Crown rewrite of Foreshore and Seabed legislation is going to destroy our rights – Te Pāti Māori

The foreshore and seabed hikoi marching along Willis St on its way to Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says the Government’s planned rewrite of the Marine and Coastal Areas Act will be the largest confiscation of Māori interests since the 1860s.

The Government says it disagrees with the Court of Appeal’s interpretation in a case defining the customary interests of Whakatōhea hapū and neighbouring iwi in the eastern Bay of Plenty, and it intends to change the act passed by the National-Māori Party Government in 2011 to set the bar higher for claims.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. Photo / Ben Dickens

Goldsmith said the Government disagreed with the Court of Appeal’s ruling, saying it had “materially reduced the threshold”.

He said they would introduce legislation to overturn the decision, “to ensure the wider public has confidence these tests are interpreted and applied consistently”.

“What we’re trying to do is balance the fact that all New Zealanders have an interest in what goes on on the coast and customary marine title, as I say, gives valuable rights to the holders of it. So it was always set as a high test – it’s not an impossible test, it’s a high test.”

Tamihere says in 2003, when he was a Government MP and Labour was contemplating legislation in the wake of the Ngāti Apa judgment, Winston Peters offered New Zealand First votes to support a bill nationalising the foreshore.

Labour instead left the door open for customary rights claims, which Peters and his coalition partners now want to close, Tamihere said.

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere. Photo / Mike Scott

“This has taken 40 years of litigation under the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 and the 2011 Marine and Coastal Areas Act. Our people have spent millions of dollars going through procedures, Waitangi Tribunal claims, court cases to land at a place where a 6% party is going to destroy the rights.”

He says the Act Party is also strong on protecting property rights except where Māori property is involved.

Peter Verschaffelt, WaateaNews.Com