“We’re all forced to echo small words that make big noise and mean nothing to most of us.”
Indeed. Small words, big noise. That, in essence, is what te reo Māori has become in modern New Zealand: a disproportionately celebrated state hobby enforced by bureaucrats, virtue-signallers, and treaty-industrialists under the pretext of national identity. Te reo is not our national language. It is not widely spoken, understood, or requested. It is being rammed down our collective throat by Wellington’s bureaucratic caste and the Māori elite, a partnership more obsessed with symbolism than with service.
Take, for instance, the Ministry of Education's latest ideological indulgence: over $100 million pledged to force-feed te reo into 51,000 teachers across the country. Why? For a language that fewer than 5% of New Zealanders can converse in fluently. Is this education or ethno-linguistic cosplay? Our children lag in international benchmarks, yet the curriculum is now drenched in state-mandated linguistics that serve no practical purpose. It’s not about learning anymore. It’s about ticking cultural boxes.
Then there is the signage farce. Waka Kotahi’s bilingual road signs, “Tūnga Pahi” instead of "Bus Stop", were described as 'inclusive'. Inclusive of whom, exactly? The 92% who speak English or the 8% who speak te reo? When Winston Peters suggested English-first signage for clarity and utility, he was lambasted by the same Twitterati who think TikTok is a form of scholarship. Labour MPs, as expected, compared it to Canada - ignoring the obvious fact that in Canada, both English and French are spoken by millions. Here, barely five percent can hold a conversation in te reo.
In the public service, formerly neutral institutions have mutated into cultural PR departments. "Te Whatu Ora" was only recently walked back to "Health New Zealand" after widespread confusion demonstrated the limits of performative biculturalism. Ministers now indulge in verbal cosplay, utterly unintelligible to the populace, but a fine means of virtue-hoarding within Wellington’s bureaucratic aristocracy.
And the price? A staggering $142 million per annum devoted to te reo broadcasting, signage, education, and promotional resources. This is not a revival; it’s a racket. A multi-million-dollar linguistic Ponzi scheme for a small cabal of te reo consultants, commissioners, and culture-merchants whose true mastery lies in milking the taxpayer.
This bureaucratic bacchanalia has seeped into courtrooms too, where Tikanga, undefined, elastic, and often irreconcilable with common law, is being granted quasi-legal standing. The justice system, once blind, now squints through a bicultural lens. What next? Sentencing circles in the style of tribal arbitration? Shall we litigate via karakia?
When Don Brash warned of this trajectory, he was dismissed as passé. He was not. He was prescient. A nation cannot function with two legal systems, two languages, and two realities.
This is the crux of the constitutional heresy: the ludicrous notion that because te reo is "official," it must be omnipresent. Parliament may pass statutes, but no Act can animate a dead tongue. Statutory bilingualism in the absence of societal demand is not democracy; it is doctrinal imposition.
Let us not confuse the legal with the lived. Yes, te reo is "official." But in the real world, it is ornamental, a linguistic lapel pin wielded by bureaucrats to signal sophistication while the system beneath them atrophies. Hospitals in crisis, educational decline, public safety eroded, and yet, the Minister for Māori Development assures us the pronunciation of “Taupō” is our top priority.
Further Reading:
NZ Government Budget 2024 – Māori Language and Broadcasting Allocations
Stats NZ: Census Data on Te Reo Fluency (2023)
Waka Kotahi: Tohu Huarahi Māori Bilingual Signage Consultation
Māori Language Act 2016
Ministry of Education: Curriculum Revitalisation Projects
Tui Vaeau is a digital marketer with a background in real estate and security. Unmoved by the fashionable absurdities of modern politics, he stands for national cohesion and the principle that all New Zealanders should be treated as equals. His views are forthright, unswayed by ideological theatrics, and firmly grounded in reality. Tui blogs on his site The Sovereign Verdict - where this article was sourced.
Then there is the signage farce. Waka Kotahi’s bilingual road signs, “Tūnga Pahi” instead of "Bus Stop", were described as 'inclusive'. Inclusive of whom, exactly? The 92% who speak English or the 8% who speak te reo? When Winston Peters suggested English-first signage for clarity and utility, he was lambasted by the same Twitterati who think TikTok is a form of scholarship. Labour MPs, as expected, compared it to Canada - ignoring the obvious fact that in Canada, both English and French are spoken by millions. Here, barely five percent can hold a conversation in te reo.
In the public service, formerly neutral institutions have mutated into cultural PR departments. "Te Whatu Ora" was only recently walked back to "Health New Zealand" after widespread confusion demonstrated the limits of performative biculturalism. Ministers now indulge in verbal cosplay, utterly unintelligible to the populace, but a fine means of virtue-hoarding within Wellington’s bureaucratic aristocracy.
And the price? A staggering $142 million per annum devoted to te reo broadcasting, signage, education, and promotional resources. This is not a revival; it’s a racket. A multi-million-dollar linguistic Ponzi scheme for a small cabal of te reo consultants, commissioners, and culture-merchants whose true mastery lies in milking the taxpayer.
