Labour spin starts to unravel on seabed

“The Labour Party spin, which has been so warmly embraced by some sections of the media, is beginning to unravel around the foreshore and seabed law,” says National Party Maori Affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee.

“Today we are getting a glimpse as to why the Government refused to let the public, the media, or any opposing parties see or discuss the Bill before it was brought before Parliament under urgency,” says Mr Brownlee.

Michael Cullen told the media yesterday that key amendments of the Act included,‘ the removal of ancestral connection orders … More effective

consultation with local Maori over the coastal area is also being
addressed in the review of the Resource Management Act’.

At the same time the Maori caucus told the public, ‘the Resource Management Act is currently being reviewed and will be strengthened to recognise more effective consultation with local Maori over coastal areas. Maori caucus believes this will provide stronger recognition of the traditional association of whanau, hapu and iwi with the coast than the ancestral connection orders initially provided for in the legislation’.

“The public of New Zealand are fed-up with this Government’s failure to confront Treaty issues in an honest and transparent way.

“The Government is clearly saying that ancestral connection will be back with a vengeance and will be slipped through when no-one is looking.

“It’s a contemptuous display of breath-taking arrogance,” says Mr Brownlee.

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