February 24, 2015
Te Matawai not rangatiratanga
Maori language experts are having second thoughts about the rewrite of the Maori Language Act.
Waihoroi Shortland from Ngati Hine says a national language hui last week head real concerns about former Maori affairs minister Pita Sharples’ plan for a new body, Te Matawai, to oversee the Maori language commission, Maori broadcast funding agency, Maori television and other language-related initiatives.
He says creating a new bureaucracy to oversee other bureaucracies doesn’t seem a wise use of resources.
Te Matawai needs to be seen as a government strategy, rather than the expression of rangatiratanga Dr Sharples claimed it would be.
" Is this thing called Matawai doing the job we might want it to do. If it is a job about championing Maori rights and we are putting Maori people into it, then it ought to be the tool that we use to bang the government over the head with. It shouldn't be the other way around, that it ends up being the tool the government uses through it's strategy, through it's laws to bang our heads " he says.
Waihoroi Shortland says new Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell needs to have the courage to review the plan.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH WAIHOROI SHORTLAND CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjY1NzA=
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