One Standard of Citizenship not divisive

"The National Party will continue to advocate one standard of citizenship as the path ahead for New Zealand," says National Party Leader Bill English.

"The Labour Government's management of the beaches and seabed issue has created uncertainty, high expectation and real concern among the public," he says.

"National believes our beaches and seabed must remain in exclusive Crown ownership.

"Labour promised this initially, but then backtracked and has been doing deals behind the scenes," Mr English says.

"This is not acceptable to us or to the majority of New Zealanders.

"Any form of dual title will lead to problems down the track.

"New Zealanders will not tolerate regimes in this country where some citizens are charged for access to the beach."

Mr English says he is relaxed about a complaint made about his comments on the issue to the Human Rights Commission and about comments attacking him made by Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere.

"This reaction, together with the 50,000 signatures on National's www.beachesforall.co.nz website, show that Labour is worried about electorate reaction.

"Labour has been trying to fudge the issue and the public are not buying it.

"Helen Clark is poll-driven in everything she does and her polls will be reflecting the same results as our web site.

"Labour's aim in this is to patch up its own internal divisions and to maintain its own power base, not to secure the solution that the majority of New Zealanders want," Mr English says

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