Call for a special committee to hear Marine bill

Call for a special committee to hear the Marine and Coastal Area Bill

“The Maori Party’s removal of Hone Harawera from the Maori Affairs Select Committee during the hearing of the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill does not go far enough”, says Dr Hugh Barr of the Coastal Coalition.

“The Coastal Coalition is a broad-based grassroots movement of thousands of people who believe the foreshore and seabed is the birthright and common heritage of all New Zealanders and should stay in Crown ownership.

“Replacing Hone Harawera by the Maori Party whip, Te Ururoa Flavell, on the committee is just window dressing”, Dr Barr said.

“There is a strong perception in the public arena that the Maori Affairs Committee is biased and that MPs who serve on it could be placed in a difficult and conflicted position. This is especially the case if their own iwi stands to gain substantial resources if the Bill is passed.

“When Helen Clark was faced with a similar issue in 2004, she had the wisdom to form a special select committee of Parliament to deal with submissions. Her formation of that special select committee showed that the government believed the issue was of great importance to all New Zealanders and that they wanted to ensure the public were given the fairest of possible hearings. This is still the case today.

“The Prime Minister should show leadership and replace the Maori Affairs Select Committee with a special committee to hear the Bill. Otherwise concerns about bias and unfair hearing will not go away”, Dr Barr said.

ENDS

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