Katene Rahui: General Debate 
Katene Rahui: General Debate 
[Volume:655;Page:4842] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 Today is a day of celebration. The foreshore and seabed report has been released. The issue started in Te Tau Ihu when one of my iwi sought a mussel farming licence. Their humble request to farm in their traditional rohe was rejected by the Marlborough District Council so all the eight iwi in Te Tau Ihu in a characteristic show of unity decided to go to court. 
Just over 6 years ago the Court of Appeal in the pivotal case  
Attorney-General v Ngati Apa 
 ruled that the Crown was wrong to contend that certain statutes affecting the foreshore and seabed had had the effect of extinguishing such Maori customary title as might exist. It went further ruling that the Maori Land Court had the jurisdiction under Te Ture Whenua Maori Act to determine whether any part of the foreshore and seabed is still Maori customary land. Within days all hell broke loose. So began the long and agonising journey that resulted in the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. 
Today that journey has taken on a bold new pathway ahead. Just over 3 hours ago the ministerial review panel’s report on the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 was released. It stated clearly that the Act “was simply wrong in principle and approach. The timing and the process were also wrong.” It was not just wrong; it was discriminatory. Edward Ellison on behalf of Te Runanga o Otakou described the act as a “knee-jerk reaction” that was also “an opportunity to secure the right to license sell farm off”. The issue that started from such small beginnings was never as Moana Jackson said “a sterile debate about rights or politics”; this issue “goes to the essence of our integrity and our place as tangata whenua”.  
Today is a day to make right the wrongs that have stung at the very heart of Maori and non-Maori. Today is a day in which the nation knows that the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 will be repealed but it is also a day for new beginnings.  
The ministerial panel sets out the pathway to nationhood based on kotahitanga. The foundation for our future lies in taking an approach based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi a Treaty that was provided for two peoples of the land. The panel cut through the myths and fears that surrounded the debate of 2004 and suggested that it was time to expect that both cultural views should be recognised in law and reconciled. To stimulate the conversation the panel proposes a new Act based on the Treaty principle of providing for both Maori and Pakeha world views. It seems so easy. The panel recommends that the key lies in the recognition that hapu and iwi and the general public both have interests in the coastal marine area and that both interests must be respected and provided for.  
The Maori Party welcomes this report as clearly marking a line in the sand between the days of conflict and division and the pathway ahead. It is a pathway that New Zealanders want. Of those who commented on what should happen to the Act 85 percent favoured repeal—85 percent. That 85 percent includes those hapu and iwi who are already in negotiations. A mere 5 percent of submitters wanted to see the Act remain unchanged. In my electorate the Christchurch City Council put in words what the future could look like when it suggested that “if there were informed and considered discussions between Maori and Pakeha then consensus would be feasible. What is important is finding the right solutions for all New Zealanders not a hasty solution as was the case in 2004.”  
The foreshore and seabed report does not put forward a quick fix or a hasty solution. It suggests instead the need for a longer conversation—a conversation stimulated by the report as a catalyst for further discussion. And there is much to discuss: the set of core principles what should comprise the interim Act the Treaty framework the proposal for national settlement and the regional iwi proposal. There is debate to be had about customary usage customary authority and ownership of the foreshore and seabed. The Maori Party welcomes the debate with enormous energy for finally setting things right and restoring justice to Aotearoa. Kia ora. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.