July 2024
Many New Zealanders and activist groups are increasingly concerned about what is happening with regard to the New Zealand foreshore and seabed. Hobson’s Pledge is fronting a campaign called “Save Our Shores” with the byline “New Zealand’s Shores Are Being Snatched Up – Restore the foreshore and seabed to public ownership”
In what can only be described as a shameless grab for control of New Zealand’s coastline and territorial seabed, hundreds of iwi and hapū claims for customary titles have been lodged and the Courts are struggling to process them. Even more are in the pipeline. In the mean-time the Government is also negotiating nearly twice as many applications with Iwi groups behind closed doors.
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith has confirmed the Coalition Government plans to introduce a bill in September this year to amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act. Minister Goldsmith said the bar was meant to be high for Māori to claim customary title to maritime regions and he further commented that the Government intended to change the law because it firmly disagreed with a Court of Appeal ruling in favour of Te Whakatōhea with regard to their claim for customary rights in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
It behoves all thinking New Zealanders to pay critical and serious regard to what could happen in their own country and rise up in protest. Public ownership and access should be maintained and in some cases restored.
The coloured sections of coastline denotes regions currently subject to Customary Title claims
A link to Hobson’s Pledge petition to the New Zealand Parliament urging the Parliament to amend the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 https://www.change.org/p/restore-nz-beaches-to-public-ownership
It is worth noting that by way of a forerunner to the current shambolic situation in the Courts, in 2019 the previous Labour Government, under the guidance of then Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Kelvin Davis established the Office of Māori Crown Relations (Te Arawhiti) charged in part with covering the Court costs for Māori seeking customary rights over the foreshore and seabed. The annual budget was set at $12 million which has effectively tax-payer funded the tsunami of claims presently clogging the Courts.
Images courtesy of Hobson’s Pledge.