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Download AudioNZ First leader Winston Peters has called for English to be an official language.
He says it amazes him te reo Māori and NZ sign language are official but not English.
He says it’s leading to Māori being inserted into official documents even though 95 percent of those reading it don’t understand.
“All communication should be about understanding. If you throw in a whole lot of Māori words and the person’s lost all idea of what they’re reading, then you’re not going to have plain language, you’re not gong to have understanding and you’re not going to get through the message and if it needs to be in Māori then put it in Māori but stop mixing them up together as if it was part of what I call the plain language intent,” Mr Peters says.
He says the vast majority of Māori can’t understand what’s being said either.
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