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A New Plymouth councillor is at the center of a backlash over a Facebook post in which he described te reo Maori "as being kept alive on a respirator".
Murray Chong Photo: Glenn Jeffrey
In a Facebook post discussing compulsory te reo in schools, Murray Chong said $600 million was being spent annually on Māori language initiatives - more than $33,000 for each of the country's 18,000 fluent speakers - and asked if it was time to give the language away for lost.
"Is Maori a dead language being kept alive on a respirator?" he asks in the post.
The original post was private but it was reposted by New Plymouth businessman Dinnie Moeahu and it has since received hundreds of comments and dozens of shares.
Mr Moeahu says the post is racist and based on bogus facts.
The Maori Language Commission says Mr Chong's comments are unhelpful
The council says it has received complaints about the post which will go through a formal process.
Mr Chong says the comments are his personal view only.
Former mayor Andrew Judd, who last year described himself as a recovering racist, says the posts reflect a lack of understanding, both locally and nationally, about New Zealand's past and colonisation.
Andrew Judd te reo facebook post "a consequence of our ignorance"