In anticipation of the new National-led government, te reo Maori was erased from some official Government use. But is it likely the incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will continue this?
It’s not yet clear what the new government’s position will be on the use of te reo Maori by government departments because it’s not yet been formed, but political experts have weighed in with their predictions.
The three prospective parties – National, ACT and NZ First – have different views on the issue. National’s Christopher Luxon has said he wants an “English first” approach for government departments with dual-language names, whereas NZ First’s Winston Peters has promised to erase all Maori names from government departments.
National earlier said it was not in a position to comment.
Based on what Luxon had said in the past and the way the public sector worked, political commentator Ben Thomas said there wouldn’t be a discussion around the use of te reo Maori being banned, but we could see Government departments reverting to English names.
Stuff
Look, Stuff has gone all in on te reo and woke virtue signalling, but the reality is that Maori is only ever used by local government, central government, the civil service and anyone trying to trough from both. The rest of the general public uses English.
Furthermore, when we are forced to do something we bristle at it. Having Maori shoved down your throat is annoying, especially if you come from somewhere else, like me.
I have a personal policy of replying to Maori virtue signalling in communications by using Fijian. It discombobulates the woke who assumed they should use Maori, and then they think they’ve insulted someone by assuming that we prefer to use Maori when we may be Pasifika, or in my case Fijian. Watching them fall over themselves grovelling for my forgiveness is hilarious.
And that’s the thing; this assumption that every communication should start with tena koe and end with Nga mihi is just woke virtue signalling especially when everything in between is in English.
So just stop. It’s rubbish, and meaningless at the same time.
As for renaming everything in Maori, how does that improve public services? I mean who knows what Waka Kotahi means or does, when everyone knows what NZ Transport Agency meant and did?
The new Firearms Safety Authority is actually called Te Tari Pureke, whatever the hell that means. They’ve done “stakeholder” meetings where they spent a good chunk of time wanking on about how they were “gifted” this name. No one cares. Everyone I know calls it The Tarry Pukeko anyway.
And as for service: well, forget about it. It is a massive bureaucratic waste of resources that has made everything harder and probably less safe. A Maori name is not going to convince even a single firearms owner that this was a good idea.
Let’s hope the new Government abandons all this crappy woke virtue signalling if only to watch leftist heads explode in impotent rage.
Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. Cam blogs regularly on the BFD - where this article was sourced.
12 comments:
I have for a long time realised both the inanity and absudity of changing everything to a language that almost nobody uses because its utility is limited.
Language is communication and communication from publics services should be the clearest to the majority that they can be.
You have to admire the website https://hekauparehemanaakihewhakahaora.co.ao....
Oh that's right it is still https://www.acc.co.nz/ because the other is unable to be utilised in IP management and the entire name is a virtue signal without meaning to anyone.
Try a google search of he kaupare, you will not get the ACC web page.
The lefties, media and virtue signallers with no life can whinge and moan all they like about te reo. Unless they ban english, no state can force any of us to learn it.or use it. If people choose to, nice. But otherwise they can bog off.
One of the funniest manifestations of this crap was a pasty-faced 13 year old wannabe sports jock greeting a Samoan rugby player in Te Reo. The look on the interviewees face was priceless and, needless to say, the interview went south pretty rapidly.
Cam, read my comment on Breaking Views update for Nov 21st. A stone age hobby language with no relevance in the real world so why should our whole Country have to suffer this te reo crap showered upon us. Kiwialan.
I have great respect for Te Reo, just as I have for my heritage Welsh language, both have a rightful time and place, but foisting it on NZ government departments where it becomes almost meaningless is an exercise in patronising tokenism and gross futility.
As a wise Maori said, Maori is our culture but English is our bread and butter."
With our current English literacy standards at rock bottom we will all starve in one way or another. Lack of self esteem because Maori haven't got their language is foolish nonsense based on the stupid fad of the self esteem craze. That Maori had English forced on them is lies since a petition by chiefs in the 19th century to the government of the day requested Maori children be taught English in preference to Maori.
Add to this revisionist history Marxist critical race theory, along with cancel culture and we will surely end up in misery, poverty and tyranny as Marxism always does.
I refuse to learn Maori, as a protest, because I am so concerned about the present educational fiasco in particularly the basics and exalting Maori culture and language will only make this worse. That is not to say original Te Reo should be ignored but judiciously and possibly absorbed into our English vocabulary gradually as English has always done with other languages. Academics making up contrived words is madness.
One good thing though, is that te reo acts as a brilliant wokester alert. If you hear the start of an interview or have a conversation with someone and they start with kia ora or morena and they aren't maori, then you know strsight away that they are a lefty wokester.
Anonymous, the other visual clue to the woke person is the greenstone pendant being worn proudly.
Some of the best pendants are to be seen on University campus, however I'm sure that virtually all of them are carved from Chinese or Canadian stone !
Do they realize that we are either silently or openly laughing at them, and dismissing them for what they are ?
and now an academic wants to revive the Moriori language which faded away 120 years ago.
How soon will we see the signage and will it supercede the mandatory Kia ora ?
The use of te reo, ornaments etc by maori young women is a great boon to many young men as it warns them off becominmg involved with someone embittered and obsessed with matters maori and who is likely to fritter hours consorting and contriving with other brain washed activists.
Yes Cam, the beef goes on...and my particular beef is with RNZ and it's "manglish". The constant drip drip drip of Maori words and phrases interspersed by "kia ora kia ora" is non-sensical idiot-speak. Use one or the other!
As a retiree with not much time on my hands, I used to have the radio on low to medium volume as a background, as I worked, but not any more. I literally do not turn the radio on.
Try the 5 p.m. Lisa Owen slot. I dare you! By the time she has finished her Maori introduction of herself, her programme, etc in Maori, I have peeled the spuds, washed my hair, walked the dog, saved the whales, trekked the Heaphy Track, painted my nails and read War & Peace. Hailey holt addresses the TV audience as her iwi or whanau. As do some radio personalities. Goes down like a sardine milkshake. Patronising tokenism.
I am not against Te Reo, and have the utmost respect for the Maori language. It is part of our heritage and. I would to hate to lose it.
However I can't say that I agree with changing the name of our government departments from a language that virtually everybody understands, to one that less than 5% of the population understands.
I have no problem with using Maori place names, and Maori words with specific cultural significance, however the Maori never had government departments and so these names carry no cultural significance. Additionally, I think that many (although they may sound nice), make no sense at all. I am disabled and so get communication from Health New Zealand. The name nicely explains what the department is about.
Now it is "Te Whatu Ora". I wondered what this meant so I went on line and looked it up...
"The Living Eye"
All very poetic and nice, but does it tell me anything?
I looked up several others and was equally mystified.
The policy on Maori names for government departments was well known before the elections and is fairly well aligned between National, NZ First and Act. Clearly the majority of NZ was in favour of this.
I find it interesting that we are talking about of cost of putting this right.
I do not recall us being concerned about the cost when we changed the name of our government departments to something that 95% of the population would not understand.
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