Maori speech stymies Nats

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 1

Maori speech stymies Nats

By

PETER LUKE,

political

reporter

The Maori Affairs’ Estimates debate turned to an argument over Maori language last evening, and the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Wetere, was spared a full grilling on his department’s finances. The member of Parliament for Northern Maori, Dr Bruce Gregory, sparked a raft of points of order when he spoke to the Estimates in Maori.

The Opposition spokesman on Maori affairs, Mr Winston Peters — himself a Maori —

claimed that Mr Gregory had breached the House’s rules by not talking about the Estimates.

Mr Wetere immediately denied this, and other Government members upheld Dr Gregory’s right to speak in either English or Maori. The committee chairman, Mr Trevor Young, said he was in a dilemma. He initially suggested that Dr Gregory, while entitled to speak in Maori, should spend part of his time giving an English summary of what he had said. But it was pointed out that

the House’s Standing Orders had changed in 1985, and there was no longer any qualification attached to a Maori speech. On the insistence of the Government, the House recalled the Speaker, Mr Burke, to give a ruling. Mr Burke maintained that Standing Orders were quite clear and that Dr Gregory had every right to use the Maori language. Speakers on both sides of the House acknowledged the importance of the issue of Maori language in the House.

But it was not lost on the Opposition that last evening was the last opportunity to debate the Estimates, and that the Maori language issue had eaten up three-quarters of an hour.

The Maori Affairs Estimates were among the last to be debated and had been preceded by fierce argument in the select committee stage.

“This is the only way they could save Koro (Mr Wetere),” one Opposition member interjected.

Further reports, pages 2, 3.