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English to become official language of NZ alongside Te Reo Māori and sign language
English will join Te Reo Māori and sign language as an official language of New Zealand, after the English Language Bill passed its third and final reading at Parliament.
The bill, in the name of Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, is just two pages long, and states English “has long been a de facto official language in New Zealand, that is, widely used and accepted as an official language, but its official language status is not set out in legislation”.
Once again, Goldsmith did not contribute to the debate. He has previously said the bill was not a priority, but was a coalition commitment.
New Zealand First got the bill into the coalition agreement, and speaking at the third reading, MP Casey Costello said the bill was important to the “hard-working Kiwi battlers” her party represented, and denied it was a waste of time.
“It is not trivial, unnecessary, or a distraction to this House in a democracy to deliver for those who elected us to this House,” she said.
Costello said the bill provided clarity and certainty in legislation, and changed none of the existing legal protections afforded to Te Reo Māori or New Zealand sign language.
Her contribution was significantly less combative than New Zealand First leader Winston Peters’ call at the first reading of the legislation in February.
VNP / Louis Collins
Back then, Peters said the purpose of the bill was to help solve a “virtue signalling narrative,” and that New Zealand should be using English as the primary and language.
Now, his colleague Costello said the purpose of the bill was providing clarity in law.
“This is a practical measure. It aligns the statute book with long-standing practice, and provides a clear statement about the status of English within New Zealand’s official framework.”
‘Snowflake government’ – opposition questions the bill’s purpose
Opposition parties have questioned the government’s priorities, given most laws are already written in English.
Green MP Tamatha Paul said the bill’s proponents were “bunch of snowflakes that hear the word Aotearoa and cry themselves to sleep,” and noted English was also not an official language of England.
“Let me tell you why Te Reo Māori has a protected language status, because it was beaten out of Māori systematically. We had to march our arses to Parliament, demanding that the indigenous first language of this country be recognised and not beaten out of the mouth of its native speakers.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Paul has recently returned from a cross-party visit to the Welsh Senedd.
“They’ve got their their beautiful indigenous language, Cymraeg, everywhere before English. And guess what? The world didn’t fall over, and the world didn’t end. People still knew where they were going. In fact, people saw it and thought, ‘wow, we’re in a country that values their indigenous language and identity,’ unlike our snowflake government that cannot handle Te Reo Māori.”
Her colleague Lawrence Xu-Nan, who on Wednesday had been told by Peters to “go back to your own country,” asked what the House was protecting the English language from.
“What is an example where English has not been otherwise provided for? There is no response to that. Because there is no instance that a minister can think of that will make this bill fulfil any requirement of why we need to legislate or give a legislative recognition of an official language status to English.”
Speaking in Te Reo Māori, Te Pāti Māori MP Oriini Kaipara spoke of the “pain Māori has taken to establish its space in this country,” while English had not followed the same path.
“What benefit will come from this kaupapa, from this event? Why are these hours and the time of all of these Members being used up in this way? Why are we spending all this time on this bill, when we know that English is already the main language of New Zealand?”
Parliament TV
Despite being opposed to the legislation philosophically, Labour voted it through the House.
Labour MP Duncan Webb said the bill was “silly” and “meaningless”, while his colleague Camilla Belich said New Zealand First was attempting to politicise what was already a self-evident truth.
“I wondered if they might want to legislate for the changing of the seasons? Or for the fact that there are sometimes four seasons in one day in Auckland, or whether they should legislate for the southerly winds to blow through Wellington?”
ACT’s Simon Court said his party supported the bill because many New Zealanders had been asking for it.
“When we go to a hospital, for example, and we want to find our way to the ward, find our way to an appointment, of course, the English language is important. Same if you’re an air traffic controller. Better make sure you’re using English so the pilots understand how to land, where to land the plane.”
In a sign the bill was not really a National Party priority, National MPs’ contributions were short.
Carl Bates and Paulo Garcia said little more than their commending the bill to the House, Greg Fleming delivered his contribution mostly in Te Reo Māori, and Vanessa Weenink said sometimes the best medical intervention one could do was as much of nothing as possible.
“English was the principal language of this house before this bill. It will be our principal language after this bill. The only thing, Madam Speaker, that has really changed, is that we’ve spent several hours speaking in English about it,” she said.
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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