5 April, 2004

Greens offer alternatives on Foreshore and Seabed

The Green Party says the Government has lost sight of some fundamental principles in its proposed Foreshore and Seabed legislation.

"The overriding principle must be sustainable management of the coastal marine area, for future generations and for the sake of other life there," said Green Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons. "Both Maori and Pakeha must contribute to deciding ways of achieving sustainable management ."

The Greens continue to contend that there is no need to legislate for Crown title in order to protect public access or sustainable management.

"We support the Waitangi Tribunal recommendations that the foreshore and seabed should not be sold and in most cases should not be held exclusively," said Green Co-leader, Jeanette Fitzsimons. "There are ways of achieving this without riding roughshod over the legal and Treaty rights of Maori."

Green Maori Affairs spokesperson, Metiria Turei said one option is amending the Te Ture Whenua Act so that when Maori seek title at the Maori Land Court it will be a collective title, unable to be freeholded or subdivided. There would be rights of public access defined by negotiation with hapu but with protection of areas of historical, environmental and cultural importance - for example urupa.

"There is already a precedent in the Act which provides for a Queen's Chain with public access to be created on Maori land adjoining the mean high water mark," said Metiria. "It remains Maori land, however, managed by the hapu, sometimes jointly with the local authority."

Metiria noted that this manner of title has operated successfully in many parts of the country including Okahu Bay in Auckland, Lake Taupo and is proposed for the Rotorua Lakes. It not only protects public access but there is an opportunity for better environmental outcomes.

The Greens have more confidence in hapu and communities achieving better environmental outcomes than private developers and some local authorities. Particularly as current environmental management practice includes pouring raw sewage into the sea, agricultural run off into lakes and allowing off road vehicles to damage dune ecology and bird nesting sites.

The Greens contend that areas of foreshore and seabed where no hapu claims ancestral title, or where the court has found it does not exist, could then be vested in the Crown on behalf of all New Zealanders. This would be protected from future sale unless allowed by 75 per cent of Parliament.

"However, legislating for Crown ownership before Maori have had the chance to test their rights in court amounts to confiscation and we have continually stated that we cannot support that."

ENDS

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