A law change is set to result in only 5% of New Zealand’s coastline being awarded as customary marine title, documents obtained by 1News suggest.
The suggestion was made by Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith in a private meeting with Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones and seafood industry representatives in May.
They discussed potential changes to the Marine and Coastal Area Act, legislation that allows Māori to apply for certain customary rights over the foreshore and seabed.
“Changing the section 58 test should reduce the 100% of coastline subject to customary marine title to 5%,” Goldsmith told them.
Te Mata Law’s Harry Clatworthy, who represents Ngāti Te Wehi claimants, said the minister’s suggestion would effectively extinguish Māori rights to the foreshore and seabed.
“That essentially wipes out the entirety of Māori rights in the takutai moana that were promised in Te Tiriti, if only 5% of iwi can have rights recognised in very isolated areas,” he said.
Documents obtained by 1News suggest a law change could limit the area Māori can claim customary title to just 5% of the coastline. (Source: 1News)
If customary marine title is granted, Māori can give or refuse permission for certain activities that require resource consent.
Those rights apply from the high tide mark and up to 12 nautical miles out to sea.
But during the meeting, Goldsmith called that distance “ridiculous” and said Māori “presumably had a navy to enforce that”.
Lawyer Justine Inns said the 12 nautical mile boundary made sense.
“The jurisdiction is set at 12 nautical miles because that’s where sovereign jurisdiction of New Zealand ends,” she said.
“In fact, iwi, hapū and whānau would say their rights extend well beyond that 12 mile limit.”
The Government announced it would amend the Act in July, two months after the meeting took place.
“The fact that the hui took place before the changes to the act were announced, and before Māori were consulted with, suggest to the claimants that the seafood industry’s concerns are primary and the rights of Māori are secondary,” said Clatworthy.
Goldsmith was unavailable for an interview but told 1News in a statement that the threshold for customary marine title was always supposed to be high, and his comments reflected that.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reiterated Goldsmith’s position last week.
“All we’re doing is we’re moving it back to what Parliament intended in 2011, which is to make sure that we actually have legitimated protection of Māori customary rights, and legitimate protection of all New Zealanders,” he said.
Bill would overturn a recent Court of Appeal decision the Government believed significantly lowered the threshold for customary marine title. (Source: 1News)
Goldsmith said the exact percentage of coastline awarded was “impossible to predict as it will be the outcome of either court decisions or negotiations”.
But claimants were concerned the minister’s remark meant it was his intention to make the test for customary marine title so difficult that only 5% of the coastline would likely meet the new threshold.
The minister’s comments have also shocked Green Party MP Huhana Lyndon, who also happens to be a claimant.
“I am gobsmacked by some of the discussion that took place and certainty the distance, the nautical miles. The moana was our state highway for te iwi Māori, let that be clear,” she said.
“It is absolutely outrageous that we have a minister that is having dinner with the industry and strategising about how they’re going to undermines the [Marine and Coastal Area] takutai moana claims process.”
The Bill to amend the act is currently being drafted.
If passed, the test for customary marine title will be harder to meet and could force some iwi back to court.
Clatworthy said his claimants were now facing a lot of uncertainty.
“For the elderly kaumatua and kuia, they’re worried they won’t be alive to see a rehearing of their cases, so that’s a massive setback,” he said.
“But, regardless, they feel its their duty as kaitiaki to stand up for their rights in the moana.”
An urgent inquiry by the Waitangi Tribunal into the proposed changes will begin tomorrow.
