Māori Party president John Tamihere says the planned rewrite of the Marine and Coastal Areas Act will be the largest confiscation of Māori interests since the 1860s.
The Government says it disagrees with the Court of Appeal’s interpretation in a case defining the customary interests of Whakatohea hapu and neighbouring iwi in the eastern Bay of Plenty, and it intends to change the Act passed by the National-Maori Party Government in 2011 to set the bar higher for claims.
Mr Tamihere says in 2003, when Labour was contemplating legislation in the wake of the Ngati Apa judgment, Winston Peters offered New Zealand First votes to support a bill nationalising the foreshore.
Labour instead left the door open for customary rights claims which Mr Peters and his coalition partners now want to close.
“This has taken 40 years of litigation under the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 and the 2011 Marine and Coastal Areas Act. Our people have spent millions of dollars going through procedures, Waitangi Tribunal claims, court cases to land at a place where a 6 percent party is going to destroy the rights,” Mr Tamihere says.
He says the ACT Party is also strong on protecting property rights except where Maori property is involved.
