It was a big day at parliament with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, Te Puni Kōkiri, and Te Māngai Pāho all appearing before the Māori Affairs Select Committee (MASC) for their annual reviews. A number of issues were discussed, in particular the Māori Language Bill.
Erima Henare is no stranger to the Māori Affairs Select Committee, but his remarks today were perhaps news to some.
Yes, the Māori Language Bill frightened and caused stress to the Māori Language Commission.
Te Puni Kōkiri is the lead Govt agency when regarding policy work for the Māori Language Bill. Given its troubles thus far the question was whether Te Puni Kōkiri gave appropriate advice to the previous minister, Pita Sharples?
In terms of operational issues, filling certain vacancies was a similar problem for both TPK and the Māori Language Commission.
The TPK refocus has been two years in the making so far and they still haven't managed to fill four of the eight senior advisory roles.
There's certainly a lot of work ahead.