In this putanga | issue of Reowatch:

Wow, Aotearoa, what a year! It’s hard to believe it’s all coming to a close, but believe me when I say I’m not disappointed to end the chapter.

It’s been a tough year for the language. Ministers have sunk to new lows, getting involved in individual contracts where Māori people are concerned, and interfering in language use within agencies. The public service has struggled to keep the Maihi Karauna rolling even though it should be easy to do given its strong law and policy controls. Individual public servants have done all kinds of weird and wacky things to get rid of the language. I questioned the political neutrality of such people earlier this month. I wrote how I felt the “public service lacks bravery right now – there is a rapidly declining belief that public agencies are politically neutral. I am concerned these agencies are caving so quickly today, that they could not serve a different government tomorrow.” When a normal government comes back into play we’ll see if those public servants reinstate the language as quickly as they erased it. If not, I’ll have been right.

On the other hand, the years has brought new life to the language in ways I didn’t predict (I’m a language planner, I should be able to predict it!). The State of Te Reo Māori report brought new light to the potential numbers of speakers we’ll have. We have more te reo Māori learners than we’ve ever had. We have had some revelations from the WAI3327 report, and we’ve celebrated some of our most unsung language heroes. We’ve published a bunch of books (including Matapēhi and Hare Pota me te Pakohu Kura Huna and some of us have even been wacky enough to soft-launch new businesses. The world of English might be fraught with despair and division, but the world of te reo Māori is a live and kicking. It is very exciting, indeed!

Thank you for joining me this year. It has been overwhelmingly lovely to hear from people as they read and open me up to a new opinion they hold, or a shared perspective on something I was unsure would fly with other people. It’s a real privilege to discuss te reo Māori with calm and intelligent minds. Tēnei ka mihi ake!

Reowatch will be taking a break coming up. January should be a time for resetting and rethinking - you’ll all be on holiday and I’ll be building a deck. February’s issue will be set and ready to go as usual, and I look forward to planning the new year’s language efforts when I connect with you all then.

Until Pepuere 2026, kōrerotia, waiatatia!

Vincent Ieni Olsen-Reeder

Kaietita, Reowatch