Here's a thought. . .

So Tariana Turia has waded out of the child immunisation debate, and into the pensions one. Amusing call that many Maori, who live shorter lives, should get their pensions five years earlier.

By the same argument, Asian New Zealanders, who live the longest, should get their pensions later. So too should women.

Strangely, Mrs Turia has not made the link between Maori and total welfare expenditure. Perhaps a fairer policy, if we're going to go down the racial division of welfare money, would be to allocate to Maori in welfare expenditure, their proportion of the tax take.