Prebble Richard: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Prebble Richard: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:621;Page:17111] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (ACT) 
: 
 The member says that the bill is deceptively simple. Well I most certainty agree with the “deceptive” part and I think I agree with the “simple” part. The reality of this bill is that it is fundamentally racist. What is being proposed is that the Resource Management Act be changed so that all councils are required to protect recognised customary activities. We know from having read through the bill and having gone through the bogusness of “one law for all” that in fact they will all be Maori customary activities. The point I would like to make to our provincial lawyer is that he ought to know that under the common law before the Resource Management Act and before its previous planning Acts every New Zealander had the right to do any activity providing it did not cause a nuisance to his or her neighbour. That was the fundamental right of every New Zealander. Now I would not mind if the chairman of that select committee had stood up and said: “Let’s have an amendment to the Resource Management Act so that everybody’s customary activities can be protected providing they do not cause nuisance to others.”  
Russell Fairbrother 
: It does. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: The member says it does—for everybody. Well that is sophistry because we have already established that the only customary activity is one that goes back to 1840 and apart from one regatta we have not yet discovered a single activity— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: On the foreshore. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: —on the foreshore or anywhere else—that is non-Maori that is actually going to be covered by this clause. That is why it is fundamentally racist. That is a simple proposition and it is deceptive because the honourable member is not prepared to stand up and admit it. He would be a better member if he was prepared to get up and say as the chairman of that select committee: “Well we have got racial seats. We hold them all and we have decided to introduce a racial bill so that we can go on holding them.” That is why we have these amendments to the Resource Management Act.  
I make this statement as well. I repeat that ordinary Maori will not see as much as pipi out of this foreshore bill. They will not get a grain of sand. But this clause will enable the honourable member’s legal friends to get many many grains of gold from this bill. This is a gold-digger’s bill. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Pipis! 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Now the Minister of Maori Affairs interjects. I just say to him that in a year’s time when ordinary Maori discover that they have received nothing from this bill—no benefits whatsoever—that will be one of the reasons they—[ 
Interruption 
] Well they all had a vote and that is one of the reasons why he is toast. He is absolutely toast. He is not like our friend Dover Samuels who is already looking at his place in Surfers—he knows he is going. I think that the Minister of Maori Affairs is still under some sort of illusion that he might be able to recover his position in a year. There is not a chance because this bill is deceptively simple as the chairman of the select committee explained. It is deceptive all right and it is simple racism. He will discover that even his constituents are not in favour of that.  
This bill is an absolute disgrace. The only people who will benefit are the only people who have benefited from the Waitangi grievance industry—the lawyers the accountants the white shoes brigade or as Mr Peters likes to call it the “Browntable”. They will all benefit from this bill. They think it is wonderful. Maybe they will give him a campaign contribution but how many votes will they deliver to the member in 12 months’ time? I say to the Minister that he deserves to go. He should have made a stand against this bill. He should have said to his colleagues that a real Labour Government would not introduce a racist bill a real Labour Government would have allowed Maori their day in court and a real Labour Government would not introduce to the Resource Management Act a provision for the protection of recognised customary activities.