Mahuta bill buys fight with NZ First

Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta has defied a Labour Party promise to Winston Peters and drawn up a law change to extend legal aid cover to seabed and foreshore claims.

Her stance, said to be supported by Labour's Maori caucus, has left Prime Minister Helen Clark facing a demand from Mr Peters to explain whether Labour has broken its word to him.

Any suggestion Labour has reneged on a deal is potentially troubling as the general election looms, with sensitive coalition talks due between the surviving political parties straight after.

NZ First last year provided Labour with the key votes it needed to get its Foreshore and Seabed Act passed - and off the election year agenda - despite significant opposition from Maori.

But part of the deal included an agreement that there would be no extension of legal aid eligibility.

Mr Peters is a long-time critic of what he calls the "grievance industry".

"Helen Clark owes me an explanation and I'm looking forward to it," he told the Weekend Herald.

"They've gone back on it [their word], undoubtedly."

It is unclear whether Helen Clark was told by Ms Mahuta that she would sponsor a private member's bill in defiance of the NZ First agreement.

Ms Mahuta did confirm that the Maori caucus knew about her bill, and former Cabinet minister John Tamihere said Labour's Maori MPs supported it.

Ms Mahuta's bill, unveiled on Thursday and expected to be debated in Parliament late next month, would extend access to legal aid to applicants taking High Court proceedings to claim customary rights under the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Already, claimants before the Waitangi Tribunal can apply for legal aid.

Ms Mahuta said extending the eligibility was fair because cost was a barrier to court proceedings.

But she refused three times to say if she had told Helen Clark, or Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen, or Labour, what she intended to do.

"The members of the Maori caucus are quite aware of the content of the bill," she said instead.

"I did it as a private member's bill strictly, and in my capacity as a Maori member of Parliament."

Asked if her bill compromised Labour's agreement with NZ First, she repeated that it was her own measure as an individual MP.

"You use the political process as much as you can to achieve gain, so that's what I'm doing.

"It's really a matter of tidying up a loose end that I always thought was not addressed in the bill and needed to be."

Neither Helen Clark nor Dr Cullen, who guided the act's passage through Parliament, would comment.

Labour has not discussed the bill nor decided if it will support it.

Mr Tamihere described Ms Mahuta's bill as a "beauty".

"No one can fetter a private member's bill."

Mr Peters said he believed Labour would have known about Ms Mahuta's bill.

"You do not expect a member to pull a bill out of a ballot of this type without ... the approval of the party in the first place."

Legal aid claims are allowed for Waitangi Tribunal hearings. In the 2003-2004 financial year, grants totalled just under $7 million.

Legal Aid

Legal aid pays some or all of lawyers' fees for people who cannot afford legal representation.

Criminal legal aid covers offences where there is a risk of imprisonment, such as burglary, arson, fraud or sexual offences. Civil legal aid includes things such as family matters, debt, being sued or suing someone and also covers hearings at bodies including the Waitangi Tribunal.

Legal aid is not available for criminal matters not considered to be serious, civil matters where there are not good reasons for taking a case, court cases outside New Zealand and most immigration cases (apart from some refugee matters).

In the 2003-2004 financial year there were 60,277 legal aid grants, totalling $84 million.