Professor Whatarangi Winiata
TVNZ Television New Zealand, Te karere
‘I must ensure that my children speak Māori better than me.’
Ngāti Raukawa descendant and veteran scholar Professor Whatarangi Winiata was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Māori Language Awards in 2018, recognition of his contribution to the revitalisation of te reo over half a century.
In 1975 Professor Winiata – recently appointed to the chair in accountancy at Victoria University of Wellington – pioneered the Generation 2000 strategy to revitalise the language in the Kāpiti district, north of Wellington.
His son Pakeke Winiata told the 2018 awards ceremony that he did this, ‘One, to return te reo as the first language for his whānau, second among his extended relations, third his people and fourth, to all people.’
Using his expertise as a professor of business studies, he insisted that Māori must be spoken in the home if it was to thrive: ‘I must ensure that my children speak Māori better than me.’
Today, as a result of his efforts, Ōtaki is a bilingual town, with Māori spoken in 50% of its homes.
Whatarangi Winiata was Chief Executive of Te Wānanga o Raukawa from 1994 to 2007 and the founding President of the Māori Party (2004–2009).