Respect Every New Zealander's Property Rights

Monday 23 Aug 2004
Gerry Eckhoff
Press Releases -- Rural -- Public Access Petition

ACT New Zealand Rural Affairs Spokesman Gerry Eckhoff today called on the Labour Government to stop dithering and decide whether Maori land is to be subject to public access or not.

"Rural Affairs Minister Jim Sutton has clearly made up his mind over access to private non-Maori land but believes the Maori land access issue `needs more work'," Mr Eckhoff said.

"Cabinet papers, obtained from Mr Sutton's office, reveal the Minister's belief in the need to impose access over all named water bodies.

"The papers are particularly sympathetic to the Maori view that they perceive land differently and therefore should receive special treatment.

"Mr Sutton's response is to call for more work to be done on this aspect in the knowledge that the public won't tolerate such blatant racial separatism.

"Either he is in favour of access to private land or he isn't. The ethnicity of the landowner should never be an issue.

"Clearly this Minister has no idea of how to solve this problem. The answer is simple: respect the property rights of all New Zealanders, regardless of their racial background," Mr Eckhoff said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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