Shearer says taniwha should be acknowledged

Patrick Gower at 3 News reports:

Labour Party leader David Shearer has long-held beliefs that taniwha must be respected when it comes to Maori and their interests in water. His views can be traced back to his masters thesis, and he stands by them today.

Water has been the big political issue of the year, but when David Shearer was first asked who owned it he didn’t know.

But it turns out Mr Shearer has a degree of expertise on the issue, a masters thesis in fact. It was called “Between Two Worlds, Maori Values and Environmental Decision-Making”.

In his thesis he advocated that “the belief in taniwha or spiritual pollution…while they may appear irrational to many…cannot simply be dismissed as irrelevant”. It’s a belief he still holds today.

“I absolutely stick by that,” says the Labour Party leader. He says we should acknowledge taniwha. “We have been doing that for the last 20-something years when we have made decisions around water.”

Well I don’t think we should acknowledge or give any credence to taniwha. Such spiritual nonsense should play no part in our laws or decisions.

We should give as much regard to belief in taniwha as we do to belief in (Evil) Lord Xenu.