Listen Now: 
Download AudioA constitutional law expert says a Waitangi Tribunal report on the Takutai Moana Act has highlighted major departures from principles of good Government.
The tribunal has recommended the Government halt its proposed rewrite of the Marine and Coastal Areas (Takutai Moana) Act and engage with Māori on how resource consents will be granted in areas where iwi and hapū hold customary marine titles.
Carwyn Jones, who teaches law at both Victoria University of Wellington and Te Wananga o Raukawa, says the amendment not only breaches the principle of the Treaty on Waitangi, but it legislates over the top of a Court of Appeal decision and applies retrospectively to other cases now awaiting judgment.
The tribunal also flagged the way ministers refused to accept policy advice or analysis.
“We see the Government providing no evidence, no problem definition around what the issue is they are trying to address. It simply seems to be something they have made up or imagined to be a problem,” Dr Jones says.
The Government hasn’t provided any evidence parliament intended a higher test for customary marine title than the way the Court of Appeal interpreted the law.
RELATED NEWS
