Dave Mollard’s Change is Constant: Te reo Māori is what makes us unique

The Māori Language Petition was presented to Parliament on September 14, 1972.

OPINION

“For the vast majority of New Zealanders – including a very large number of New Zealanders with Māori ancestry – learning Māori has no practical value at all.” - Don Brash, 2018.

Aroha mai for starting my pānui with a quote from arch-conservative Don Brash, but in my view, it reflects an opinion many Kiwis still have: that te reo Māori is a waste of time.

I think Brash is wrong. He is an economist, so I’m assuming when he uses the term “practical value”, he is trying to put a financial value on language that by 1970 was almost dead. Yet he has failed to understand the financial reward our nation will have when we are all paddling in the same waka, acknowledging our history and doing everything we can to heal the inter-generational damage the Crown has inflicted on our first people.

Act leader David Seymour put an opportunity cost on the language when he stated making te reo compulsory would hurt New Zealand kids, who were already struggling with basic reading and writing skills.

He is wrong. Numerous studies have found learning a second language increases brain capacity, especially with regard to maths and science, and reduces brain deterioration as we age.

“The value of the Māori language is not so that we say in Māori precisely what we would say in English anyway; but rather that the Māori language is the vehicle of or an avenue into a distinctive way of thinking about, explaining and ultimately experiencing life.” - Charles Royal, 2018.

It has been proven time and time again that when people identify and feel connected to a culture, they contribute more positively to society, which is good for all of us who call New Zealand home.

“They are forcing Māori down our throats” is the cry many Kiwis use when seeing te reo Māori road signs and hearing it on 1 News at 6pm. Oh, the irony of not understanding that forcing English down the throats of iwi for almost 200 years is what almost killed a language and a culture. A language and a culture that is enshrined in our founding document, the Treaty that allowed me and other non-Māori to live here, including, I’m assuming, the ancestors of those who are complaining now.

On Sunday, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters claimed Māori are not indigenous because they have not lived here as long as the First Nation Australians have lived in Australia. Once again, another politician is, in my opinion, short on facts and long on talk.

All he needs to do is read the Oxford Dictionary to understand why he is wrong: indigenous - originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native - inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists.

While there are very close links between the culture of Aotearoa and the Cook Islands, there are many distinct differences to make them two separate worlds. Worlds separated by 3000 kilometres and centuries of isolation.

Apart from our flora and fauna, and the All Blacks, the only thing that differentiates our country from every other one is this place is the only place on our entire planet that has te ao Māori as an indigenous culture.

There are bigger mountains in Nepal, larger rivers in Africa, more lush forests in South America, and unfortunately better rugby teams in France, but we are the undisputed world champions of kapa haka, hāngī and pāua fritters.

I’m keen on learning more te reo Māori because it’s what makes us unique, it’s good for my brain and it’s good for my community. I invite you all to paddle in the same waka.

Kia kaha te reo Māori.

Dave Mollard is a Palmerston North community worker and social commentator.