Māori Party calling for te reo Māori on New Zealand coins

The Māori Party is calling for any new distribution of New Zealand coins to have both Māori and English on them.

The Reserve Bank is expected to roll out the first lot of $5 and $10 bank notes, which will feature more te reo Māori in October, followed by the $20, $50 and $100 bills next year.

The Party Co-leaders, Marama Fox and Te Ururoa Flavell, have enjoyed celebrating the 40thanniversary of Māori Language Week.

The pair have been thinking about various ways the language can be shared with other people.

One idea the two Co-leaders have come up with is to encourage Te Pūtea Matua [The Reserve Bank] to go one step further and make a commitment to splashing more te reo on new upcoming coins.

“In celebrating Māori Language Week, we think this small idea could make some huge change because everyone uses money. The Reserve Bank’s already made a commitment to change the bank notes”, says Marama Fox.

Te Ururoa Flavell says “why not make the coins bilingual too”.

“We’re not saying spend more money to change the look of our coins right now. But, what we are saying is when the current coins expire, it would be great for the new batch to have the Māori language on them not just images”, he says.

The Māori Party hopes to make an appointment with the Reserve Bank to see whether its idea can become a reality.

ENDS

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