A measure that appears largely symbolic has triggered sharp criticism, raising fresh questions about language, identity, and the protection of M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Government has passed a bill that will officially make English one of the country\u2019s languages.<\/p>\n
The move has been widely mocked across the Pacific region, where English is already extensively used, including in the courts and Parliament.<\/p>\n
The English Language Bill states that adding English as an official language alongside M\u0101ori and New Zealand Sign Language will not introduce any new rules governing the use of English in legal, political or governmental contexts or documents.<\/p>\n
According to the government, more than 95% of the country\u2019s population \u2013 nearly 4.8 million people \u2013 spoke English as of 2023; 4.3% spoke M\u0101ori and 0.5% used sign language.<\/p>\n
Timeline of the bill\u2019s passage<\/p>\n
The bill, introduced by the National\u2013New Zealand First coalition, which is part of the coalition government, passed its third reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201ccondemned the move as a waste of time, saying that the government, which has been called a \u2018snowflake,\u2019 sees te reo M\u0101ori and trembles in its boots.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Tamatha Paul<\/p>\n
In a video of her speech during the reading, which garnered more than six million views, Tamatha Paul criticized the decision.<\/p>\n
M\u0101ori held primary status as New Zealand\u2019s main language before the country became a British colony in 1840. It became an official language in the early 1980s, when a series of revitalization programs was launched.<\/p>\n
Paul added that M\u0101ori has protected status because it was systematically suppressed; people had spoken in Parliament, calling for the country\u2019s Indigenous language to be recognized and preventing it from being devalued among its speakers.<\/p>\n
She also noted that English is not formally an official language in England. \u201cEven they understand that it\u2019s simply ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opposition Labour Party supported the bill, despite reservations among some of its members. During the debate, Labour MP Camilla Belich remarked ironically: \u201cI was wondering whether they could pass legislation to change the seasons?\u201d<\/p>\n
According to a report by the Justice Committee, written submissions were received from 1,601 people and groups during a hearing in June, with nearly two-thirds opposing further action.<\/p>\n
Supporters of the bill believe that its passage will clarify the status of English and introduce no new rights, but merely confirm what had previously been widely understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of this short, straightforward bill is to enshrine in legislation what New Zealand has long regarded as established fact: namely, that English is an official language of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Casey Costello<\/p>\n
Costello also argued that, despite the controversy, the bill is important for formalizing the existing status of English without granting any new rights.<\/p>\n
In its conclusion, Parliament stated that the law would not bring about significant changes to the legal system, but would help clarify the status of English in government documents and legal proceedings. The bill was put to a vote following prolonged discussions in society and political circles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A measure that appears largely symbolic has triggered sharp criticism, raising fresh questions about language, identity, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[274467,274468,111,274469,274466,274470,43,139,69,274471],"class_list":["post-557789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-english-language-law","tag-maori-language","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-english-language-bill","tag-new-zealand-english-language-bill-official-languages-new-zealand-maori-language-new-zealand-politics-english-language-law","tag-new-zealand-politics","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-official-languages-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}