What, then, would the proposal change?
“Nothing,” says Andrew Geddis, a professor of law at the University of Otago.
Legislation is intended to solve problems, he says. “What is the social problem here that requires a solution? English is already an official language. It can be used in all public settings.”
Geddis refers to the policy as “virtue signalling”: “There seem to be some people out there who fear English is under threat and is somehow going to be overtaken in New Zealand. This [policy] seems to be a way to try to respond to that fear.”
Most of our news organisations for a start, they love dropping in a handful of Te Reo and making no effort to clarify what they meant.
They do some greetings in Te Reo and some place names when doing the weather. That is not “semi fluent” levels, and the rest is entirely in English.
They also use Te Reo place names when telling you what part of the country is getting locked down due to Covid.
I don’t remember any time they used ONLY the original name for lockdowns. Even if they did, every news agency had “Auckland” in big block letters as article titles. Even if they didn’t, I learned where Tāmaki Makaurau was the very first time it was used, by doing the same thing I’d do if they used an unfamiliar English word - looking it up.
You are either lying, didn’t watch or read any other news or are incredibly lazy if you want to complain about this trivial matter.
Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen
Well fuck you too then.
No, it doesn’t. But neither does your claim. Do you have an article that uses only the Te Reo name? I watched every press conference during the lockdowns, and I didn’t hear them only using the Te Reo name. Can you give a source for when this happened?