Coastal Coalition Retain the foreshore and Seabed in Crown ownership

Coastal Coalition Refutes Prime Minister’s Claims on the Foreshore

The Coastal Coalition today refuted claims by Prime Minister John Key that their Iwi-Kiwi billboards, opposing the repeal of Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed and the subsequent privatisation of parts of it to corporate iwi, were “factually wrong”.

Coalition spokesman Dr Hugh Barr said “The messages contained in the billboard were sourced from the government’s own materials and announcements. The billboard, which depicts John Key as the ‘cheerleader’ of corporate Maori, points out that under the proposed law ‘Iwi’ who gain customary title will receive very strong property rights including ‘ownership rights’, ‘development rights’, ‘mining rights’, and ‘veto rights’. In comparison, ‘Kiwi’ have no cheerleader and only get ‘visiting rights?’. There is a question mark, because under the proposed law Maori will have the right to exclude non-Maori from parts of the foreshore and seabed that they consider to be of special cultural or spiritual significance.

“The billboards also graphically remind the public of the astounding U-turn that John Key and the National Government have done since 2005, when a previous National Party argued vehemently against privatising the foreshore and seabed to iwi. Now John Key’s proposed policy will allow it to be privatised only to iwi. And Crown ownership will be removed everywhere” Dr Barr said. “This is not “copying”. It is a stunning reminder to the public of National’s duplicity.”

“John Key intends to allow iwi to claim customary title to the foreshore and seabed anywhere that is now Crown owned. If granted, their associated ownership rights would include development rights, mining rights, aquaculture rights, leasing rights, veto rights etc. These would stretch out to sea up to 22 km (12 nautical miles), far further than Maori control would have extended in 1840. Iwi get the right of veto over all activities being planned by anyone else in their customary area”, Dr Barr said.

“National’s Attorney General Chris Finlayson thinks 10% of New Zealand’s coastal area will transfer. National has significantly lowered the bar to iwi gaining customary title,. These include allowing iwi to negotiate in secret with friendly ministers such as Finlayson, formerly one of Ngai Tahu’s Treaty Claim negotiating team.”

“The Crown owned foreshore and seabed is vast” Dr Barr said. “It includes major natural resources of iron-sands, aggregate, aquaculture and recreational and commercial infrastructure. Iron-sands alone over the currently Crown-owned area are said by Crown Minerals to be worth trillions ($1,000,000,000,000) of dollars. This is potentially an enormous transfer of wealth from the nation to claimant iwi” Dr Barr said. “The public should be aware that John Key is putting the demands of tribal leaders ahead of the democratic rights of citizens.”

“There are also major constitutional questions about what the Key government is proposing. Replacing Crown ownership by “land owned by no-one”, as he proposes, can significantly weaken New Zealand’s sovereignty over it. This Bill is not something that should be rushed through by Christmas. These constitutional changes are irreversible National is hiding these facts from the public.” Dr Barr said.

ends

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