(CNN) — Lawmakers in New Zealand have passed a bill to make English one of the country’s official languages.
The move was widely ridiculed in the Pacific Rim nation, where English is already widely used, including in courts and parliament.
The English Language Bill states that the addition of English as an official language, alongside Māori and the country’s sign language, will not mean any new rules are needed for it to continue being used in legal, political and government settings or documents.
More than 95% of New Zealand’s population — or almost 4.8 million people — spoke English as of 2023, according to government data. Just 4.3% spoke Māori and 0.5% used sign language.
‘Just stupid’
The bill — campaigned for by the nationalist New Zealand First party, part of the coalition government — passed its third reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
In a video of a speech from that reading that has been viewed more than six million times on Instagram, Tamatha Paul, a member of New Zealand’s left-wing Green party, condemned the move as a waste of time, saying the “snowflake” government “see te reo Māori and they shiver in their boots.”
Te reo Māori is the language of New Zealand’s indigenous Māori people and was the primary language before the country became a British colony in 1840.
The education system established by the colonial government aimed to assimilate Māori into the burgeoning new society by discouraging the use of the native language, leading to a widespread decline in its use. But a campaign by Māori to revive the language in the early 1970s led to the establishment of the first bilingual schools, and to te reo Māori being made an official language in the 1980s.
“We had to march our asses to parliament demanding that the indigenous first language of this country be recognized and not beaten out of the mouths of its native speakers,” Paul said.
She then pointed out that English is not even a formal official language in England. “Even they know that it’s just stupid.” English is a de facto official language in England, although the 1730 Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act requires English to be used in courtrooms and court documents, according to the UK government website.
The opposition Labour Party voted through the bill, despite members’ misgivings. During the debate, Labour MP Camilla Belich mockingly mused, “I wondered if they might want to legislate for the changing of the seasons?”
In a report presented to the House in June, the country’s Justice Committee said it received written submissions from 1,601 people and groups regarding the bill, and almost two-thirds of these opposed it.
According to the report, opponents of the move argued that making English an official language would be “an unnecessary use of resources,” create “unnecessary division within society,” and would be “undermining the two other official languages” and their legislation, which gave those minority languages stronger rights and supported their use in legal proceedings.
‘Not trivial’
Those in support of the bill said the legislation would clarify the long-accepted status of English and, since the bill would not introduce any new rights for the language, would cause little harm.
Casey Costello, a member of the New Zealand First party, was among those who defended the move in parliament during the third reading.
She said the purpose of the “short, straightforward bill” is to “recognize in legislation what has long been assumed in New Zealand. Namely, that English is an official language of our country.”
“Despite what has been claimed across this House, this bill is important and far from the claimed ‘waste of time,’” Costello added, before going on to say, “It is not trivial, unnecessary or a distraction to this House in a democracy to deliver for those who elected us to this House.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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