The Government must abandon its Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act interventions after the Waitangi Tribunal found it was committing gross breaches of the Treaty.

“This Government is throwing relations between Māori and the Crown into deeper disharmony,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Steve Abel.

“Māori rights to their Customary waters are at the core of what Te Tiriti guarantees. We need to uphold and honour the founding agreement our nation is built upon.

“But the Government is trampling all over Te Tiriti by attacking Te iwi Māori customary rights to the marine and coastal area. We must call this what it is - an act of Raupatu.

“The Government cannot hide behind a false narrative of ‘restoring parliamentary intent’, it is quite clear that its real intention is to undermine tangata whenua customary rights. This is a complete mischaracterisation of the past that is being used to advance the interests of those who want to take rights from Māori and exploit our oceans for private gain.

“The Waitangi Tribunal found that it is breaching the principle of tino rangatiratanga by riding roughshod over Māori rights and interests in te takutai moana without providing evidence for its claim that the public’s rights and interests require further protection.

“Following last year’s Court of Appeal decision which represented a sign of progress in recognising tikanga Māori, this Government’s proposed amendments to MACA would take Māori Crown relations backwards.

“The Green Party will stand alongside Te iwi Māori and against the Government’s confiscation of their customary rights to the marine and coastal environment,” says Steve Abel.

© Scoop Media