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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Dr Hugh Barr
The Ngati Porou Bill is now before the Maori Affairs Select Committee. It was initially drafted by the former National Party Attorney General, Christopher Finlayson before National lost the 2017 Election. It has been carried forward by the Labour-led Coalition Government, although why is unclear, as you will find out by reading on.
A very surprising Bill had its first reading in Parliament on 10 May. The Bill is surprising in that it was originally brought forward under the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act, which was abolished by the 2011 Marine & Coastal Area (MACA) Act of 2011.
The Marine and Coastal Area Act should be closed down, but instead it remains a privatisation threat to our coast. My Association, the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of New Zealand, has been concerned about attempts to privatise New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed since 2004.
The Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of New Zealand (CORANZ) objected to the claim by Ngati Pahauwera, for a Customary Marine Title over the coast between the Waikare River mouth and the Waihua River mouth, in northern Hawke’s Bay.
It is now over six years since the racist Marine and Coastal Area Act came into force, under John Key’s National Government. The goal of the Act was give Maori tribal groups the right to claim control of New Zealand’s publicly owned foreshore and seabed.
The National Party’s desire to pander to the minor Maori Party led in March 2011, to the Marine and Coastal Area (MACA) Act. It gives major property and other rights to any Maori tribal group that can prove that it has “exclusively used and occupied an area of coast from 1840 to the present day”.
It is now over six years since the racist Marine and Coastal Area (MACA for short) Act came into force. So far.it has proved very difficult for Maori tribal groups to obtain ownership of the foreshore and seabed, with only one highly unusual case qualifying so far.
This article updates information on the National Government’s highly controversial 2011 Marine and Coastal Area Act, that allows Maori tribal privatisation of the foreshore and seabed, through gaining Customary Marine Title over these priceless resources. The Act is the brainchild of pro-Maori Treaty Claims Minister Christopher Finlayson.
Though our Citizens Initiated Referendum (CIR) has failed narrowly to get to its target, the Coastal Coalition will continue to campaign strongly against National’s Marine and Coastal Area Act (the 2011 Act). So I ask that all Coastal Coalition members stay in touch, and help us with this fight.
The Coastal Coalition was set up in May 2010 to support public ownership of New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed, for all New Zealanders. But John Key with Maori Party support, passed the Marine and Coastal Area Act last April. This removes Crown ownership, and allows iwi Customary Marine Title, in spite of 90 percent of public submissions opposing it.
