Foreshore review due out tomorrow

John Key said the review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act would take time to digest. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A review into the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act is to be released tomorrow, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday.

Mr Key said Attorney-General Chris Finlayson would make some brief comments about the report when it was released, but the Government would not make an immediate substantive response.

He had not seen the report, but he understood it was a "very weighty document" that would take time to digest.

There would also need to be talks with the Maori Party and other interested groups before the Government responded.

Mr Key did not want to prejudge how long this would take, but he hoped it would not be months.

The review was announced in March by the Government and the Maori Party, which wants the act repealed.

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said at the launch it was not about opening old wounds, "it's about peeling off a septic bandaid and treating the festering sore underneath".

The review panel is headed by former High Court judge and Waitangi Tribunal chairman Eddie Durie and its members are barrister Richard Boast and Hana O'Regan, an expert on Maori culture.

Mr Finlayson said at the launch he thought the current law was poor and if the panel came to the same conclusion it would outline "the most workable and efficient methods" of recognising Maori customary rights and public interest in the coastline.

The act was one of the most difficult pieces of legislation the Labour Government had to deal with in its nine years in office.

It followed a 2003 Court of Appeal ruling that it might be possible, in some cases, for Maori customary title to convert into freehold title.

That raised the possibility of parts of the foreshore and seabed being under Maori control, and fears that public access to beaches could be restricted.

The Labour Government decided to legislate against the ruling and after months of controversy and protest an alternative process was set up to recognise Maori interest in coastal areas.

Maori said it amounted to confiscation and Tariana Turia quit Labour to form the Maori Party.

- NZPA