made up for all new inventions and concepts such as computers. What’s the point of that? Aren’t the English words sufficient? | Hans |
| No, NO, NO A THOUSAND TIMES NO. It will destroy New Zealand. | Ernest |
| They have gone too far making up phrases and labeling most Government and Local Government departments and the Governor General. | Jean |
| What makes me so pessimistic about this is the fact that National seems to either go along with it or, at least, not put up any resistance. We have John Key to thank for that, because he was too short-sighted that there would be a huge, and unacceptable, price to be paid for cosying up to the Maori Party. Is there any politician (including Winston Peters) who is prepared to put a stake in the ground, and say, “Enough! The people will not accept this blatant racism!”? | Graham |
| It is not about the language. It is about allowing indoctrinated school teachers to instruct vulnerable school children in the false history promoted by radicles. To ensure the children accept tribalism rather than democracy. | Bruce |
| Instead of teaching all races of children in NZ to speak a world limited use language, why not teach Maori children to speak English correctly, to equip them foe life in the real world | Kabe |
| Totally opposed to compulsory te reo in schools. A not too subtle objective by Maoridom methinks! | Tony |
| Any one is free to learn Maori but no compulsion should be used on any part of the community to learn it.Maori language has no place on the National or world stage. | Peter |
| Maori is not used anywhere else in the world. It is not a useful language to learn. | Christine |
| Take away the funding and it would fall into the same category as Latin insignificant in today’s world | Rowan |
| An absolute “No”. New Zealand is heading down the same pathway as South Africa. When will we ever learn? | Chris |
| This has gone too far .. I even sent an email to Tvnz complaining about the news readers spitting out all the Maori words that just take up valuable News and weather time. They had the bloody cheek to reply to my email using Maori words .. talk about having it rammed down our throats! IVE HAD A BLOODY GUTS FULL! | Des |
| Lets stop wasting our money on this maori language stuff which is no use in the real world. | Maurice |
| Wales has been trying this political rort for years and look where it is now leading – more and more families choosing to home school their children to gat around the silly/stupid legislation. Maori activists are only fooling themselves | Rob |
| If 15% of NZ’s population is allowed to dictate to the rest of the Population heaven help us…a good percentage of them cannot speak English correctly and often also Maori as every area has a different dialogue. I have no intention of learning, speaking or allowing said language to be spoken in my home or on my property. We are known as an English speaking Country. What will our Overseas Travelers think being met by such rubbish, e.g changes to suit them????? | Marylin |
| If it leads to more Maorification of New Zealand then an absolute No. What use is a stone age language to anyone apart from some who wants to teach it. Our schools at present brainwash the school kids about climate change human rights and the media back up some idiot who has got them selves in the crap and blaming everyone but themselves for their predicament The don’t teach that there are human responsibilities as well as rights and so the country keeps going down hill. Get Rid of MMP so the racist Maori Party tail cant wag the government they are in with their ridiculous demands for more and more say that only build up resentment against the Maori people in general | Colin |
| How do we stop this happening it is madness this Maori indocrtriination | Ian |
| Appalling state of affairs for our country. The silent majority have to speak up loudly against this Maorification of NZ | Chris |
| If you cannot identify a maori grandparent and call yourself a maori will we not be welcome in New Zealand. You will not have access to a beach, ride on a bus, go to a hospital, get a job. Goodbye NEW ZEALAND, nice to have known you Thanks Labour for sending this country down the river without a paddle. | Murray |
| definitely not. | Clark |
| The end game objective is very disturbing | Stan |
| this past week as usual has another load of garbage thrown at us by Stuff news what a waste of tax payers money is being thrown around when our school teachers have to reach into there own pocket for there students needs these stirers at the front of Maori carry on are like a bad apple that cause all Maori to be tared with the same brush our Govt are traitors to NZ as a whole | Russell |
| For the people who wish to learn Maori language good on you & for us who do not this should not be rammed down our throats as in tv or radio adds..I have a Maori grandson who I am sure does not speak his language all day to his peers & or work mates…The Maori language is also not applicable overseas to converse in other countries. .best of luck if u want to? | Rex |
| Maori this Maori that’s, that’s all we hear these days somethings got to change | Jimmy |
