Details of foreshore legislation revealed

By RUTH BERRY, political reporter

EXCLUSIVE - Maori appear to have won few major concessions in exchange for losing the right to claim ownership of New Zealand's foreshore and seabed.

Plans to be unveiled today will outline how Maori will be able to claim a customary title.

This will be alongside a new public domain title, giving ownership of the foreshore and seabed to the people of New Zealand.

The customary title will increase protection of customary rights and give Maori a stronger voice in decisions involving the coastal marine environment.

But the plan does not recognise Maori ownership interests that could have led to significant commercial development rights.

And the Government plans to limit the Maori Land Court's ability to define customary rights.

The Government will reveal its proposal today, but the Herald has obtained details of the 83-page Cabinet paper outlining the policy.

The policy was developed after a Court of Appeal decision in June challenged the Crown's long-held assertion that it owned the foreshore and seabed, and found Maori had customary interests in the foreshore which could lead to the granting of private title.

The Government has stuck to the framework outlined in its initial proposals, which Maori firmly rejected.

The Land Court will be able to award a customary title, to which specific rights will be attached.

Titles will be awarded only if customary rights have been continuously exercised.

The "tikanga Maori" test used to determine owners of Maori land will be defined by law to prevent the Land Court taking an "expansive approach" to customary rights.

Redress may be available if the Land Court finds a customary right exists but does not fit the new framework.

Development rights to undertake a new activity which was not a feature of a customary practice - such as the right to harvest a newly discovered resource - will not be part of customary rights.

But title-holders will be able to veto proposed developments that significantly restrict their ability to carry out a customary right.

The changes will not affect existing resource consents.

Extra protocols, on top of those already existing under the Resource Management Act, will be developed for title-holders.

Sixteen regional working groups, made up of iwi, local body and Government representatives, will be set up to reach regional agreements on ways to increase Maori participation in the coastal marine environment. But Maori will not be given a regulatory role.

The Prime Minister's department will set up a unit to give policy advice and support to the working groups.

And the Government will set up a five- to seven-member commission to travel the country assessing claims and making title recommendations to the Land Court.

The chief executives of Land Information and Te Puni Kokiri will advise the commission, which will have two years to complete its job.

The Government proposes to define foreshore as the land to the high water spring mark, the furthest inland point reached each year by the tide.

It says the policy "proposes a new framework to provide a clear and unified system for recognising rights in the foreshore and seabed".

The paper reveals that the Government decided against giving foreshore ownership to the Crown, as in the Treaty of Waitangi context "the Crown" is viewed as excluding Maori and as such might be provocative.

* The Government will announce its foreshore and seabed policy this afternoon. Full details will be available at nzherald.co.nz.