Twenty-five years ago, Parliament passed the Maori Language Act 1987, declaring Maori to be an official language of New Zealand. And next week, our court system will finally around to recognising this, with court announcements in Maori as well as English. However, not everyone is happy about it:
But Sensible Sentencing Trust national spokesman Garth McVicar called the move a waste of time.The benefit is the same as for Maori signage, Maori broadcasting, and simultaneous translation into Maori in Parliament: ensuring basic access, and recognising that all of these institutions belong to Maori as well as Pakeha. but clearly, that's valueless to McVicar. He's not just a vengeful arsehole; he's a racist vengeful arsehole."A lot of the victims that we deal with, their issues have been frustrated by the clogging within the court system at present.
"So in my opinion it's pouring salt into the wound. What's the benefit of it, realistically?"