Prebble Richard: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Prebble Richard: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:621;Page:16986] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (ACT) 
: 
 Let me make it quite clear to Gerry Brownlee that as a list member I represent constituents—every New Zealander both Maori and non-Maori—and I intend speaking in that way. 
I have to say to Mr Peters that his last contribution really sounded like that of an old man going back and talking about his past grievances. He is stuck in history telling us all about what happened to him in the National Party caucus. He lost. He should get over it and start again. He was booted out and he should move on. 
Let me take up the matter that Mr Peters raised with the Committee: how can people say this bill is racist and how can people say that Maori have lost everything and they have gained everything? I will take him through that. 
Let me first explain why the bill is racist because Mr Peters’ claim that Maori will next week have everything they had last week is simply not true.  
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: It is. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: In this bill I say to Mr Peters no non-Maori lose any freehold right that they have over the foreshore; no non-Maori lose that. But the Court of Appeal said there may well be iwi in New Zealand who actually do own freehold foreshore. They lose that. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: No they don’t. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Yes they do. Under this bill Maori—and Maori alone—lose that title which they now have. The court does not create it; it just recognises it. The court does not create it; it says: “No Maori own it.” That is why the bill is racist—because only Maori lose that property right under the bill.  
Hon Member 
: Tell that to the people of Matauri Bay. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Thank you very much. The next point that I want to make is why people can say that Maori gain enormously under the bill. One has to look to Supplementary Order Paper 303 which came in so late that it is not even in the redline copy. It says that the actual title of the bill will be changed; part of the legislation will be called the Resource Management (Foreshore and Seabed) Amendment Act. Why is that? Because when we look through the bill we discover that under the Resource Management Act a whole lot of new rights have been created for Maori—and only for Maori. They are not for anyone else; they are only for Maori. Yes there will be some Maori who do well. If I might use Mr Peters’ own colourful phrase when criticising the Treaty of Waitangi fisheries settlement—he said that no ordinary Maori had seen a snapper which was true—under this Resource Management (Foreshore and Seabed) Amendment Bill no ordinary Maori will get a pipi but the “Browntable” to use another of his colourful phrases will do well under it. For the people who have made a fortune out of the grievance industry this bill is a new gold mine. The lawyers the accountants and the white-shoe brigade will do well. 
That is why there is the irony that Maori lose under this bill; they alone lose their property rights. That is why the bill is deeply racist and a disgrace to this Parliament. How on earth can we be starting this century with racist legislation that removes property rights but only from one race in this nation? That is a disgrace! I cannot understand how the great Labour Government could possibly be introducing such a bill. 
Then it goes and introduces something that my friend Mr Shirley calls socialism and that is what it is. There is a new saying of socialists: one does not have to actually own it—just regulate it.  
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Control it. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: This bill does hand over control but not to all Maori—only to those Maori whose activities we have already seen on the Treaty of Waitangi settlements on the Treaty of Waitangi gravy train. The gravy train has just been turned into an express by this bill. This bill will cause legal uncertainty and there will be case after case. This bill actually solves nothing; it makes things far worse.