As we near the end of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Māori experts are questioning why a decision still hasn't been made on implementing bilingual road signs all over the country.
Associate Transport Minister Damien O'Connor was expected to make a call on it late last month but Waka Kotahi is still waiting for a sign-off.
Aotearoa New Zealand's first bilingual road sign was installed at Aoraki Mt Cook, unveiled way back in 2000.
Twenty-three years on and we've come a long way since then - or have we?
"We can't just be revitalising our language in our home. We need to see our language reflected in the society we live in," said Awanui Te Huia, te reo Māori expert at Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University.
Last month, Waka Kotahi put a proposal to the Government asking whether to add te reo Māori to road signs, such as directional, speed, or instructional.
But a decision still hasn't been made.
"I find that incredibly disappointing. I feel like the work that was done in the lead up to the decision that's sitting at the minister's table, has all been done, the information is there," Te Huia told Newshub.
The project was Kiri Allan's to sign off before the end of Labour's term but it was handed to O'Connor who is yet to make a call.
"I've delayed it because I want to know [if] the signage system in this country delivers the safety that we expect," O'Connor told Newshub.
That's despite the evidence Waka Kotahi provided in its submission.
"We need to make sure we don't double down on a dumb policy," O'Connor added.
Bilingual signs aren't unique to Aotearoa; they're in places like Scotland, Wales, Israel, Singapore, Japan and Ireland.
"One would certainly think when you have an official language of a country, you'd use it in every public space, so I don't see why it hasn't happened already," said Pahia Turia, chair of Ngāti Apa.
"All of this is good for our society to start understanding and it also sparks conversations within cars, where te reo Māori doesn't usually reside," said Te Huia.
