Foreshore policy will decide Tariana Turia's future

By HELEN TUNNAH

Associate Maori Affairs Minister Tariana Turia has again said she will decide her political future when she sees the final form of the Government's controversial seabed and foreshore legislation.

However, she "had no intention at present" of resigning over the policy.

She told Labour Party members at a regional conference in Wanganui that the past few months had been difficult, and she had considered resigning. But she later issued a statement saying she would not be quitting yet.

Prime Minister Helen Clark asked her to clarify her position, after media reported she had said she might resign.

Helen Clark has given Mrs Turia permission to abstain on the introduction of the legislation. Mrs Turia gave no commitment to stay, saying that position was just "the beginning".

"I may have to consider other options at some future time, but that remains a purely hypothetical situation at this stage and will depend on my constituency."

She said that when the law was before Parliament there would be opportunities to try to get it changed "and I intend to make the most of them. I will make a final decision on the legislation when it is in its final form."

Mrs Turia said she told the Wanganui conference that Saturday's national hui in Auckland had urged all Labour's MPs to vote against the planned law.

"The people at the hui were literally horrified, not just at the loss of rights, but because the proposals deny them the fundamental democratic right of access to the courts to settle disputes. I told my colleagues this policy could cost them the Maori vote."