Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere says National is breaking the agreement it made with the Māori Party to recognise Māori customary rights to the takutai moana.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says a planned rewrite of the Marine and Coastal Areas (Takutai Moana) Act directing the courts to disregard a Court of Appeal judgment on how applications for customary marine title should be determined will take the law back to what it was supposed to do in 2011.
Mr Tamihere says Mr Luxon is bowing to New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who is a long-standing opponent of Maori customary rights.
He says pressure from Mr Peters was a factor in Labour passing the Foreshore and Seabed Act, which set aside a Court of Appeal judgment that would have allowed Ngati Apa to seek a determination of its rights to part ofthe Marlborough Sounds.
The deal the Maori Party cut with John Key’s National Government restored a way for Maori to take their claims through the courts – but now National – and New Zealand First – want to take that right away again because they don’t like the way the legislation is being interpreted now the cases are finally being heard.
“The Supreme Court is gojng to determine whether the Court of Appeal is right or wrong and set a system where anyone who makes a claim, you go through a tick box exercise and say ‘your claim means you have customary title’ or ‘your claim means it’s not solid for this reason.’ That allows hundreds of applicants the chance to prove their customary title,” Mr Tamihere says.
