A nice speech from Tariana but she didn’t make much of the papa bit of her whakapapa

The Greens make their presence felt in the Waiatament.

Tariana Turia – lovely lady, don’t get Alf wrong – seems to have overlooked half of her whakapapa in her valedictory speech this evening.

We heard something about the Whanganui river and the mountains and umbilical chords and all that spiritual  stuff that tells us Tariana has a different world view from Alf’s.

We got to hear about other bits of her heritage. But only the Maori bit.

Wow – Jami-Lee’s Ngati Porou links call for a fresh academic study into the implications for capitalism

If you go back far enough, you can find your passport into the Maori All Blacks.

If you’ve got a drop of Maori blood somewhere in your veins, you can count on someone in the Maori media finding out about it and tracking down its source.

The consequence in the case of Jami-Lee Ross is a Waatea News report that that yes, he has a Maori side.

This is not obvious from his name, it might be observed, but nor is it obvious in the case of blokes with names like Shane Jones.

Unlike Jones, Botany’s new National Party MP says he doesn’t know his Maori side, Waatea News reports.

But it seems he is keen to find out.

Maori-blood defence is patent nonsense: lawyer fails again to trump the IRD by playing the race card

Alf is bemused by the case of the patent lawyer who pulled the race card to avoid a hefty tax bill.

He told the High Court at Auckland his Maori descent meant he was not obliged to pay $10.3 million in unpaid taxes.

He presented no evidence of his whakapapa.

But proof was immaterial. The Maori-blood defence should fail, even for citizens who can furnish proof of their Maori blood.