[lg policy] New Zealand: Govt must act on calls for national language policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Govt must act on calls for national language policy
Tuesday, 5 March 2013, 5:37 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Rajen
PRASAD
Ethnic Affairs Spokesperson
Su’a William
SIO
Pacific Island Affairs Spokesperson

5 March 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT
Govt must act on calls for national language policy

The Government is under increasing pressure to adopt a comprehensive
language policy, says Rajen Prasad, Labour’s spokesperson for Ethnic
Affairs and Su’a William Sio, Labour’s spokesperson for Pacific Island
Affairs.
“In the second report in just a week, the Government is being urged to
develop a broader language policy.

“The Royal Society’s launch of its paper on Languages in Aotearoa New
Zealand, comes off the back of a comprehensive UN report on the on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination in New Zealand, which also
cautioned the Government about the effects of its lacklustre language
policy.

“The Government should use the momentum generated by these reports to
spur its language policy forward,” Rajen Prasad said.

“The Royal Society’s Professors Paul Spoonley and Richard Bedford are
spot on, New Zealand is a ‘superdiverse’ country, and our cultural
complexity needs to be reflected in the way we fund and preserve
languages.

“Ethnic New Zealanders should be empowered to grow up with a strong
ethnic as well as a New Zealand identity. Language is the soul of this
diversity and it cannot be left to individual ethnic families to
inculcate and promote,” Rajen Prasad said.

“The Royal Society has provided a very strong rational for the
development of a languages policy for New Zealand.

“Having more than one language under your belt opens doors for our
kids,” Su’a William Sio said.

“As a Pacific nation New Zealand has an obligation to protect and
preserve the languages of the Pacific. The Government needs to respond
to the issues raised in these reports, and spur our languages policy
forward,” Su’a William Sio said.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1303/S00065/govt-must-act-on-calls-for-national-language-policy.htm

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