[csaa-forum] The 5-minute Foreshore and Seabed

[Danny Butt]

Tena koutou katoa

As many of you will be aware, the New Zealand government has introduced 
a bill to place New Zealand's foreshore and seabed into Crown 
(Government) ownership, and most Maori organisations are protesting 
against this. Below is a summary for anyone interested in the issues 
(which have not been adequately covered through the mainstream media, 
which is more concerned with traffic disruption from protesters and 
scare-mongering about beach access). If you're interested in the 
Government's perspective, see 
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/foreshore/home.cfm

Danny

-----------------
The 5-minute Foreshore and Seabed
A Pakeha perspective and summary - May 4th 2004
http://www.dannybutt.net/foreshore.html
Danny Butt <db at dannybutt.net>

PLEASE CIRCULATE

1) The foreshore & seabed under this Bill is defined as the area 
*below* the high tide mark. The bill does not guarantee any rights of 
public ownership of or rights of access to the beach.

2) Coastal land adjoining the foreshore runs to 19 883km according to 
Land Information New Zealand. Of this, the Crown owns 7455km, local 
bodies own 6239km, and 6032km is privately owned. Of the private 
coastline, only one-third (2053 km) is registered as Maori Land 
(although Maori may also be represented among other private owners).

Most of the privately owned coastline has no public access. Only 187km  
(3% of private coastal land) has the "Queens Chain" guaranteeing public 
access to 20 metres of land adjoining the water. If the Bill sought to 
guarantee public access to the entire coastline, you can be sure that 
the Federated Farmers and other landowning groups would be jumping up 
and down about theft of their property rights.

3) The bill has nothing to do with access to the beach, but is about 
ownership and control of resources. Just checking.

4) The story so far:

i) The Crown assumed it controlled property rights to the foreshore and 
seabed. It based this assumption on legal rulings (such as "In Re the 
Ninety-Mile Beach [1963]") that applied British common law to state 
that on assuming sovereignty of New Zealand, the Crown claimed 
ownership of the foreshore and seabed regardless of existing property 
rights.

ii) In 2003 the Court of Appeal found that these legal rulings were 
contrary to other well-established interpretations of common law in 
relation to customary ownership (in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and 
Nigeria among other places). Just like other property rights, native 
property rights established through customary use can not be 
extinguished without consent of the owners. The Court of Appeal ruled 
that there was no legal reason that the foreshore and seabed should be 
any different, and that these rights had not necessarily been 
extinguished. Therefore, the Maori Land Court should be allowed to hear 
cases relating to Maori customary rights over the foreshore and seabed 
and convert those into full property rights under Crown law where 
appropriate. The judges' view was that such rights would be difficult 
to establish, but that nevertheless this legal process should be 
allowed to take its course.

iii) The New Zealand Government decided that this was an "unintended 
consequence" of previous legislation (Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993), 
and has rapidly sought to introduce a new Bill preventing claims to 
customary rights in the foreshore and seabed being heard by the Maori 
Land Court, and therefore preventing any possibility of those rights 
being converted into property rights under Crown law. [See Note 1 
below]

iv) At a series of consultation meetings, there was widespread 
rejection of the Crown's proposals by Maori. This does not appear to 
have altered the nature of the Bill in any significant way. The Bill is 
now before Parliament.

5) Note that through the Bill the Crown does not take ownership of any 
existing property rights to the foreshore and seabed recognised by the 
Crown (e.g much of the Viaduct and Gulf Harbour marinas in Auckland). 
The *only* property the Crown assumes control of is land customarily 
owned by Maori which could in the future be recognised as freehold 
property. It is, clearly, a racist law. Maori are the only people 
affected by it.

6) As Peace Movement Aotearoa and others have observed, the proposed 
bill is a breach of human rights that state that all people should have 
a right to due process through their country’s court system. Another 
commentator, Leon Penney, points out that this happens through two 
fronts: "Firstly, the Crown fought Maori through the court process and 
when it lost in the Court of Appeal it has decided to introduce 
legislation to overrule the Court decision. Secondly, the Bill denies 
Maori the ability to use the accepted court process to gain title. This 
has been described by one retired Maori land Court Judge as similar to 
what has happened in Zimbabwe."

7) The Waitangi Tribunal, the commission established to make 
recommendations on claims relating to the Treaty of Waitangi, found the 
Bill in direct contravention of Articles Two and Three of the Treaty of 
Waitangi [1840]. The Bill also disadvantages property rights of coastal 
Maori compared to other property rights holders, including other tribes 
(for example, Maori ownership of some lakebeds has been recognised by 
the Crown). The Tribunal's first recommendation is that the Government 
sit down with Maori and properly explore the options which are 
genuinely available, which the Government has not been prepared to do 
yet. The Tribunal thought that the Crown's principles could be achieved 
in a Treaty-compliant regime. "Maori are realistic," said the Tribunal. 
The Tribunal's next recommendation was that the Crown do nothing. There 
is no need for this Bill.

