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National education spokesperson Nikki Kaye’s Strengthening Second Language Learning Bill had got the big cross from a prominent Labour Māori candidate.
The bill, which passed its first reading last week and has gone to a select committee, would require the government to set at least ten national priority languages including te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, and support teaching these languages in primary and intermediate schools.
Northcote candidate Shanan Halbert, who works in the tertiary education sector, says what the country needs is a real commitment to the revitalisation of te reo Māori, which will only be achieved through everyone learning te reo Māori as a country.
"I’m not interested in Kaye's Bill which is a toe in the water of possibly learning te reo Māori or possibly learning Mandarin. Our commitment needs to be firmly for te reo Māori at this point and then other languages," he says.
Shanan Halbert
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