What is a Maori?

Don Brash recently made comments about whether there is a distinct Maori race at all. (See: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/organisation/story.cfm?o_id=266&ObjectID=10402806) He said about the high court judge: "He continues to talk as if the Maori remain a distinct indigenous people. There are clearly many New Zealanders who do see themselves as distinctly and distinctively Maori - but it is also clear there are few, if any, fully Maori left here. Through six or seven generations of inter-marriage there are few if any people in New Zealand who have only Maori ancestors. That is not to deny that many New Zealanders choose to identify strongly with the Maori part of their ancestry, and with Maori culture. That is absolutely their right…"

He's partially right in a way. I was told by my high school Maori teacher that there are no full blooded Maori left, and I beleive that would be correct. So then what is a Maori? Is it half-cast (50%), quarter-cast (25%), or even less. If you have one Maori ancestor 3 or 4 generations back are you then Maori?

Winston Peters has claimed it would be ridiculous for those with a "few drops" of Maori blood to be able to go on the Maori roll. In a September 2000 speech he said: "The way ahead - one country, one electoral franchise. We must end a dual electoral system in which the only qualification to vote is based on race - in some cases as diluted as one part in 512. Under the Electoral Act, anybody of Maori descent or [who] claims to be a Maori can apply for registration on the Maori Roll. In 1993 there were four Maori seats - in 1999 there were six. It has been estimated that over the next 40 years or so, up to 30 per cent of the population will have some Maori blood - in many cases only a few drops. What is to be feared is the prospect of demands for 30 or 40 Maori seats. That would be plainly ridiculous. And it is just as ridiculous to look at some of these benefactors of Treaty [of Waitangi] claims who are of mixed descent. Ask yourself, if a claimant is one-eighth Maori, does he or she get one-eighth of the amount they would have received from the claim if they had been of full Maori blood. Or does the seven-eighths European part of that person pay?"

Is what Winston Peters saying correct? Is it going to get rediculous like this in the near future? With all the inter-marriage should there be a distinct Maori race anymore? Apparently some Native American tribes require a certain percentage of blood ancestry to qualify for certain rights. Will that be applyed in NZ to Maori, because there's going to be a lot of people of Maori decent soon. (There are a lot of white looking people in the Maori All Blacks team - probably why they are sometimes called the "All Sorts"!)

Of course we need to retain and celebrate the Maori culture and language, but perhaps maybe it is time that we define who is Maori and who is not.