A member of New Zealand’s new National Party-led government took her oath in English and then in Korean, the language of her native country. Melissa Lee, whose Korean name is Lee Ji-yun, was named the minister for economic development, ethnic communities, media and communications, making her the first person of Korean heritage to hold a ministerial position in New Zealand’s government. Lee alternated betw...
From my understanding they scrapped a requirement that they also used Māori language in public services, not that they’re banned from using it.
So letting this minister speak in Korean isn’t an issue for them, because they potentially only cared about a language being mandated not that it wasn’t English.
But really I’d say the scrapping Māori thing is a bit of a dog whistle and this is good PR to make people think it’s not.
I think your interpretation is precisely correct… this is an effort to make them seem reasonable.