September 29, 2020
Hearings challenge crown control of takutai moana
Northern hapū and iwi are presenting evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal at Whitiora Marae in Te Tii this week on why the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act isn’t fit for purpose.
The Act, which replaced the Foreshore and Seabed Act, set a deadline for claims for customary interests to coastal space, creating a scramble that has pitted neighbouring hapū against each other.
Those claims have either been determined by officials or are awaiting special High Court hearings, where hapū discover how high the bar has been set.
Huhana Lyndon from Ngātiwai says her iwi’s submissions focus on the way the law undermines its rangatiratanga.
"The problem is the crown requires us to prove our relationship to the takutai moana. Rather, the crown needs to demonstrate how they actually have mana whakahaere over the takutai moana," she says.
Huhana Lyndon says there is no mechanism in the Act for co-governance or management of marine and coastal areas.
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