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The govt wants iwi to take charge
of reviving the reo in their communities
under Te Matawai,
but language experts say that iwi cannot save it
from extinction.
To talk on this, we have Timoti Karetu,
Maori Language guru from Tuhoe and Ngati Kahungunu.
Seven of the nine members
of Te Matawai will represent all our tribes -
how can they succeed
when there are so many more than seven iwi?
That's a great question, but a rhetorical one.
What a ludicrous idea.
They won't win.
Iwi will not let themselves be lead by outsiders.
To me, it's a fool's errand.
It seems you're saying the scheme is flawed.
Yes, strategy after strategy, Scotty, and what's new?
As your elders have told you,
it is in speaking the language that the language will survive.
I'm of that school of thought.
So what should we be doing -
spending the govt's money on people already speaking the language?
I've always believed that, but money is not the remedy
for our dying tongue, Scotty, as we both know.
For the language to survive, people must want to speak it,
they must be willing to work hard for it,
and they must be staunch in their belief
that this language should be treasured forever more.
The Maori Minister may also be establishing
a new group Called Te Matawai to host Te Mangai Paho,
the Maori Language Commission and Maori TV - your thoughts?
I see no point in it.
I really don't.
Te Taura Whiri and TMP
are currently achieving the same thing, as are others.
How will establishing a new group help?
That's the question -
what new feat can this group achieve?
The government spends $220 million on te reo Maori every year,
and yet the language is still in dire straits.
Do you think the strategy is headed in the right direction
in looking to families, hapu and iwi for the language's revival?
Don't make me laugh.
Iwi are to blame for the poor state of the language.
Why return the language to those who allowed it to die
in the first place?
They're saying that iwi are fighting for the language,
and if that were true, I'd agree to the idea.
The funding should go to those
who are active in the fight for our language's survival.
Anything else seems pointless.
So if Pita Sharples were to call you for your opinion on his strategy,
what would you say?
Throw it out and start again?
Exactly!
Throw it out and get back to the drawing board.
Spend the funding on those we know are fighting the good fight.
What about putting $1.5 million towards sending Maori speakers
to teach families to speak Maori?
You no doubt support that part of the strategy?
To an extent.
I maintain that money will not keep our language alive.
We both know that.
If we want the language to survive, we must all play our part.
The problem is that Maori are indifferent toward the language.
That's why it's dying.
What should we be doing to keep our language alive?
Spend the funding on those of us
who slave away tirelessly for the language,
our kind, our generation, because this generation is thriving
while their parents are lacking.
Even those who are not first language Maori speakers,
they work tirelessly to keep the language alive.
Send the money there.
The problem with spending the funding on a select few
is that some may accuse us of reserving the language
for avid disciples only.
We've heard this allegation many times before -
that we're secreting the language for a select few of the elite
when it should be taught far and wide to encourage its growth.
How long have we struggled to have the masses attend?
And to what end?
I say spend it on those of us who have earned it,
and perhaps that group can spread the word to their people.
If you just spread the money thinly over the country,
you'll see no return.
Should Maori be compulsory in all schools?
I see no benefit to that.
The idea has been tested in other countries,
but the goals of those who proposed the idea came to nothing.
If you were to focus on those with parents interested in learning,
that would be a better use of funds.
The difficulty may be in sorting the sincere from the rest?
That's right,
and that's where we have to take care.
Those of us who are veterans of the cause
must be wary of bludgers who come, take what they can, and leave.
Timoti Karetu, thank you for joining us.
We invited Maori Minister Pita Sharples
to discuss the strategy today, but he declined our invite.