Iwi will get 2000km of coastline

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson believes about 2000km of New Zealand's coastline will eventually be covered by iwi customary title.

These would include areas of the upper East Coast, the eastern Bay of Plenty and "way up North", he said on TVNZ's Q and A yesterday.

But he would not elaborate.

"I wouldn't want to fetter any government's negotiating position, or position in court, that would be held against the Government or a future government, if I started to say 'well that bay's in'," he said.

New Zealand's coastline is about 20,000km so Mr Finalyson's "guesstimate", as he put it, would be about 10 per cent.

The East Coast and Bay of Plenty areas he pointed to are in Ngati Porou and Te Whanau a Apanui areas, and the North has at least 10 tribes with coastal interests.

The areas have often been cited as the most likely to meet the test - exclusive use and occupation since 1840.

Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell said on TV3's The Nation on Saturday that Hauraki iwi would also be certain to put in claims around Coromandel.

National reached agreement with the Maori Party and the Iwi Leaders Group a week ago to repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, and restore the right of iwi to test customary title in the High Court.

Those that are successful will become the legal owners, but the law will guarantee public access and it will be inalienable - unable to be sold.

Mr Finlayson confirmed that under customary title, iwi owners could undertake developments on their own or with others but would be subject to the Resource Management Act like any other development.

"It's an ownership right. If you came to me and said I want to build a hotel on your property, then I'd be entitled to say yes or not.

"It's an incident of ownership, it's not a regulatory thing which still rests with the regional council."

Instead of going to through the courts, iwi may also take National's preferred option and negotiate directly with the Government.

Mr Finlayson said the possibility of a government doing special deals for political advantage was raised with him in public meetings around the country.

"Any government that does that absolutely undermines what we are trying to achieve here."

He said the process would be transparent, that each deal would have to be approved by the Cabinet and would go through Parliament and the select committee process.

Meanwhile, Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira, speaking on TVNZ's Marae, yesterday left open the possibility of leaving his party on the issue because the deal had fallen short of replacing Crown ownership with Maori title.

But he indicated that he would be voting for it because the Maori Party had achieved what it had promised in terms of repeal and restoring access to the courts.

While it wasn't what he wanted, it was better than the status quo.