September 15, 2015
Maori land law reform pushes judges to side
The Maori Party, which started because the previous Labour Government took away the right to pursue customary claims to the foreshore and seabed, is now promoting a bill that will deny Maori the right to go to court over their land.
That’s the implication that can be drawn from a submission by the Maori Land Court judges on the Te Ture Whenua Maori Bill.
Waatea Editor Adam Gifford has been studying the 163 page submission to the Ministerial Advisory Group working on the bill.
The judges say key initiatives in the bill undermine core property rights of Maori landowners.
A small group of owners will be able to make decisions without owing any duties to co-owners and without the Maori Land Court having a role, other than ensuring the right boxes have been ticked.
Governors of Maori land become more like company directors than trustees, and the aim of the bill seems to be to encourage commercial use of land.
The purpose and principles of the bill do not include occupation of land as a key objective, yet that is at the forefront of the current Act.
Owners will be able to partition land without regard to the overall interests of the owners or the utilisation of the land – a regime that in the past led to significant loss of Maori land.
The judges say the new model of managing kaiwhakarite will place an extraordinary level of power over private Maori land into the hands of a departmental chief executive, in what looks like a return to the old Part 24 land development schemes.
That chief executive is not an officer of the court even though she is doing what is normally done by an independent judiciary and there is no right of appeal.
The decision on whether disputes between owners go before a judge is made by a departmental official rather than the court, something the judges say has profound constitutional significance.
TO READ THE SUBMISSIONS CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
Te Ture Whenua Maori Bill Submission of the Judges of the Māori Land Court
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