Marine bill will leave hapu empty-handed, treaty specialist says

Karekare beach. File photo / The Aucklander

The new marine and coastal legislation will leave most coast hapu empty handed, a Treaty of Waitangi specialist says.

The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill will be debated in Parliament for the first time on Thursday.

It repeals the Foreshore and Seabed Act and replaces it with a new regime announced in June after agreement had been reached with the Maori Party, and iwi leaders had given it a less than enthusiastic endorsement.

Under the new legislation the foreshore and seabed will be removed from Crown ownership and will become a common space with public access guaranteed.

Existing private titles will not be affected but there will not be any new ones.

Iwi will be able to seek customary title through negotiation with the Government or through the High Court, and to gain that title they will have to prove exclusive use and occupation since 1840.

Where the right to customary title can be proved, it will sit alongside the common area rights of public access, fishing, navigation and existing uses.

But Auckland University of Technology history professor and treaty specialist Dr Paul Moon said the bill was "bound to disappoint" those who had campaigned for greater Maori rights to the foreshore and seabed.

The high threshold for hapu to prove customary title entitlement and the way he expected the Crown would handle the process were the two biggest issues, Dr Moon said.

"The hurdles that hapu have to jump in order to prove their right to customary title are prohibitive in many cases and will leave the majority of coastal hapu empty-handed," he said.

"Proving exclusive use and occupation since 1840 ignores some of the more complex issues of entitlement."

As well, there was "every indication" the Government wanted to act quickly to determine which hapu would and would not receive customary title, Dr Moon said.

"My concern with this is that the often intricate history of ownership will be overlooked in the process, and the consequence of this could be a new generation of claims to the Waitangi Tribunal from disaffected hapu and iwi."

But Attorney-General Chris Finlayson this morning said decisions on Maori customary title made under new marine and coastal legislation should be full and final.

"They have to be just and they have to be durable. People do not want these matters re-litigated every 10 years," he told Radio New Zealand this morning.

Prime Minister John Key said the Government did not want to "spend our life re-litigating this issue".

"We've got something on the table. We're happy with it. I'm sure not everyone will be, including a number of iwi groups. Well, that's just the way it is."

The bill was likely to be enacted early next year.

The Maori Party has said it will support the bill, ensuring it will be passed by Parliament even if other parties don't like it.

- NZPA