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The Government's decision to halt a Coromandel land sale has left some of its Maori MPs smarting - aware that the Maori Party has trumped them.
Senior ministers yesterday spent the day fending off accusations the Government had caved in to a small number of protesters occupying the 1100ha Coromandel block.
The decision to review land sales by state-owned Landcorp was announced just hours after the Maori Party encouraged aggrieved Maori to occupy disputed land.
But Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday rejected suggestions the decision to launch a review and put the sale on hold was evidence of buckling under pressure.
"There's absolutely no substance to that whatsoever," she said. "The reality is that when the Cabinet discussed this yesterday [Wednesday] morning, it had no idea what the Maori Party was going to be saying and we don't approve of people urging occupation."
Internally, there is concern among Labour's Maori MPs about how the proposed land sale was handled by the Government.
The decision to go ahead with the wide-ranging review was made quickly, leaving some MPs unhappy with the the level of internal consultation.
The Maori Party's high-profile role has also been a sharp reminder to Labour of the competition for the Maori vote.
Labour's Maori caucus head Shane Jones yesterday emphasised the rivalry for votes. "We are in a competitive situation with the Maori Party for the Maori vote and it's by no means going to play our way unless we fight for it," he said.
However, he believed the land dispute had been handled correctly. "We got the sale halted," he said.
Mr Jones said he would now like to see the land go into an estate to help settle Treaty claims rather than into the Department of Conservation estate.
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Trevor Mallard said he knew nothing of any discontent in Labour's Maori caucus about how the matter was handled.
If there was any, he expected the people involved would come to see him.
The future of the Coromandel land was the subject of a fiery exchange in Parliament yesterday, as National attacked the Government for executing a u-turn in response to pressure.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Mark Burton said it simply "is not the case" the Government had buckled and that Bill English appeared to be suggesting that no minister should ever listen to the submissions of New Zealanders.
However, Maori Party MP Hone Harawira blasted Mr Burton as "insensitive and arrogant" over the way he had handled the matter.
Landcorp chairman Jim Sutton said he had sympathy for both positions but was wary of what the future might hold.
Mr Sutton said he suspected the occupation was something that could become "the norm".
"That every time we go to sell land that something like this will happen," he said.
"Probably it could happen to all Crown land, no matter what agency is selling it."
The review of Landcorp's sales will come up with a set of criteria to flag land that is seen as sensitive and keep it from going onto the open market.
As far as how much of Landcorp's 370,000ha could be termed sensitive, Mr Sutton said it potentially all could be.
"Given there clearly are people who regard any Crown land as being legitimately subject to a Treaty claim, I'd say all our land is subject - is potentially sensitive," he said.
"And so is virtually all other Crown land."
Mr Sutton said Landcorp was keen to get on with its business, which includes buying and selling land, but accepted the Government had broader responsibilities.
"We accept that, yes, it's going to delay some of our business and it might also drive down some values and that, of course, is unfortunate," he said.
"But nevertheless, life wasn't meant to be easy."
