Scott Lynda: General Debates 
Scott Lynda: General Debates 
[Volume:610;Page:7233] 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT (NZ National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 The New Zealand beaches belong to everybody. The seabed foreshore and beaches of the Marlborough Sounds belong to everybody. The issue of ownership of the seabed and foreshore is the line in the sand for New Zealanders. I grew up in the Marlborough Sounds. As a child I played on the beach took the mail boat home on a Friday night and fished in the Marlborough Sounds. It is the New Zealand way of life to be able to walk on a beach and to be able to fish. It is part of the freedom that is at the heart of all New Zealanders. 
I went to the Chatham Islands a few years ago. I got up in the morning and went for my usual run and was ordered off the beach. It belonged to somebody else. That really brought home to me that the beaches should belong to all New Zealanders and that we should all have access to them. Maori try to reassure us that our access will be maintained but that cannot be guaranteed if ownership passes to the hands of individuals or groups. That would be a creeping erosion of the rights of New Zealanders. The Maori Land Court should not have jurisdiction over the foreshore and the seabed. The land is the land. The foreshore and seabed must remain in Crown ownership for the benefit of all New Zealanders. If Labour does not introduce legislation to confirm the title of the beaches foreshore and seabed and to extinguish any claim for customary title National will do so. That legislation does not give rise to any matters of compensation. 
We have had enough of Labour’s spin and duplicity and of Labour holding secret discussions behind closed doors. I recall that when I came into this House Tariana Turia said to me in a speech that I was a visitor in her House. I tell members that I am no visitor to New Zealand. I am a fifth-generation New Zealander who loves this land as much as anybody and I will not have my rights as a New Zealander of European descent trampled over. This issue is causing a great depth of feeling an outpouring of emotion in New Zealand society anger frustration concern and distrust of this Government on the part of the New Zealand public. Labour MPs need to listen to the public. They are misjudging the depth of feeling amongst the New Zealand public about this issue. 
National has given members of the public a chance to have their say. I shall read a few of the things that they have been saying. “If we divide the country by race we fall into the age-old race / religion / ethnic issues that have destroyed many countries.” That is from a person in Auckland. This is from someone who is overseas: “There is a time when all people of the land everyone who is a proud New Zealander must pull together and fight for common sense and the rights of the people.” This is from another person in Auckland: “I agree. This is the greatest issue of separation of Crown and Maori in New Zealand for a long time. I agree that Maori have had past injustices done to them but which people have not? That does not justify anything. It is a fact. Would the treaty have been created if such claims as this were possible? I think not. We as a whole country must work together to solve this issue or I fear we will wake one day in a nightmare.” 
Someone from Hamilton wrote this to the Prime Minister Helen Clark: “I am a 34-year-old married male New Zealander driven to anger and frustration by the current claim of ownership by Maori of the foreshore and seabed and how it has been handled. This claim undermines the very essence of our country’s freedom. What is compounding the matter is Labour’s decision to deal with this behind closed doors. This is a national issue not one to be discussed behind closed doors. Essentially a wedge is being driven into our community by this claim and the way it is being dealt with. It tells me that I am not in fact a New Zealander but maybe an individual renting a spot in a country owned by a small minority of its population. I am ethnically inferior. If the claim is ratified my tenancy agreement is dissolved.”