This bureaucratic bacchanalia has seeped into courtrooms too, where Tikanga, undefined, elastic, and often irreconcilable with common law, is being granted quasi-legal standing. The justice system, once blind, now squints through a bicultural lens. What next? Sentencing circles in the style of tribal arbitration? Shall we litigate via karakia?
When Don Brash warned of this trajectory, he was dismissed as passé. He was not. He was prescient. A nation cannot function with two legal systems, two languages, and two realities.
This is the crux of the constitutional heresy: the ludicrous notion that because te reo is "official," it must be omnipresent. Parliament may pass statutes, but no Act can animate a dead tongue. Statutory bilingualism in the absence of societal demand is not democracy; it is doctrinal imposition.
Let us not confuse the legal with the lived. Yes, te reo is "official." But in the real world, it is ornamental, a linguistic lapel pin wielded by bureaucrats to signal sophistication while the system beneath them atrophies. Hospitals in crisis, educational decline, public safety eroded, and yet, the Minister for Māori Development assures us the pronunciation of “Taupō” is our top priority.
No one seeks to erase te reo’s historical significance. But there’s a chasm between respect and reverence. What we face today is not cultural preservation, it is cultural hegemony dressed up as national pride. This is not a bicultural partnership. It is a monologue with compulsory subtitles.
Policy prescription: strip out the pork. Defund all non-essential te reo initiatives. Let the language rise or fall on merit, not on mandatory virtue quotas. Redirect the $100 million currently wasted on language tokenism into subjects that actually build national competence - maths, science, and literacy. Fields where fluency actually feeds the nation.
National identity is not found in vowel corrections. It is found in shared values, civic duty, and common purpose, not in Tikanga on Tuesday and Treaty workshops on Thursday. The notion that we can glue the country together with a few reo soundbites and bilingual signage is as delusional as it is expensive.
The state should serve the people, not a priesthood of te reo puritans whose mana is funded by the middle class. Let te reo live if it can. Let it fade if it must. But for God’s sake, stop treating it like gospel.
Policy prescription: strip out the pork. Defund all non-essential te reo initiatives. Let the language rise or fall on merit, not on mandatory virtue quotas. Redirect the $100 million currently wasted on language tokenism into subjects that actually build national competence - maths, science, and literacy. Fields where fluency actually feeds the nation.
National identity is not found in vowel corrections. It is found in shared values, civic duty, and common purpose, not in Tikanga on Tuesday and Treaty workshops on Thursday. The notion that we can glue the country together with a few reo soundbites and bilingual signage is as delusional as it is expensive.
The state should serve the people, not a priesthood of te reo puritans whose mana is funded by the middle class. Let te reo live if it can. Let it fade if it must. But for God’s sake, stop treating it like gospel.
Further Reading:
NZ Government Budget 2024 – Māori Language and Broadcasting Allocations
Stats NZ: Census Data on Te Reo Fluency (2023)
Waka Kotahi: Tohu Huarahi Māori Bilingual Signage Consultation
Māori Language Act 2016
Ministry of Education: Curriculum Revitalisation Projects
Tui Vaeau is a digital marketer with a background in real estate and security. Unmoved by the fashionable absurdities of modern politics, he stands for national cohesion and the principle that all New Zealanders should be treated as equals. His views are forthright, unswayed by ideological theatrics, and firmly grounded in reality. Tui blogs on his site The Sovereign Verdict - where this article was sourced.
22 comments:
WELL SAID !!
Once again, Tui, you have written a thorough and accurate account of the situation.
Well said, Tui. That is why we need to push all treaty obligations out of councils, classrooms, businesses, etc. back to the Crown's lap where they belong. Crown can learn Maori if they wish to do so, but at least the ordinary Kiwi citizens and businesses will be able to choose. Keep writing! Zoran Rakovic.
And, as long as English is NOT made an official language in law alongside te reo and sign language), this costly rort is facilitated.
This omission is part of the strategy to dominate.
Tui just touches on the fact that te reo maori was never a written language, only we colonists made it that way so that we all could communicate better.
Had maori ever been able to write and record their history permanently prior to European contact we would have a very different perspective on their past.
Then we provided them with a format to record , most of which is now being ignored and debased to suit the modern revised history.
Even written maori , like Alice in Wonderland, "When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.''"
Then some indulgent activists decided that Roman characters weren't good enough for Maori and that macrons were necessary to decorate and express te reo better.
As for Maori keyboards !
I expect every government keyboard to now be this version.
Why do so called bilingual signs always have to be Maori first in a font twice the size of the subservient English letters ?
We have people in government who can stop this overnight, however they deliberately refuse to deal with it, or even allow it to be a topic of debate within his Cabinet
I cannot stand the Maori language anymore. In the 90s I took some night school classes in this language as it was interesting then but not for me now. It’s been ruined and changed and I don’t want any part of it.
The purpose of language is communication. Te Reo doesn’t help us communicate with each other - far from it! It divides us and obfuscates, especially in Parliament and the news. It is incomprehensible to the rest of the world - a world where english is the language of trade and we are a small outward-facing trading nation tucked away at the bottom of the globe. The english language is an enormous advantage to us. Te reo belongs on the marae, like latin is still used in high church. If you are maori and want to speak it at home go to it, but I see little advantage to NZ in the govt funding it or promulgating it through schools. It’s not going to enhance our children’s or the nation’s future prosperity.
