PM looks for Foreshore and Seabed solutions

Prime Minister John Key leaves the Whare Runanga. Photo / Richard Robinson

Prime Minister John Key says only one or two iwi stand between a breakthrough on the Foreshore and Seabed issue and has indicated the government is looking at setting up a process to allow iwi to test their claims to the seabed and foreshore.

Mr Key said this morning he was hopeful a resolution would be reached this year after he met with the Iwi Leaders' Forum yesterday and discussed the government's proposal for a replacement to the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Mr Key has already strongly indicated the law passed in 2004 will be repealed and the government has been trying to find an alternative which had more widespread support.

He said it would not be 'helpful' to discuss the details as yet.

"All I can tell you is taken to its logical conclusion its an elegant solution that recognises there are differences, it does give them their chance to challenge issues if they want to but basically ensures there are universal access rights to all New Zealanders."

Asked if any 'challenges' would be through the courts, he said "possibly, or through a process we might establish." He did not say whether challenges could be mounted for title or restricted to customary rights.

Mr Key said the bulk of those at the iwi leaders forum had seemed to accept the solution. He would not identify which of the iwi had concerns but said he was hopeful other iwi would sway them.

"There will be some that have a different view, but I think the bulk of them can see a lot of logic in what we are suggesting."

While the government hoped to resolve it this year, he said the resistance of some iwi "could be a problem."

"There's no point trying to force something on them they don't want."

However, the alternatives were leaving the current law in place or opening access to the courts.

Labour leader Phil Goff said his party would work with the government if it could achieve agreement across all groups and guaranteed public access and respect for customary rights.

"But in practice that's what happens at the moment. If they want to change it we'll be constructive but at the moment it's been behind closed doors. Nobody's sure what is being negotiated and what's being given away."

He said the government needed to find something that fitted with New Zealanders as a whole "rather than pandering to a vested interest group. That's what we'd like to see – something that is fair, something that is sustainable and something that will allow us as a country to move on."

He said the government needed to consult more widely than with simply the iwi leaders.

Mr Key believed the Maori Party supported the government's proposal, but the Maori Party had distanced themselves slightly, preferring instead to let iwi directly resolve it.

He said all had understood the importance of universal access rights to all New Zealanders.

Mr Key had used his speech at Te Tii Marae yesterday to dampen down Maori expectations around any new regime, saying both sides needed to be realistic and compromise.

He said it was critical to address the issue, saying the longer history of Treaty settlements had shown the grievance Maori felt at the 2004 legislation was not likely to abate.

"If we don't address the foreshore and seabed it will never go away. It will be a weeping sore that will be there forever."

Mr Key delivered his first Waitangi Day speech earlier this morning, focussing largely on Treaty settlements, and condemning "extremists" on both sides for damaging progress by relitigating past wrongs.

The speech was delivered to a small breakfast audience, including some iwi leaders, police, Navy and officials as well as other National Mps.

Titewhai Harawira was also at the breakfast and appeared unimpressed, muttering after Mr Key had finished that it was just "flash words."

Although Mr Key later refused to name the 'extremists' he had in mind, he has frequently spoken out publicly against Mrs Harawira's son Hone Harawira, accusing of him of giving a one-eyed version of New Zealand's colonial history and relitigating past grievances.

Mr Harawira has described the taking of land by Pakeha as "rape."

In his speech, Mr Key described it as the British coming to New Zealand to "share" New Zealand with Maori - a term that drew a gasp from some on Mrs Harawira's table.