Quick move blocks Maori bid to claim rights over seabed

By AUDREY YOUNG political editor

The Government is quelling Pakeha fears about a Maori claim to the seabed by promising a new law saying that the Crown owns the seabed and foreshore.

But the move has created Maori resentment that it was made hastily and without consultation.

The promised law will extinguish any right Maori may have had to claim customary title to the seabed or foreshore.

It counters a Court of Appeal decision last week allowing eight iwi to have their claim to the Marlborough seabed and foreshore - the land between high and low tide - heard by the Maori Land Court.

"It closes the door before it is opened," Waitangi Fisheries Commissioner Maui Solomon said of the decision. He thought the Government would have had "a little more respect" for Maori as a treaty partner.

But Prime Minister Helen Clark said ownership of the seabed and foreshore had long been considered to lie with the Crown and legislation would clarify that.

She said Maori would still be able to pursue claims about customary use but not customary title - and that distinction was important.

"I think everybody has concerns about this issue kicking around the court process for a long period of time," she said after a Cabinet meeting yesterday.

"As a Government, we haven't shied away from front-footing treaty issues and endeavouring to build support for the historic settlement process and building of strong contemporary relationships between the Crown and Maoridom."

Treaty Negotiations Minister Margaret Wilson did not know if the new law would be a standalone piece of legislation or an amendment to another act and could not say when it would be passed.

She said Maori would be consulted about rights of customary use.

"It is important that the legal status of the seabed and foreshore is made clear," she said.

"However, we believe it is also important that Maori customary use of the foreshore and seabed is recognised and the nature of that right to use is clarified.

"So it is a balancing of interests and we believe both can co-exist."

The Marlborough District Council was last night celebrating.

Lawyer Peter Radich said his clients would be happy that the matter "will be decisively determined".

But Maori interests were highly critical, and Helen Clark is likely to find deep unhappiness among Maori members of her caucus.

The lawyer for seven of the claimant groups, Grant Powell, said the decision was "rather remarkable".

He believed it would create a grievance of expropriating a property right without compensation which could be taken to the Waitangi Tribunal by almost every iwi.

Maori Council chairman Sir Graham Latimer said he was "a bit disappointed" and the issue would be discussed at a council meeting in Wellington tomorrow.

"They will extinguish indigenous people's rights, and that may prove a lot more difficult to do than they think if they go about it that way."

Sir Graham said he would like to talk to Helen Clark about it.

"I don't think it would be wise to rush in and pass legislation just because there is an outburst of public opinion.

"We need to sit down and talk about the kind of agreement we can come to. We shouldn't just look to Parliament to obliterate all the efforts of Maoridom."

The move promises to be highly contentious among Labour's Maori MPs.

After the Court of Appeal decision last week, Tariana Turia issued a long welcoming statement.

She castigated Opposition suggestions that a law should be passed to overrule the court - which is what she will now be expected to vote for.

"People with interests in the seabed and foreshore might find this a good time to get into discussions with tangata whenua about joint ventures and partnerships, instead of wasting time and energy trying to defeat our people's legitimate claims," she said.

Supporting legislation which contradicts such views is likely to be a difficult test for Mrs Turia.

Colleague John Tamihere said yesterday that he would be able to support such a bill "subject to reservations that need to be worked through with Maori".

He could not specify what these would be "because we need to have that debate with Maori."

Helen Clark avoided questions about what her Maori MPs thought about the decision, saying: "I think people would be concerned if they thought a firestorm had been whipped up around some of the most extraordinary interpretations of the Court of Appeal decision, and what [Maori] people want is customary usage acknowledged."

The Court of Appeal decision challenged previous assumptions that the Crown acquired property when it acquired sovereignty in New Zealand."

It said Maori customary property interests were preserved by common law until extinguished by law.

The Government's decision yesterday will extinguish property rights, which may or may not have been found to exist

The Court of Appeal decision was made by a full bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Sian Elias.

The five judges were unanimous in their decision that the case could go to the Maori Land Court.

The seabed case


* Waitangi Fisheries Commission pays for a 1997 claim by eight iwi to the Maori Land Court for ownership of the Marlborough Sounds foreshore and seabed.

* The Crown says it owns the seabed and successfully appeals (under National) against the Maori Land Court hearing the case.

* The Maori claimants counter-appeal, and the Court of Appeal last week allows the Maori Land Court to hear the substantive case.

* Other iwi say they will make similar claims to other areas.

* The Government announces it will pass a law asserting the Crown's ownership in the seabed and foreshore, extinguishing Maori claims.