Samuels Dover: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Samuels Dover: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:621;Page:17154] 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS (Minister of State) 
: 
 I want to say to 99.9 percent of all New Zealanders in this country that at Christmas they can go down to the beach with their family with their children have a barbecue have a hangi and go fishing. It was amazing to hear a speaker from the ACT party say that when she goes down to the beach with her kids they might be stopped by wardens and if they do not leave they might be fined. Let me give her some advice. She should take the kids down to the beach take suntan oil and do the “slip slop slap” so they do not get sunburnt lie on the beach have a good time and build sandcastles. But my advice is: do not go down on the bulldozer because fisheries officers will be there and wardens will be there to make sure that people use the beach appropriately for the benefit of all New Zealanders including Maori.  
I heard of a statement made by somebody who sits opposite: “I will oppose this bill with every fibre of my body.” Who said that? I am still trying to identify who said that. But that person has been an apparition—has not been seen has not turned up here. [ 
Interruption 
] I am just saying that is what I heard from a person who sits across the other side of the Chamber: “I will oppose the bill with every fibre in my body.” Today we have seen the National Party roll out the dead—a few have come out of the deep freeze. Today they say they will oppose this bill. The reason why they oppose this bill is quite clear—and one thing about the National Party is that they tell the truth they are clear they tell the facts. The reason why they oppose the bill is that it provides customary rights for Maori in this country. That is why the National Party opposes the bill.  
I turn to the title of this bill. In 1993 the House passed Te Ture Whenua Maori Act and the National Party was the Government. I wonder why the National Government did not think perhaps about the implications of a Court of Appeal decision in terms of the jurisdiction of the Maori Land Court? 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Why didn’t Maori think about it? 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS 
: Why did the National Government not think about it? The outcome is a sham. That legislation of 1993 empowered the Maori Land Court—and the National Party was the Government. They never ever mentioned anything; never dreamt about the foreshore and seabed. Yet we have a Court of Appeal. There no Maori on that court; no Maori amongst those high-flying judges. They are all Pakeha and they determined that in fact the Maori Land Court has the jurisdiction to hear applications not just about land but the foreshore the seabed under the water out to the 12-mile continental shelf. What an absolute sham!  
I am saying that if the Parliament had decided that the Maori Land Court should have jurisdiction then it would have titled the legislation of 1993 the “Maori Ture Whenua (Foreshore Seabed and Land) Act”. But it did not and here we are back here today listening to the claptrap from the other side of the Chamber from members of a previous Government that was responsible for promoting that Act.  
I have a vested interest a conflict of interest in this foreshore and seabed legislation. I want to say that before Rodney Hide or the ACT party start frothing at the mouth about it. I am a member of the hapu Ngati Wai like my whanaunga the Rt Hon Winston Peters. Ngati Wai people are actually by the sea—generations and generations of our tupuna. We have never been accorded any rights or recognition in terms of our customary rights whatsoever. Today I am proud to stand with my colleagues and my Maori colleagues on the other side to give recognition to the customary rights that our people have had for generations and generations.  
I say to our people that if they do not want to pick up that opportunity they do not have to. If they do not want to go to the Maori Land Court or the High Court they do not have to. This Government is not going to take them around the neck and force them to go to the Maori Land Court or the High Court. But that is their option. They have the option to codify their rights in the law. So when the local councils come along with some extraordinary or unusual development project our people can say: “Hang on. This is crossing and transgressing the customary rights of our people.” Is that not fair? The lunatics—the people who have been smoking too much puha and are hallucinating—say they represent Maori.