Brownlee Gerry: General Debates 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debates 
[Volume:616;Page:12447] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 Today the Government told us what it is going to do about the seabed and foreshore of this country. After 9 months of deception it has finally sold out on those New Zealanders who had believed that the seabed and foreshore rightly were held by the Crown. The Government came out last December with a package all dressed up in Christmas wrapping and finding it to be unacceptable to the public it has gone about this Mickey-Mouse consultation process tossed it back into an Easter box and served it up as being all-new and a great answer. It is none of those things; it is just the same old stuff repackaged with different names—a sell-out—and most New Zealanders will understand it to be that. Last time when the Government brought out the Christmas package Parekura Horomia was Father Christmas. This time Winston Peters is the Easter bunny and New Zealanders will not forgive him or the Labour Government for this legislation. 
This bill will herald a massive escalation in the treaty grievance process and New Zealanders will pay and pay for years to come as Maori parade themselves before the High Court claiming that not only their ancestral title—not only their customary rights—but also apparently some bundle of otherwise undefined rights means that the Government will have to compensate them for what has apparently been lost. This must be one of the first times in the world that people will be able to claim compensation for something they never had. They can thank New Zealand First and Winston Peters for that because we all know it is a waste of time even talking to Labour members about it. 
I say to David Parker that in voting for this legislation he will say goodbye to the Otago seat. I say to Clayton Cosgrove that he should not expect to be returned in Waimakariri when he votes for this sort of legislation. I say to Rick Barker that he should say goodbye to Tukituki. And I say to Ann Hartley—and this is a foregone conclusion—that there is no question she is going. 
The thing about this legislation is that no one will be happy. Those Maori members know that when they go back to their people and say: “Well yes the Government is asserting a sort of Crown ownership at a low level but don’t worry we have kaitiakitanga over the seabed and foreshore.” that that will not be enough to satisfy them. The rest of New Zealand the non-Maori communities will know that it does not matter what the Government says. As long as there is legislation asserting that those with ancestral connection to the coastline hold kaitiakitanga over it—governance and control the two things that stop one from doing things; the two things that limit one from doing things—then they will not be at all happy. That is the essence of the sell-out in the proposed legislation. 
I want to ask those Labour members whether they think it is fair that the entire coastline of New Zealand—all but one or two little spots—will come under the auspices of ancestral connection and therefore be subject to governance by Maori interests. 
Darren Hughes 
: That’s not access. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Can the member for Otaki the otherwise transparent Darren Hughes tell us whether he thinks his people will believe that that means all New Zealanders are being treated equally. It does not. When one reads a little bit further into the proposal one sees that there will be special provisions under the Resource Management Act for Maori interests when it comes to the seabed and foreshore around this country. 
So rather than New Zealand First taking up the cudgel for all New Zealanders who want to get into development and improve their economic stakes but find the Resource Management Act a barrier New Zealand First has said: “Well we’ll do it just for Maori.” That is what we have happening in this House today. The embattled Labour Party which cannot get even its own members to vote for its legislation is relying on Winston Peters.