RANKIN IS CRANKIN

Well well. It seems that outspoken Maori and media slut David Rankin has some supporters on his home turf.

Rankin hit the headlines the other day for doing a slam dunk on an issue that has itched us for a long time - that the King of Tainui had somehow morphed into the Maori King.

So today we see that his own iwi agree that Rankin can be abrasive but that he speaks the truth and is reflective of a larger body of opinion within the tribe. And that from no less than Sonny Tau.

"Let's not pussyfoot around. Ngapuhi has never been part of the Kingitanga. I don't think what he said was wrong. It was the way he said it.

"I sit back and giggle to myself sometimes - he's got balls the size of moa eggs."

For his part, Mr Rankin says he isn't going to change his "shock and awe" method.

"I realise that the media is our new marae. There are 126,000 Ngapuhi. If I was to call a meeting at my marae there'd be 50 people.

"People say Ngapuhi are wild but in reality we want everyone else to put their point of view across. This has started debate.

"Who is critiquing Maori society today? Nobody. You have to have debate otherwise you may as well be Pakehas."

Ngai Tahu have never had much love for Nga Puhi - something to do with them cuddling Te Rauparaha - Ngai Tahu's sworn enemy but today we want to tautoko Sonny. What he has done by publicly supporting Rankin is open up the way for some unedited, reasoned and forthright debate on some important issues facing Maori.

We expect that level of support will see Rankin develop bigger balls. And from a girly point of view he aint bad lookin either.

Let the korero begin.