Shane Jones: Flip-Flop Artist Extraordinaire

ACT New Zealand Foreshore & Seabed Spokesman Hilary Calvert today advised Labour MP Shane Jones to tread carefully when commenting about the Marine and Coastal (Takutai Moana) Bill, lest he reveal himself to be an even bigger flip-flop artist than he already has.

“If Mr Jones wants customary title holders to be able to charge for public access to the beach; why then did he support the Foreshore & Seabed Act 204, which prohibits that very thing?” Ms Calvert said.

“ACT’s proposed amendment to the Marine and Coastal (Takutai Moana) Bill will specifically prohibit customary title holders from charging for public access to the beach. Mr Jones has attacked this and claimed Labour’s Maori MPs will oppose the Bill if this amendment is included.

“Yet the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 – which he and his Maori colleagues helped ram into law – states at Section 40 (2):

‘Neither the guardians of a foreshore and seabed reserve nor the applicant group nor the board is entitled to charge or collect fees or other form of payment from any person or body for the use or occupation of the reserve.’

“Where were Mr Jones’ criticisms then? In 2004, amid controversy and public protest, he meekly helped pass a law that singled out Maori for special hostile treatment and stole their fundamental right to have their day in court. On top of that, he supported the exact prohibition on charging for the use of the foreshore and seabed that ACT is advocating.

“Mr Jones is on dangerous ground. His comments today have already shown that he is either an enormous hypocrite, or is simply a man who does not know his own mind. Either way, he runs the very real risk of losing what little credibility he has managed to retain,” Ms Calvert said.

ENDS

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