Wellington has given the next host city for Te Matatini a high benchmark to aspire to.
That’s the view of Tāmaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare, after seeing the way the capital city got behind the hosting of the biennial Māori performing arts competition.
He says Wellington City Council showed it was on board with flags, banners and even changing the pedestrian lights, as well as using the event as a chance to highlight its new Māori language strategy.
"There’s a sense here that they believe in it, that they really promote te reo Māori right across the city whether Matatini was here or not, so that’s the challenge for Tāmaki Makaurau, I think we’ve got two years to grow a culture of accepting and promotion of te reo Māori and tikanga and Māori itself in Tamaki and I think that’s the only way it’s going to be a hit, Te Matatini in 2021," Mr Henare says.
!["p_facebook"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/facebook.jpg")
& !["p_twitter"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/twitter.jpg")
Copyright © 2019, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
