Jacqueline Athanasatos: You Took the Words Right Out Of My Mouth

The Plain Language Bill 2021 – It’s a race to the bottom, folks…

It is something of a perplexing juxtaposition to see recent reports that “streaming in schools” is discriminatory and racist and yet, surely, The Plain Language Bill is much the same. It is implicitly assuming the hearer/reader lacks a certain level of intelligence or education. 

Policy-makers are now planning a monumental makeover for the legalese inherent in public documents that interface We, The People and Them, The Red Tape Brigade. To create a new “plain language” framework in the simplest possible terms. 

Jonathan Ayling: 'Plain Language Bill’- Another Solution Looking for a Problem

Parliament: an ironic place where contradictions abound. At first glance stately and formal, but under the surface we know skulduggery abounds. A place of quiet importance and hushed propriety, yet if you’ve ever seen Question Time (or a Caucus meeting), it gives a disrupted kindergarten a run for its money.

It’s fitting then that Rachel Boyack’s Plain Language Bill keeps up this ironic trend- a piece of Government writing filled with lots of big words about why they need to employ people to make sure their writing has small words. And yes, you’d think that government would already be writing in a way so that the people they represent can understand. But, well, there’s that irony again. As the Shadow Attorney-General, Chris Penk, claimed as simply as possible ‘this Bill is not good. In fact, it is bad.’

Point of Order: The case for introducing the Jargon-noughts – a police force to reduce public service jargon and pap to zero

Kiwiblog has drawn attention to a bit of legislation proceeding through Parliament which the blog headlines as The stupidest bill this year.

We didn’t learn about this private bill from the Beehive website because it is the work of Labour backbencher Rachel Boyack, who says professionals working in public services and Crown agencies often struggle to write in plain language.

This (Boyack says) acts as a barrier for many – including migrants, the disabled and those with English as a second language – from understanding what society is asking of them.

Her plain language bill, which passed its second reading in the House on Thursday, aims to make all public sector agencies use clear, concise language when communicating with the public.