National MPs disagree over bilingual road signs
National Party leader Christopher Luxon says he doesn’t oppose bilingual road signs in theory, but also doesn’t want NZTA to go ahead and print them.
Luxon attempted to clarify his party’s position on the road signs after transport spokesperson Simeon Brown said they didn’t support them. National moved to downplay Brown’s comments on Monday, with Chris Bishop saying the party actually had no issue ‘‘in principle’’ with bilingual signage.
But Brown yesterday repeated his view that bilingual signs could be confusing.
‘‘Most people understand English and speak English,’’ he said.
He declined to say if he found the proposed designs, which do feature English, confusing.
Meanwhile, Luxon tried to frame National’s objection as a concern about financing rather than about the actual content of the signs.
‘‘You’ve got a huge amount of people time and energy being spent doing this,’’ he said.
‘‘You know there are people sucked into this project.’’
In a statement, NZTA said its bilingual signs project was ‘‘low cost’’ and would be rolled out gradually when signs need replacing. The Māori language organisation Te Mātawai had started the project.
Asked if he was happy to see te reo on new signs when they were needed, Luxon said he thought it shouldn’t be a ‘‘priority’’.
‘‘I’m not opposed to te reo. I’m not opposed to bilingual signage per se, but it’s just the wrong priority.’’
National MP Harete Hipango, who is campaigning in Te Tai Hauāuru, moved to distance herself from some colleagues on this issue.
‘‘You’ll need to talk to my colleague Simeon Brown, he made the comment. My comment is, te reo Māori is an official language of this country,’’ she said.
Asked if she was disappointed with her colleague’s comments on te reo, she replied: ‘‘I would say that it’s not a view I agree with.’’
Another National MP, Barbara Kuriger, said she was ‘‘happy’’ with the bilingual signs. ‘‘There’s other things we need to be talking about. If it’s done progressively, and it’s not taking priority over potholes, I’m comfortable with it.’’
Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan said the bilingual road signs programme had eventuated with Te Mātawai, and wasn’t slowing down any road maintenance.
Allan also rejected the safety concerns raised by National, saying many other countries – such as Ireland, Hong Kong and Wales – had used bilingual signs with no issue.
‘‘I find Simeon Brown and Christopher Luxon’s articulation is almost like they think New Zealanders aren’t smart enough. You know, the rest of the world seem to have embraced bilingualism and multilingualism,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s a real insult to New Zealanders and to our IQ. Look, even Young ACT has swung in to support the bilingual signs. Now’s the time. Whether you like it or not, te reo Māori is an official language.’’
She said the East Coast was set to need a lot of new road signs over the next few months, as cyclone repairs continued. A high proportion of te reo speakers live in Tairāwhiti.
National’s focus on bilingual signs came a few days after Luxon made similar comments about the
more general use of te reo in the public service. At a rally in Auckland, he agreed with attendees there was ‘‘a problem’’ with too many Government departments adopting bilingual names.
Last week, NZTA released draft designs for 90 bilingual road signs. It followed a successful roll-out of bilingual ‘‘school / kura’’ signs last year.
Consultation on the new signs was scheduled to close at the end of June.