Turei Metiria: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — First Reading 
Turei Metiria: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12728] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 It is still possible to negotiate a solution that affirms the tino rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga of Maori and meets the needs of the general public but only if the Government withdraws the legislation and engages in real negotiation with Maori. The NgatiApa decision gave the Government a perfect opportunity to recognise the political dimension embodied in article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi and to consider seriously how rangatiratanga might be implemented in the 21st century. But instead the Government chose a patronising 19th century extinguishment and confiscation that will haunt this country for generations. 
 It was and still is an utterly irresponsible act and it is contrary to the law. The Court of Appeal clearly stated that the Government wrongly assumed that it owned the foreshore and seabed and that customary rights—rights that precede the Crown’s acquisition of sovereignty—still exist in New Zealand law. But the Government also makes the culturally bound value judgment that private title under European law is sacred but that tikanga-derived customary title is meaningless and without value. It is that presumption that underlines the contempt this Government shows to Maori and that underlines the discrimination inherent in this legislation because it confiscates a form of title that is held only by Maori. It allows title issued according to European law to stand. This bill will redefine customary title and turn it into a privilege granted by the Crown. That is the extinguishment of rights and the confiscation of land that is unconscionable. 
The Government argues that this is not a confiscation because Maori can still go to court to have their rights recognised. It is this the Government waves in public to assure the rest of the country that it is not abrogating the civil rights of New Zealand citizens. But that right is an empty baseless right. The High Court cannot affirm the full spectrum of customary title rights and responsibilities nor can it grant any remedies for the loss of any identified rights. It is an utter frace that the court can give a list of exactly what one has had confiscated so that Maori may then take that to the Government to talk about this little list of lost items. 
Then in an additional stab in the guts the Government negotiates with the New Zealand First Party a party headed by a Maori MP for the High Court to grant territorial customary title to any group of non-Maori. What for? To build landfills and toilets on wahi tapu and the coastline to pump sewage into the seabed? That provision negotiated by New Zealand First perverts the international common law doctrine of customary title and its application in Aotearoa. Customary rights cannot in law apply to anyone other than the peoples with whom sovereignty resided before colonisation. This legislation co-opts and perverts the legal concept to mask the Government’s expropriation of customary rights. 
The Court of Appeal found in law that the Government had wrongly assumed that it owned the foreshore and seabed. In response the Government will extinguish legal rights confiscate land and put our foreshore and seabed at serious risk of further future alienation and environmental degradation. This Parliament is at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. The Greens ask the Government to withdraw the legislation and sit down with Maori to have a real dialogue about other viable solutions. 
To the Labour and New Zealand First Maori MPs who have not yet turned away from this legislation I say to them that we know where the injustice in this bill will lead this country. How can any of us willingly and knowingly subject our people to this theft? We all Maori and Pakeha in this Parliament have the choice right now whether we take the path back to our colonial paternalistic history of confiscations unrest and injustice or we put on the brake withdraw the legislation and take the path of deliberation cooperation peace and justice.