A recent newspaper article cited Helmut Modlik saying he aimed to have 1 million New Zealanders speaking maori. Well, there are roughly that number of the population claiming to be maori, so that is not much of an advance. Anyway, why should the rest of us pay for a native people learning to speak their own language? Parents and grandparents who profess maori lineage and think the language important should use it in the home and teach the kids, but don't expect us anglophones to do the job for you, and at our expense.
It's the sad desperados and wannabes, those who think it's cool and essential to use Maori greetings, and toss words like kia ora and mahi about, who earn my derision.
Bilingualism in NZ may be a good thing, eg. place names and road signs, but it needs to be kept in the perspective of English - like it or not - being the principal, understandable language of this country.
It is really annoying on Auckland trains when all the announcements are done in te reo first and then english second. You have to wait, when all you want to know is what the platform change is. I asked one of the many customer service staff who hang around the platforms helping people, if they can understand the te reo announcements. None can. One of the maori guys told me that he doesn't want to learn te reo and luckily AT doesn't force their staff to learn it. It is all just a corporate virtue signalling excercise according to the staff that I have asked. I guess it is a bit like North Korea, where everything is fake. If you were a tourist to nz, you would naturally assume that many people are fluent in te reo if you caught the train. And of course everyday kiwi's who don't know what their platform is, are the ones who have to put up with the bs.
Great analysis mate. NZ has turned into a truly Orwellian quagmire with all this stuff. This maori doesn't buy into any of it and left the country because of it. Not a good environment for a young one to grow up in that's for sure.
Thank you Tui , for your article which is , as usual so well written .
English is a beautiful language and we are very fortunate the majority of us have it as our first language since it , of all the European languages it is by far the most difficult to learn. In fact more than twice with a large percentage of irregularities and fiendish spelling . This is because of the enormous bur rich vocabulary , acquired over the centuries from many sources which means there is tremendous subtlety of expression possible. The Chinese with their non-phonic language and consequently limited vocabulary are very enthusiastic about learning English since it gives them greater depth of expression and meaning. One of the reasons they wish to come here as students and learn it.
Then of course English is the international language which makes it powerful if you wish to travel or trade for any reason.
We are therefore all being handicapped by replacing it with Te Reo , which has none of the above attributes. Some ignorant educators , I have encountered, believe Te Reo is preferable because of its strict regularity and limited vocabulary and it is easier to learn but this is at enormous cost to us internationally and culturally.
This is so true and the coalition government just has not the cojones to knock it on the head and stop wasting taxpayers money.
Bloody ridiculous, and we wonder why our productivity is tanking; why with a labour force of 8,000 more public servants we saw nothing of benefit from it; why our Govt debt only keeps climbing; and why more money poured into education doesn't produce any worthwhile results. All these millions thrown at a stone age language that has no real benefit, least of all beyond these shores. When we've got the issues we have with healthcare, cancer drugs, support need for our neurodiverse young, and countless other worthwhile causes, those directing this pointless virtue signalling need to be held to account.
In fact, heads should roll, and a good start would include both Luxon and Stanford.
Good on you, Zoran.
We are all on the same side.
When I get greeted with Kai Ora I usually reply:-
"Bonsoir. comment allez-vous?"
That is the language that I learned in High School.
It is actually a REAL language !
A dollop of te reo makes the wheels on the corporate apartheid agenda go down.
similarly, when i get a phone call (make or receive) and there is a non-english start-I go silent, when asked 'are you still there'?, I reply 'just waiting for you to speak English'. Emails I receive in pigeon, I send back asking for an English translation.
As I have observed before, in world history I doubt if there is another equally artful example of an inferior minority race from an era thousands of years prior rising to control. All done utilising preservation and conjured extension of an obsolete language as the Trojan Horse. I wonder if Walker, Kawharu, Jackson and co could have succeeded without their large complement of Northern European genes. I also wonder if there has ever been another educated essentially intelligent race so naive as NZers have been and are.
And also as I have observed before, if the msm ran articles approachingTuis, readership and in the case of RNZ listeners would largely recover.
Helmut, what I would say to you (to take a Luxon phrase) is "Halt den Mund!" or better still "Hau ab!"
The most ludicrous example is the Maori NCEA Level 2 cell biology exam papers, with such technical terms as 'cytoplasm' and 'anaerobic respiration' being 'translated' into (ie concocted) into Maori. I have a whole series of such papers. Gilbert and Sullivan would have a field day!
Pee European maori had several dialects and a vocabulary that reflected their existence. If you don't know about wheels, horses or carrots you don't have the words for them either. On the other hand I suspect there was a variety of warfare related words and those relating to how to kill, behead and eat a prisoner.
So what 'language' is being fed to the stupid as genuine maori?
These calls of Doug and Sam : they may be experiencing the next phase of the indoctrination process.....(i.e. cold calling in te reo).
Post a Comment