The Green Party has put te reo Māori firmly into its Election 2026 campaign, promising an additional $50 million every year to strengthen the language in schools, homes, whānau, hapū, iwi and communities across Aotearoa.
Announced during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, the policy would direct the largest share of the new investment towards teachers while increasing funding for Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and Te Mātāwai.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says the party wants te reo Māori to flourish across generations and believes achieving that requires sustained investment rather than treating language revitalisation as a short-term project.
$30 MILLION FOR TEACHERS
Under the Green proposal, $30 million a year would go towards programmes providing continuous te reo Māori education and professional development for teachers.
The policy recognises the increasing expectations being placed on schools to incorporate te reo Māori while many teachers are themselves at different stages of their language journey.
The Greens want to strengthen the capability and confidence of teachers rather than expecting schools to expand the use of te reo without providing the workforce investment required to support that change.
For tamariki and rangatahi, that could mean greater exposure to te reo Māori throughout their education and more teachers equipped to use the language confidently in everyday classroom environments.
$20 MILLION FOR TE TAURA WHIRI AND TE MĀTĀWAI
Another $20 million annually would increase funding for Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and Te Mātāwai.
The two organisations occupy different but important positions within the wider revitalisation effort.
Te Taura Whiri has played a central role in promoting and supporting te reo Māori nationally, while Te Mātāwai has a particular focus on revitalisation led by iwi, hapū, whānau and Māori communities.
The Greens argue both need greater resources if Aotearoa wants language revitalisation to happen not simply through government institutions but where language ultimately survives — within homes and communities.
FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE KĀINGA
That distinction is important.
The future of te reo Māori cannot rest solely on schools.
Schools can teach the language, government agencies can support it and broadcasters can help normalise it, but intergenerational language transmission ultimately depends on te reo being spoken between mātua, tamariki, kaumātua and mokopuna.
The Green policy therefore attempts to strengthen both sides of the equation.
Investment in teachers would increase capability within education.
Investment through Te Taura Whiri and Te Mātāwai would provide additional support for revitalisation beyond the school gate.
The goal is a language that is not simply learned but lived.
DAVIDSON TAKES AIM AT GOVERNMENT DIRECTION
The announcement also draws a clear political dividing line.
Davidson has accused the coalition Government of failing to adequately fund community language revitalisation and of creating unnecessary conflict around the use of te reo Māori.
That is the Green Party’s political assessment and will be contested by Government parties, but there has been significant debate during this parliamentary term around the use of Māori names and language across government agencies and the public sector.
For the Greens, those arguments form part of a bigger question about whether government policy is helping normalise te reo Māori or making its use another political battleground.
TE WIKI CELEBRATES A LONG JOURNEY
The announcement comes during a week that carries enormous significance for the Māori language movement.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori traces its modern history to the Māori language petition presented to Parliament in 1972, when more than 30,000 people called for te reo Māori to be taught in schools.
The first Māori Language Week followed in 1975.
Te reo Māori became an official language of New Zealand in 1987.
Those milestones were achieved after generations in which the language had experienced severe decline and Māori communities fought to ensure its survival.
The contemporary revitalisation movement has since expanded through kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori, wānanga, iwi initiatives, broadcasting, education and whānau-led language programmes.
AKE, AKE, AKE — BUT WHAT COMES NEXT?
The theme Ake, Ake, Ake – A Forever Language captures the challenge now confronting political parties.
Te reo Māori has become considerably more visible across Aotearoa, but visibility alone does not guarantee intergenerational survival.
The challenge is moving from knowing individual kupu and greetings to creating enough confident speakers, teachers and language-rich homes for te reo to function naturally across everyday life.
That takes people.
It takes teachers.
It takes whānau.
And, the Greens argue, it takes sustained funding.
TE REO BECOMES AN ELECTION KAUPAPA
With Election 2026 approaching, the future of te reo Māori is again becoming a clear point of political difference.
The Greens are putting a specific number on their commitment — an additional $50 million every year, with $30 million targeted towards teachers and $20 million towards Te Taura Whiri and Te Mātāwai.
For voters, the debate will be about whether that investment represents the priority and scale required, and what other political parties are prepared to commit to language revitalisation.
Because after decades of fighting to save te reo Māori, the next challenge is different.
It is no longer enough for our reo simply to survive. The ambition now is for it to flourish — in our kura, on our marae, throughout our communities and, most importantly, around the kitchen tables of whānau across Aotearoa.
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