Labour MP undecided on crossing the floor over foreshore

1.00pm

Labour's Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta said today she remains opposed to the Government seabed and foreshore proposals but whether she crosses the floor to vote against the Government depends on the final shape of legislation.

Maori leaders today accused the Government's Maori caucus of selling out over the Government's plan to vest ownership of the seabed and foreshore in the Crown.

Ms Mahuta said she could not speak for her colleagues on the question of whether they had sold out.

However, she told National Radio she had consistently said the policy fell "far short" of concerns within her electorate.

"The policy, the framework, has been consistently rejected by certainly iwi within my own electorate and other iwi."

Seabed and foreshore lobby group Te Ope Mana a Tai chairman Matiu Rei told National Radio the Maori caucus had not come out with anything other than support for the government line.

"There's been no support for what the Maori constituents are saying and how this prospective legislation is going to impact (on) Maori," he said.

"One would think that this is the time for Maori MPs to show some leadership, to show some solidarity with their own people.

"But I'm afraid that they're more concerned with their own position within their relative parties and therefore are more being persuaded to maintain party lines whether its New Zealand First or whether it's the Labour Party."

Margaret Mutu, chairwoman of the Ngati Kahu runanga and head of the Department of Maori Studies at the University of Auckland, said she could not believe the Maori MPs would agree with legislation "that clearly confiscates the foreshore and seabed from Maori and also discriminates against Maori by removing their right to go to the High Court and Maori Land Court but not at the same time removing Pakeha rights to go to the High Court".

Ngai Tahu's Mark Solomon said that Maori MPs keeping quiet on the matter was "pretty much the pattern".

"They're following the party line... but in the main, they have been silent."

Ms Mahuta said the issue was "bigger than the Maori caucus".

Now that NZ First had said it supported Crown ownership, "it's certainly taken it Parliament-wide in terms of where the support is coming from for the Government policy".

Ms Mahuta said the debate over public domain or crown ownership was "semantics" as the foreshore and seabed would be vested in the Crown either way.

"The issue of whether or not that would appease Maori in general, I think if it was vested in crown ownership a number of Maori would clearly see that there was an overt, I guess, and implicit undertaking that the Crown would have a fiduciary obligation to Maori so the treaty then comes into play."

Ms Mahuta said Maori wanted the opportunity to explore "in full" their customary rights.

If a policy that clearly breached the Treaty of Waitangi continued, "than you're going to create a new set of treaty grievances and that's what all New Zealanders do not want".

She had considered crossing the floor but said today the final shape of the legislation had to be seen.

"The final shape of the legislation will provide an opportunity to see whether or not there's been some shift."

It should be "revisited" in light of the Waitangi Tribunal report, she said.

The Government did not agree with the Waitangi Tribunal report, which said its foreshore and seabed proposals were in breach of the treaty.

The tribunal had recommended starting negotiations with Maori again from the beginning, while allowing customary claims over territory below the high tide mark to proceed to the Maori Land Court.

Ms Mahuta said people were trying to turn the debate into a sovereignty issue but Maori were seeking justice and "due process should be followed".

It would be "a positive outcome" if claims could be taken to the High Court.

- NZPA