WHY, OH WHY IS THE MAORI PARTY SUPPORTING THIS BILL
Part 2, Committee in the House - Marine and Coastal Area Bill
Hone Harawira - Te Reo Motuhake o Te Tai Tokerau
Wed 16 Mar 2011

Mr Chairman, I think that it is important for all Maori people listening to this debate all round the country and watching these speeches on Parliament TV, that they are very, very clear in their understanding of where this bill is at, and what it will take for it to become legislation.

We are currently going through the committee stages in the house, which is one of the last chances to convince the Maori Party of the error of their ways, and then after that to the final reading, after which the Marine and Coastal Area Bill will become law.

And I want all Maori to know this, because the votes in the house during these committee stages make it glaringly obvious that if the Maori Party were to withdraw their support for this bill, it would die the death that it deserves.

This bill is no longer about National. It is about the Maori Party, and if Maoridom wants to see this bill end here, then I urge them to contact the Maori Party MPs by email, or by comment to their website @ maoriparty.com calling on them to withdraw their support and let this bill lapse.

Mr chairman, in speaking to Part 2 of the Marine and Coastal Area Bill, I would like to note that while the bill says that it takes away crown ownership and replaces it with a no-ownership regime called “common space”, in fact, it still leaves statutory authority with the crown, thus continuing the confiscation of maori rights to the foreshore and seabed first established by the FSSB Act in 2004, by simply changing the title of the legislation in 2011 to the Marine and Coastal Area Bill.

As my whanaunga Shane Jones rightly points out Mr chairman, it is nothing but a legal fiction, a play on words to calm the fears of Maori people, but it is still a confiscation of Maori rights to the foreshore and seabed.

1. Mr Chairman, the bill that we are discussing tonight raises issues like those in Part 2 as well as in every other Part of this bill, that less than 1% of Maoridom have seen … leaving hundreds of thousands of Maori people asking why the Maori Party hasn’t bothered coming back to explain what is actually in the bill, thanking me for opposing it, and asking why on earth the Maori Party is saying that they are so proud to support it?

2. And then, after all the changes made through the Committee in the House process that we are going thru now, we will end up with a bill that less than .01% of Maoridom will even see before it comes back to the house for its third and final reading, and that this will happen, not just because National wants it to be that way, but because the Maori Party has given their full support to the final version of this bill being rammed through the house WITHOUT Maori people being given any opportunity whatsoever to consider the consequences of a bill that will have long-lasting and probably devastating implications for Maori land rights, and that’s why Maori people are telling me how angry they are and desperately asking me why on earth the Maori Party is saying that they are so proud to support this bill – a question that I simply cannot answer …

3. And then of course, this bill ensures that the government will always have the final say in determining what Maori customary title will be, which isn’t what we marched for in 2004, and so of course Maori people are asking why on earth the Maori Party is saying that they are so proud to support this bill, and telling me how grateful they are that I am opposing it.

4. And when they finally get to see the bill, Maori are going to see that local authorities can apply for compensation at full market value for the loss of any foreshore and seabed that they may have under their control, and of course they’re going to be asking themselves how come they local bodies get compensation just by asking for it, but Maori will have to prove that they have held “exclusive use and occupation of the area since 1840 without substantial interruption, and that the area in question was held in accordance with tikanga” before they even get a look in, and they will not doubt be asking again, why on earth the Maori Party is saying that they are so proud to support this bill, and again, telling me how grateful they are that I am opposing it.

5. And Maori will know that their own iwi leadership have withdrawn their support for this bill, raising again the question, why on earth the Maori Party is saying that they are so proud to support this bill, and again, telling me how grateful they are that I am opposing it.

6. And when Maori realise that of the 72 submissions from whanau, hapu, iwi, marae, and Maori organisations, only ONE supported this bill, no wonder they’re asking why on earth the Maori Party is saying that they are so proud to support this bill, when 95% of their submissions are in support of the position that I have taken in opposing it.

7. And that is why Mr Chairman, I need to also ask … does the Maori Party know that under Part 2 of this Marine and Coastal Area Bill, roads owned by the government or anyone else, will still be owned by government or anyone else, but not by Maori, even if they win their claim? P2,16 (1) And if the Maori Party does in fact know this, why on earth are they telling everyone that this is their bill, and that they’re proud to be supporting it?

8. Does the Maori Party know that under Part 2 of this Marine and Coastal Area Bill, any piece of the foreshore and seabed that Maori cannot afford to go to court to get back, will no longer be “common space” nor will it be held for Maori, but that it will go back to the Crown, And if the Maori Party does in fact know this, why on earth are they telling everyone that this is their bill, and that they are proud to be supporting it?

9. Does the Maori Party know that under Part 2 of this Marine and Coastal Area Bill, the Minister of Conservation is going to be the manager of the common space, and that the Minister of Maori Affairs will not have a role in that management activity at all? P2, 30 (1) And if the Maori Party does in fact know this, why on earth are they telling everyone that this is their bill, and that they are proud to be supporting it?

10. And it is because of those issues Mr chairman, that I know too that Maori are asking some pretty basic questions right now, like:
• Is this what Maori people marched for in 2004 – and the answer is NO
• Is this what Maori voted for the Maori Party for in 2005 – and the answer is NO
• Is this what Maori wanted out of the coalition with National in 2008 – and the answer is NO
• And is this what Maori expected out of new legislation in 2011 – and the answer is NO

11. And yet Mr Chairman, the Maori Party is saying that this is not National’s bill - that this is the Maori Party bill, and that they are proud to be supporting it …
• even though when Te Ururoa was asked “Who is running the timetable” he said “National”
• and when he was asked “Who wrote the bill?” he said “National”
• and when he was asked “Whose bill is this?” he said “National's”
• And even though Tariana Turia said about this bill, that “if we were negotiating on what is fair, just and moral, then we would have a very different outcome."

12. Mr Chairman, this bill is not the Maori Party’s bill It is National’s bill. And it is not true to say that the Maori Party is proud to support this bill - because they don’t. The Maori Party caucus supports it, that’s obvious, but the members don’t. I know, because I have received hundreds of emails, texts, facebook messages, voicemails, and comments from Maori Party members telling me that they are gutted by what their caucus is doing, and they are leaving the party in droves over the Maori Party caucus’ betrayal of this cornerstone issue for the party.

tu te ao maori
tu te rangatiratanga
tu motuhake
tena tatou katoa

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