Poll finds Maori split on foreshore

By RUTH BERRY political reporter

Forty-nine per cent of Maori support the Government's plans to hold the foreshore and seabed in the public domain.

But a Marae-DigiPoll survey made public yesterday also found that 38 per cent of the 1002 Maori voters polled said they disagreed with the proposal and a further 11 per cent said they did not know what to think about it.

The poll found that most Maori are unhappy with the Government's handling of the issue and confused about what it proposes.

Sixty-one per cent of those polled were either unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the way the Government had handled the debate.

Under Government plans, the Maori Land Court would not be able to grant hapu and iwi a freehold title to New Zealand's foreshore.

The poll found almost half of Maori supported the public domain idea and 53 per cent also believed that the court should be able to grant private title to the foreshore.

The results show Maori are more divided in their views than has been asserted by some leaders.

That is likely to be welcomed by the Government, whose plans were firmly rejected by a hui held by Auckland and Northland tribes in Te Tii on Saturday.

The Government is also bracing itself for a grilling in the House this week, after releasing its proposals last week during a parliamentary recess.

Also likely to please the Government, but not some hapu and iwi, is the Waitangi Fisheries Commission's plan - signalled at Te Tii - to set itself up as the "pragmatic broker" in negotiations between Maori and the Government.

The Marae poll with a 3.1 per cent margin of error, followed a smaller One News survey released on Saturday that found 50 per cent of Maori backed the public domain concept and a further 30 per cent backed Crown ownership.

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia last night said the Marae poll reflected what he was being told.

While there was confusion, the debate had sometimes been captured by extremists who did not reflect all the views of Maori on the ground.

"While there's a genuine anxiety there, there's also a determination to get into negotiation," he said.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Dover Samuels agreed. He said most Maori did not believe the Government was trying to "confiscate" the foreshore and seabed, as asserted by some of the louder voices at the hui.

But Te Runanga o Ngati Kahu chairwoman Professor Margaret Mutu, who opposed the Government's proposals at the hui, said the poll confirmed what people knew: that the Government was trying to take advantage of confusion by rushing the consultation process through before Maori realised what they had lost.

Professor Mutu believed that opposition would grow as Maori became better informed.

A second national hui will be held at Omaka, near Blenheim - home of the Te Tau Ihu tribes, which took the foreshore and seabed case to the Court of Appeal.

What Maori think

49 per cent of Maori back Government foreshore policy, while 38 per cent are opposed.

Support for Labour has slipped from 66 per cent in April to 51 per cent last week. Source: Marae DigiPoll