Turia Tariana: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — First Reading 
Turia Tariana: Foreshore and Seabed Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12736] 
TARIANA TURIA (Labour—Te Tai Hauauru) 
: 
 E nga mana e nga reo tena koutou katoa. E nga tangata whenua o Aotearoa kuamarangaakei te karanga o te takutai moana maranga mai maranga mai.  
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
To the authorities and the languages greetings to you all. To the people of the land of New Zealand who have risen to the call of the coastal shores rise up rise up 
.] 
First of all I want to thank the Hon Mita Ririnui for giving over his time to me to speak in this debate. Tena koe Mita. I will not go over all the other comments that have been made by others in this House today given that I have only 5 minutes to speak. But I want to say that it is a fundamental principle of democracy that citizens have rights against the Crown. They are property rights and we have the right to defend those rights in the courts of this land. This legislation overturns the rule of law and it extinguishes the property rights of our people. 
I want to commend those who were involved in the march yesterday on their discipline solidarity and courage in standing up for what we believe in. I have said on many occasions that this issue is the most significant issue facing our nation and indeed yesterday was a day in our history that will be etched in our memories for years to come. 
It could well have been different. I believe that a solution that would have pleased all New Zealanders could have been simple. All it would have taken to protect access to the foreshore and seabed was for the Government to amend the Resource Management Act. To ensure the land was inalienable and could never be sold we could have changed Te Ture Whenua Maori Act. Instead our relationship has been tested to its most extreme point by a foreshore and seabed package written in the interests of middle New Zealand. Our response to this insult has been to rise up to stand up for our rights. We remain confident in our knowledge that tangata whenua rights are recognised in common law. Te Tiriti o Waitangi confirmed those rights the Maori Land Act enshrines those rights in legislation and the Court of Appeal has upheld those rights. 
The bill impacts only on Maori. Our people have asked the Government to explain why no action has been planned against private landowners or foreign investors who own areas of the foreshore. Why are those privileged groups not targeted in this policy? Is it that they are specially privileged and can escape the scrutiny of the policy makers? The legislation is infused with racist overtones in that it is specifically targeted at ensuring Maori are prevented from claiming their inherent rights to the foreshore. 
What has been taken away is not just tupuna rights which Maori may have been able to establish. What is also under compromise is the right to justice in the hands of the court. We will not sit down and accept a compromise of basic rights a denial of our tikanga a belittling of our status as indigenous peoples. What we have heard over the months of discussion on this bill and resoundingly through yesterday’s hikoi is the powerful call to stand up and be counted. We are mana whenua. Our authority comes from our relationship and our access to our lands and the rights of guardianship and protection. We will not be relegated to second-class citizens in our own land. We are tangata whenua and we are proud of it. It is that pride and determination that will drive us in the next hikoi to the ballot box. We can determine our own future and we will. 
I have been inspired by the commitment and support shared across this nation for us to take control of our own political destiny. The hikoi has represented a great coming together of our peoples united in their strength of commitment to ensure that the last part of customary land is not removed from our hands. We owe this to our mokopuna. We owe them a chance to address their potential secure in the knowledge of who they are. Ultimately it is because of our mokopuna that I have decided unequivocally to vote against the Foreshore and Seabed Bill. I do not want to be recorded in history as part of a Government that attacked the very nature of customary rights—the rights we have held according to our tikanga for our children and our grandchildren. Kia ora.