Stats NZ figures show 30% of Kiwis can speak more than a few words or phrases of te reo Māori, and three in five New Zealanders say it should be a core subject in primary schools.
King Charles even used our native tongue to address Māori following the loss of their King, she said.
“If King Charles is comfortable with it, I’m not terribly sure why a New Zealand government should be uncomfortable with it,” she said.
But latest moves by the coalition government, including a review of the Treaty Principles Bill which sets out the rights of Māori, created division, she said.
“Even if this bill is killed off as it goes through Parliament, and it seems that may be the case, what it has done is created an environment that has encouraged increasing levels of race hatred ... opened by pieces of legislation like this,” she said.
Professor Stephen May from the University of Auckland said the language was under attack from a small but vocal group of New Zealanders who were rallying against the use of te reo Māori.
“There is a residue of older, Pakeha, monolingual English speakers who grew up at a time in Aotearoa when te reo Māori was still invisibilised by colonisation, who just can’t get their heads around the increasing visibility of it in Aotearoa today. These people don’t even like the kupu (word) Aotearoa for example,” he said.
However, younger New Zealanders were helping to shift that paradigm, he said.
“Younger New Zealanders, including those who have come to live here over the last 20-30 years or so are generally more open to te reo Māori. This is possibly because many New Zealanders are themselves already bilingual or multilingual,” May said.
Henry added she did not want to see a return to the time where Māori were seen as inferior to Pakeha - as she once was.
“I found out I was a dirty Māori. I found out that I couldn’t go to my friend’s house because I was a dirty Māori. You inculcate that stuff as a small child, and it has the potential to break you,” the 70-year-old said.
That’s why the continued promotion of the language was so important, she said.
“Research shows people who go through Kohanga Reo are three times more likely to be enrolled in tertiary education and less likely to be incarcerated,” she said.
Professor Stephen May there were other benefits to being able to speak another language too.
“Bilingualism – in any combination of languages – is a cognitive, social, and educational advantage and mitigates the development of dementia. So, if bilingualism is so clearly advantageous, why not become bilingual in te reo Māori – the language that is of this whenua, this land – as part of understanding more fully what it means to be a New Zealander,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the revival of te reo Māori.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
The podcast is presented by Susie Nordqvist, a former presenter and producer for TVNZ and Newshub. She began her career as a newspaper reporter and was a finalist for best newsreader at this year’s NZ Radio & Podcast Awards for her work at Newstalk ZB.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story originally said 30% of New Zealanders were proficient in te reo Māori.
