Māori Language Week has seen a surge in the use of te reo Māori in Parliament. File picture. Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Parliament's Nga Ratonga Ao Māori translation team had their work cut out for them this week as the use of te reo Māori in the House surged in tribute to Māori Language Week.
This week is the 50th anniversary of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week), and increasingly, with each year, the celebration usually coincides with an uptick of MPs using te reo in the House, particularly during Question Time.
Parliament's relationship with the Māori language however, is one that predates the inception of Māori language week. Te reo has been spoken in the halls of Parliament since the 1860s, when the first Māori MPs were elected. As early as 1880, Parliament had a small group of interpreters who translated speeches, petitions, and engagements with Māori members of the public.
Back to 2025 and the sitting week kicked off with the usual customary procedures of the Parliamentary day - the Speakers' procession and the reading of the prayer, but these were conducted in Māori throughout the week.
Wā Pātai
During Question Time this week, some MPs questions, before being asked in English, were prefaced with things like "tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare" which is the usual acknowledgement of the Speaker that MPs are expected to give before launching into their question.
Other members this week, like Te Pati Māori's Debbie Ngawera Packer, chose to ask some of their questions entirely in te reo. She asked the prime minister, "e tautoko ana ia i ngā kōrero me ngā mahi katoa a tōna Kāwanatanga?"
There are quite a few fluent speakers of te reo Māori in this Parliament, but not all MPs can understand te reo. Thankfully, there are earpieces available in every seat of the chamber from which members can hear a simultaneous translation of what's being said, courtesy of Parliament's Nga Ratonga Ao Māori translation team.
This did make for a few awkward moments of silence though, as the prime minister listened intently through his apparently faulty earpiece before getting back up to answer.
In his ear he would have heard Ngawera Packer's question in English, one he had been asked a million times before - "Does he stand by all of his government's statements and actions?"
It wasn't just the odd question that was made in te reo though. In fact, during Thursday's Question Time, an exchange between Te Pāti Māori's Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke and National's Tama Potaka regarding the government's track record on upholding obligations to te reo, was entirely in te reo.
Maipi-Clarke began by asking "ēnā rā koe, e te Pīka. E whakapono ana ia ki ngā mahi a te Kāwanatanga kia whakapūmautia te reo Māori?" (Does he stand by the government's track record on upholding obligations to te reo Māori?)
To which Potaka offered a simple "āna" (yes).
Maipi-Clark's supplementary, or follow-up questions asked whether the government's policies around the use of te reo Māori within government departments were damaging to revitalisation efforts.
In reply, Potaka said "at times it improves, at times it declines, but we should not mistakenly believe that it is up to the Crown to revitalise our language. However, it is up to the many ranks of whānau, of hapū, and of iwi to revitalise our language, and it will be up to the government and the Crown to fortify it."
Whether you agree with Potaka or not, as part of that fortification he spoke of, the Crown made te reo an official language in 1987, with its usage steadily increasing throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Accordingly, Parliament established a permanent translation service for the House in 1999, and the following year this was expanded to select committees, with simultaneous interpretation introduced in 2010.
Thanks to them, even with faulty earpieces and those little moments of pre-translation awkwardness, New Zealand's unique bilingualism can be showcased in our legislature.
RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk.
