More National Party MPs and ministers say they have taken taxpayer-funded reo Māori lessons, after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's admission on Monday.
Luxon this month criticised public spending on te reo Māori lessons for public servants, saying "in the real world, outside of Wellington and outside the bubble of Parliament ... people actually pay for it themselves. It's quite normal".
His office confirmed on Monday his own lessons had been funded out of the public purse. He was unable to say how much they cost, and in the afternoon denied it was hypocritical to then threaten to scrap incentives for public servants to learn.
"I think that would make me a better prime minister or better leader of the opposition by actually doing that and so using those funds for those purposes I think was a good use of that investment and I would encourage, frankly, anyone to invest in that professional development here at Parliament," he said.
"Key part of my job, I felt, so that's why I feel like learning te reo was a good thing and I'll continue to do that going forward".
Heading into the caucus meeting on Tuesday, more National MPs also admitted to have taken reo Māori lessons on the public's dollar.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she had taken publicly funded reo Māori lessons when she first became an MP, funded out of her MP's budget.
"We haven't issued any guidance to limit the use of professional development for te reo Māori ... what I've asked is that the public service ensure that the guidance is clear that where te reo Māori skills and knowledge is required for a role that's reflected in base remuneration," she said.
"Where people need to work on their skills and their knowledge to better perform their roles, then this is something that should be considered."
She said she would be happy to release advice when the government made final decisions about how it would "ensure that remuneration across the public service better reflects the base skills and knowledge that we expect them to have".
Social development Minister Louise Upston said she had some reo Māori lessons - some of them taxpayer funded and others from her own money.
"I think it's really important in an electorate like mine that have got a high Māori population that I do my bit to try and learn more of the language. Fair to say that I'm at beginner stages but I do think it is important. I've also learnt some initial sign language, the three languages of new Zealand, and I hope to study more in the future."
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said he took reo Māori lessons when he was working at the Waitangi Tribunal. Asked if that was paid for by the taxpayer he said "it probably was in 1995".
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said he had reo Māori lessons in the past couple of years, but said it was not paid for by the taxpayer.
"No, I went to the local marae and asked if they would help me and one of the elders said yes and I went along there and had some lovely kōrero with them.
MP for Northcote Dan Bidois said he had lessons when he was on the Māori affairs select Committee.
"I believe they were organised by the person that does te reo translation, so possibly, I don't know ... probably would have been a taxpayer somewhere or could be voluntary, I don't know.
He said he backed Luxon's comments that bonuses on top did not make sense "but actually when it's included as part of training and development as a wise use of spend".
MP for Waikato Tim van de Molen said he had found a course, which was offered to all MPs and funded by the taxpayer, valuable.
"I enjoyed it. Unfortunately I'm not fluent, so, I have Dutch heritage as well and I don't speak Dutch either unfortunately. So yes, languages, I think, are something that New Zealand could do a lot better in.
MP for Ōtaki Tim Costley said he'd had free lessons provided at Te Wānanga o Raukawa.
Chris Bishop said he had not had lessons, and was not sure he would find time to learn.
"No I haven't. It's something I've looked at frankly over the last few years, particularly the last nine years that I've been a member of Parliament. It's something that I am interested in doing but it's unfortunately something I haven't found the time to do."
"It's like all things in life, I've got a number of ministerial portfolios, I've got an electorate seat to look after, I've got a young family, so I'm not saying it's not important it's just there's only 24 hours in every day and I try and pack a lot in," he said.
"It's just tricky, as various political leaders have found. It's tricky to find the time to do it in a way that is meaningful where you actually do make a difference in your own understanding of the language. I think doing it for an hour a month or something - would it be useful, yes, on the margins - would it make a huge difference for me, probably not and it might be seen as tokenistic.
"If I did it I'd want to do it with a degree of rigour, so it's just a timing thing."
RNZ