| Even charitable organisations are having to suck up this cultural postering, in order to maintain their charitable status. It’s appalling! | Sharen |
| No, We all learnt our given languages from our parents and from home. Maori language is a token language and has no place outside of NZ. | Wayne |
| It’s a disgrace, I can’t believe so called intelligent people in Government can give NZ to a 15% minority. It makes me sick | Graeme |
| absolutely not acceptable – nonsense | Gillian |
| Emphatically NO! | Peter |
| One only has to look at Sth Africa to see what handing over power does to a once prosperous country. A great big con job this Maori language tokenism has become. All the politicians seem hell bent on following down this path for fear of being called racist. Where is whinny the pooh in all this. He was all for phasing out the Maori seats. | Tim |
| Forced learning of any subject is as unacceptable as denying freedom of speech | Kelvin |
| More racial claptrap which should not even be here. | Ian |
| More racial diversion | Gareth |
| I’m sick and tired of the huge resources being fed into racism in NZ. The notion that ‘we are one people’ is sadly lost as Maoridom, and its supporters continue to push for, and apparently gain, a much larger portion of our wealth than its numbers warrant. Radical Maori and its constant demands for more are a curse on this nation | John |
| We do not have any full Maori’s. and the Police are currently investigating the Maori King and his son for fraud. Helen Clark gave them a say in the Waikato and their version is that you have to pay them for permission to even build a garden shed before you can go to the Council. They only want things that make money which all goes ino the Maori King’s pocket. | Pat |
| If Maori wish to learn their language that is fine but don’t shove it down the throats of other New Zealanders. Let’s not forget that early Maori insisted that English be taught at school so their people could communicate and trade with the sailing ship people and European settlers. That is good reason in the World view for better learning of English today. | John |
| Not real or evidence based. Parts of culture yes but language no- it has no conclusive beginning. | Maurice |
| Certainly not. The Maori language is spoken by so few of our population. Maori who speak and understand the maori language represent a mere 3 % of the population of New Zealand,or 20 % of the Maori population.Over 98 % of the population speak English. | David |
| I have no issue with financial support for those wishing to engage in learning Te Reo but don’t believe it should be compulsary to learn it. | Philip |
| Absolutely NOT. Wake up New Zealand. Surely you must see the evil road we are heading down !! | Deb |
| It has just all gone overboard based on the population of New Zealand that is actually Maori or speaks Maori. | Kate |
| Wake up you Kiwis. The Maori are out to taken this country over., while most NZs sit on their bums and do nothing. They can o0nl;y succed if you do nothingh. | Roger |
| The majority of NZ’s struggle with spelling and understanding English due to lack of Education given for English and yet the Government wants to waste more money educating people on a language that has no useful purpose? Where’s the sanity in that? | Gavin |
| The NZ culture is not healthy as it is, so why go back to a pre-civilised culture that predates the iron age? | Ray |
| Racism pure and simple. | Wayne |
| To call te reo a language is incorrect. When used by “right on” TV types,it is nothing more than ‘pidgin’ English, and at best, it is a creole – a language that has been debased by inclusion of words from another language in order to render it usable. If the maoris possessed their own system of writing, and could agree among themselves how to spell and pronounce words in their language, it would go some way toward giving it legitimacy, but not a reason for trying to force it upon the rest of us. | TOBY |
| Happy for Te Reo to be an option so people can make their own decision – but no more than that | Masele |
| Te Reo has absolutely NO value. It is a defunct garbage language in a modern world. | Alan |
| …..iwi… “Brain Washing” garbage ..!!!! | CHowes |
| Definitely not. It is a hidden agenda for further promotion of racism. | David |
| Goodness – I thought National was bad enough in pushing the Maori sovereignty agenda, now it seems that Labour will be worse. And where is Winston Peters in all of this??? | Michael |
| Thank you Michael Coote for an excellent analysis of Labour’s radical Maori language strategy – I will definitely put in a submission. | Brian |
| Why don’t we read this sort of thing in the mainstream media – are they too brainwashed not to notice what’s going on, or do they support it all and choose to keep quiet? | Hugh |
| Labour is more radical than National. I can’t believe they will put a biased agency in charge of settling coastal claims. The whole coast will belong to Maori before too long. | Ros |
| Iwi leaders are pulling the strings now – Kelvin Davis is just their puppet. This is a very dangerous situation. | Graham |