The Government has described the Tribunal's report "dependent upon 
dubious or incorrect assumptions" and has failed to make any 
significant acknowledgment of the Tribunal's findings. The Government 
continues to paint any opposition to the Bill as "radical". This should 
be seen as surprising given the Tribunal's unparalleled legal 
expertise, and the equal representation from Maori and Pakeha in the 
Tribunal's distinguished membership. The Tribunal's report 
(particularly the conclusion and recommendations) describes the 
situation in clear English with a minimum of legalese and should be 
read by everyone seeking to understand the issues.

8) The Bill does not rule out court action by Maori to establish 
customary rights. But if that action is successful, Maori are not left 
with ownership but with "entitlement to some form of redress". If they 
prove an ancestral connection to an area of foreshore and seabed, they 
can gain "increased participation in management of that area." Pretty 
vague isn't it? Think about how you'd feel if it was your beach house 
that was being taken.

9) As many claimants to the Tribunal made clear, the public has little 
to fear from allowing Maori ownership of parts of the foreshore and 
seabed to be established through the courts. Not only is the area of 
coastline affected relatively small (particularly compared to the 
coastline the public are currently excluded from), but level of public 
access is unlikely to change (think of Lake Taupo, owned by Ngati 
Tuwharetoa). The Crown's track record in maintaining assets in the 
public interest, however, should give some cause for concern (think of 
Telecom).

10) Opposition to the Bill comes not only from Maori or the Left. Even 
Roger Kerr, executive director of the Business Roundtable, said that 
private rights to the foreshore and seabed need to be upheld, and "this 
includes legitimate Maori customary rights to title." On the one hand 
the Government is attempting to facilitate Maori development, while on 
the other it is taking significant resources which may by rights belong 
to Maori and are of great spiritual, social and economic importance to 
them.

11) The Bill should be of concern to all New Zealanders. The 
implications of the Bill are larger than "race relations" and reach to 
the very basis of our democracy. The effects will be with us for a long 
time. While those disadvantaged by the Bill are Maori, the Bill 
highlights the Government's willingness to overturn established common 
law rights to get what it wants. It also shows the Government's 
unwillingness to listen to either those disadvantaged by its policies, 
or reputable expert opinion.

12) See point 5. This is a racist Bill that should not become law. 
Support the hikoi and those opposing the bill
=> http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/hk01.htm

NOTES

[1] Through the Treaty, Maori ceded to the Crown the right of 
pre-emption. If Maori sell any of their property rights it has to be 
through the Crown process. Leon Penney gives an excellent summary of 
the Crown's process for recognition of customary rights and the way 
they become Crown-approved property rights:

"1.	Through evidence of customary usage the Maori Land Court recognises 
that a certain area had people undertaking a customary activity.  It 
 then surveys off that area as customary land.
2.	The Maori Land Court will then determine who the people are who had 
customary rights for the surveyed area.
3.	The Maori Land Court can then issue a  Certificate of Title to those 
people. This is legal recognition of their property right to that land.
4.	Those people then have Title to the land and can do whatever they 
like with it, subject to all NZ laws (eg RMA).

The above process is how the majority of land in New Zealand gained 
legal freehold Title. The land you own most likely went through the 
above process and was sold by the original Maori owners."


SOURCES:

Ansley, Bruce. "Stakes in the Sand", New Zealand Listener May 1 2004

COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND,  NGATI APA, NGATI KOATA, NGATI KUIA, 
NGATI RARUA, NGATI TAMA, NGATI TOA AND
RANGITANE  V THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL CA173/01 [19 June 2003] (from 487KB 
PDF from teope.co.nz)
=> http://tinyurl.com/23nh8

Cullen, Michael. Foreshore and Seabed Bill April 8 2004
=> http://www.knowledge-basket.co.nz/gpprint/docs/bills/20041291.txt

Jackson, Moana "Like a Beached Whale - A Consideration of Proposed 
Crown Actions Over Maori Foreshore
=> http://aotearoa.wellington.net.nz/he/taku.htm

Mutu, Margaret "The Waitangi Tribunal's Report on the Crown's Foreshore 
and Seabed Policy" - a summary
=> http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/fsinfo.htm

Peace Movement Aotearoa, "Government foreshore and seabed policy 
breaches basic human rights"
=> http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/fs231203.htm

Tuhhah, Helen, "Compensate Maori for seabed: Roundtable", New Zealand 
Herald October 6 2003
=> http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3527213

Waitangi Tribunal, "Report on the Crown's Foreshore and Seabed Policy" 
(Wai 1071)
=>  
http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/generic/wai1071foreshore/

[Thanks to Leon Penney and also the Peace Movement Aotearoa for 
assistance with this summary. The summary and any errors are, however, 
my own]