Mapp Wayne: General Debates 
Mapp Wayne: General Debates 
[Volume:614;Page:10591] 
Dr WAYNE MAPP (National—North Shore) 
: 
 In this last general debate of the year there is one question: who owns the beaches? 
When we sit here on this side of the House we hear confusion we hear chaos and we do not get answers. Not once has the Government given a clear answer to the public of New Zealand through Parliament about who owns the beaches. The reality is the Government is in a shambles. It is in a complete mess on this issue. It cannot satisfy its Maori caucus and it cannot assure other New Zealanders that they will be able to go to the beaches this summer. No wonder there is trepidation. There is confusion and that is why protest movements are being mounted right now that will stop New Zealanders from going on to beaches. That is the simple proposition. It is a marked contrast to the 1990s when National had to deal with difficult issues around those kinds of things. But did we have this kind of delay? Did we have months and months of speculation? No we had solutions; that was the difference. The Labour Government goes by polls; we went by solutions in the 1990s. 
It will surprise the House to know that the Government cannot even guarantee Crown ownership of the seabed and foreshore. Yet that is exactly what the Prime Minister promised New Zealanders back in August last year. It is now just before Christmas 2003 and New Zealanders are still waiting for the answer. What did we hear today? Oh no the Government is talking about proposals yet to be finalised. No wonder it is accused of duplicity. That is what is happening. But some things are clear. We have heard what Minister Tamihere has said. Ministers have said to Te Ope Mana a Tai that there can be manu whenua customary title. The reality is—because the law books say so—that customary title is the equivalent of a fee simple title. 
So the Government has to answer these key questions today: will the manu whenua customary title—because it has already agreed to it apparently—include full development rights? Maybe Mr Samuels can answer this: will those full development rights lead to the exclusive use and control of the seabed the foreshore and the beaches? If that is the case the Government will not be able to deliver on its commitment to full public access. The Government cannot have it both ways. It cannot give to Maori exclusive customary mana whenua title equivalent to fee simple and at the same time guarantee full public access. That is a simple proposition that has been asked. The Minister on his feet right now Mr Tamihere could take the next call and tell the House which of those two propositions is true. 
We would ask the Government to guarantee Crown ownership. Instead it looks as though the Government will repeal section 9A of the Foreshore and Seabed Endowment Revesting Act. The reason I say that is because section 9A of that Act states that all land that is foreshore and seabed “shall be land of the Crown”. That is a simple proposition that guarantees everyone access. It benefits every single New Zealander no matter what his or her ethnicity is. Instead the Minister said yesterday that it is simply “deemed” to be land of the Crown. I do not know how it can be more specific than the words “shall be land of the Crown”. Why on earth would we use concepts like “public domain” to replace a clear idea of Crown ownership that has been well understood for hundreds of years? 
The Government has now raised this proposition of the subdivision of the beaches foreshore and seabed amongst various claimants—and there are hundreds of them in the wider community.