Prime Minister getting desperate over Marine Bill

The fact that the Prime Minister is continuing to misinform the public over the Marine and Coastal Area Bill is a sure sign that support for the bill is falling.

“The fact that he is making outrageous claims against any non-Maori who speaks out against his Bill indicates that he is getting desperate”, Dr Hugh Barr, Spokesman for the Coastal Coalition, said today.

“One of John Key’s major misrepresentations is even featured on the government’s website and involves mining on the foreshore and seabed. Under clause 63 (2) of his bill, commercialisation of the foreshore and seabed is being encouraged. Clauses 82-83 cover mining of all minerals except the four nationalised ones - oil and gas, gold, silver and uranium.

Crown Minerals has valued New Zealand’s iron-sands reserves at up to $1 trillion dollars,[1] something John Key is trying to dispute. When the Coastal Coalition says that New Zealand’s iron-sands reserves could be worth up to $1 trillion, that is not our figure – it comes from the government’s own agency, Crown Minerals.

“Since iron-sands are not a nationalised mineral, any iwi given customary title to an area of foreshore and seabed that contains commercial quantities of iron-sands has the right to set up mining operations and keep the proceeds for their own private use. At present royalties from any mining on the foreshore and seabed belongs to the Crown for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

In addition, the Crown is favouring claimants financially. If an iwi make a claim for an area of foreshore and seabed where non-nationalised mining is already established, clauses 83 (2) and (3) of the Bill require royalty payments to be transferred from the Crown and into iwi coffers from the time their claim is first lodged, rather than from when their claim is proved.

The bill also enables foreign interests to exploit the foreshore and seabed under the provisions in clause (63) (2) which enable iwi title holders to lease out their “customary” right to mine and develop their area!

As a result of the dramatic lowering of the qualifying criteria for customary title in the Bill - and the fact that title can be granted through secret deals with a Minister, rather than having to be proven in a court of law – the government has estimated that on average, one kilometre in ten of coastline will be transferred to Maori.[2]

But according to the Maori Party that is just a start – they intend to renegotiate with future governments until the whole coast is in Maori hands, signalling the beginning of a brand new grievance industry.

John Key’s bill would be a disaster for New Zealand and the sooner he honours his promise to withdraw the bill if there isn’t widespread support, the better.

“The foreshore and seabed is the birthright and common heritage of all New Zealanders equally, and Crown ownership – not private ownership - is where it belongs”, Dr Barr said.

FOOTNOTES:
[1]Business Day, Ironsands industry unclear about foreshore law
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/3900029/Ironsands-industry-unclear-about-foreshore-law

[2]TVNZ, transcript of interview between Guyon Espinar and Chris Finlayson on Q+A 20 June 2010:
GUYON: “So something like 2000 kilometres of coastline under your guesstimates would be under customary title?”
CHRIS: “Yes, and that in the round guesstimate Guyon.”
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/q-chris-finlayson-interview-3600399

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