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Posts Tagged ‘Foreshore and Seabed’

ACT’s foreshore and seabed behest

Posted by Kelvin Davis on October 18th, 2010

The Foreshore and Seabed Legislation Part 2, has taken a turn that will disadvantage Maori who have always owned land next to the sea, but not other land owners.

At the ACT Party’s behest, the National Government has agreed to write a clause into the foreshore and seabed bill now before Parliament that will expressly make it unlawful to charge for access to a beach. I need to clarify that – it will make it unlawful for Maori to charge access to a beach, but all private landowners, are exempt. That simply isn’t fair.

I think of my Ngati Rehia relations out Takou Bay (north of Kerikeri) way who have always had ownership of the land adjacent to the beach. I remember in the 1970’s going for Sunday excursions and having to put a koha in a jar next to a gate before heading across Maori land to get to the beach, and fair enough – why should we just be able to just drive over someone else’s property willy nilly and not expect to pay? If I recall properly the sign said the koha was to maintain the private track down to the beach so that cars like our old Holden Belmont could get up and down the hill without any problem.

I also remember how we could head down to the beach at the old Jack and Jill Motorcamp on the way out to Rawhiti in the eastern Bay of Islands. One day we couldn’t because some really rich dude had bought the land up, built a big fence, beautiful gates and subsequently three large mansions on the property (I’m told one for himself, one for visitors and the third for his grandkids so they could party up without disturbing him back in mansion number one).

For decades New Zealanders had made the Jack and Jill Motorcamp and the adjacent beach their summer playland, and now it is no more.

Guess what? The government’s racist legislation means while my Ngati Rehia whanaunga will now be banned from putting out their koha jar at the gate, this multi millionaire at Jack’s Bay is exempt. If he was made to open his flash gate and allow me to cross over his land to walk down to the Foreshore and Seabed with my sunblock, beach towel and pipi kit, he could charge what he liked.

The Foreshore and Seabed Part 2, aka Marine and Coastal Area Bill, agreed to by the National, Maori and ACT Parties, creates a law that shafts Maori but looks after everyone else.

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Oil extraction from the Northland Basin

Posted by Kelvin Davis on July 11th, 2010

Lying under 100,000 square kilometres of seabed off the west coast of Northland is an estimated one trillion barrels of oil equivalent.

This is the seabed that shortly no one will own because under the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act it will become “public domain”.

Bids are being sought for “petroleum exploration permits.” (Closing date 18 August)

Maori should have been involved in the process to determine who wins these permits. They haven’t.

This means the Crown alone gets to decide which third party over the next five years, can poke around on the Seabed, looking for oil.

1. The Treaty of Waitangi was a partnership between the Crown and Maori. Maori should be sitting at the table with the Crown participating in the process of making decisions in regards to anything to do with this resource.

They aren’t. The Treaty is still being dishonoured.

2. Under the repeal the F&S no one owns the seabed but the Crown still reserves the right to decide who does what to the Seabed, when its done and where its done.

Sounds like ownership to me.

The Crown will still have the final say therefore the repeal is a joke. 

3. Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People says:
“States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.”

Free, prior and informed consent has not been obtained.

The United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights has been treated with contempt by the Government who endorsed it on the world stage just a couple of months back.

This is a perfect example of why Maori appear to be in a constant state of grievance.

The Treaty has again been dishonoured. The Foreshore and Seabed repeal is a farce . The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is being treated with contempt.

A contemporary case of Maori being shafted.

Solution?

Involve Maori in the process of allocating oil exploration bids.

Simple.

My guess is that Maori are only too willing to make sure all New Zealanders benefit from the extraction of this resource.

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Who has final say on F&S developments?

Posted by Kelvin Davis on June 15th, 2010

If no one owns the Foreshore and Seabed, then the question that needs to be asked is ‘Who now has final say over what happens on the Foreshore and Seabed?’

If it isn’t to be Maori, then in effect the Foreshore and Seabed is still ‘owned’ by the Crown.

The true test of whether the ‘repeal’ is real will be if, for example, the tidal turbines proposed for the Kaipara harbour which local iwi Te Uri o Hau don’t want, still go ahead.

If the two hundred tidal turbines each the size of a small apartment building are plonked on the Kaipara harbour seabed, then in effect Crest Energy will be granted a property right around the footprint of those turbines.

Why should they be allowed a property right to parts of the Foreshore and Seabed, while local Maori miss out?

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Reviewing the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 Consultation Document

Posted by Kelvin Davis on April 4th, 2010

Here’s my take on the Foreshore and Seabed Consultation Document that was released last week.

There are four Options on offer.

Option 1 – Crown Notional Title – this option is pretty close to what the hikoi was demanding. Customary title would be restored, but when customary interests are investigated and found not to amount to customary title, the Crown’s notional title becomes absolute title. Maori get to have our customary interests tested, as we demanded during the hikoi, but if they find against Maori, we lose everything.

Option 2 – Crown Absolute Title – which is what the present situation is. If Maori are honest, the world hasn’t caved in, and Ngati Porou directly negotiated a deal that pretty much works for them. Other iwi can do the same.

Option 3 – Maori Absolute Title – what many Maori want now, which is more than what we wanted at the time of the hikoi. If all New Zealanders are honest, the world wouldn’t cave in. There would be a process for determining who holds ownership in any given area, access to the beach for all New Zealanders would be guaranteed and it wouldn’t be able to be sold on.

Option 4 – “Public Domain/ takiwa iwi whanui” – what the government want. If the government are honest it offers Clayton’s ownership – The ownership Maori have when we won’t really be owners. No one get to own the Foreshore and Seabed. Maori could go to court to test for territorial interests, which are property interests in land generally akin to ownership rights, but not actual ownership rights.

Personally any of the options would be okay by me. As long as hapu and iwi get to have a say over what happens on their own areas of the Foreshore and Seabed and their interests aren’t overridden by local government, central government or big business, then I’m happy.

I’ll still be able to head out to Ninety Mile Beach to go floundering, get some tuatua or put my long line out regardless of which option is implemented.

My concern is that when it’s all settled, the real issues that are weighing Maori down – unemployment, poverty, under achievement, poor health outcomes, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, incarceration rates and lower life expectancy will still prevail for Maori.

So let’s settle this once and for all, and then get on to dealing with the issues that will improve outcomes for all Maori.

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F&S repeal – will it really help?

Posted by Kelvin Davis on January 12th, 2010

There’s been a bit of talk about rape and pillage recently.

Our Maori Party parliamentary colleague says it’s been our land, foreshore and seabed that have been raped and pillaged.

I see community leader and Black Power life member Dennis O’Reilly believes the real battle today is the fight against the drug P.

Others will say that something else is the issue for Maori. None will be wrong.

The fact is bad stuff has happened to Maori over the last couple of hundred years which has led to Maori being at the bottom of the heap. We are generally dumber, sicker, poorer, more pissed, drugged and pregnant than any other group of people in New Zealand. We know the problem, but what’s the solution?

Well let’s repeal the Foreshore and Seabed and put the F&S into Maori title. We can be dumber, sicker, poorer, more pissed, drugged and pregnant at the beach. That’ll make all the difference. At least we’ll be dumber, sicker, poorer, more pissed, drugged and pregnant on our own turf and surf.

Let’s get rid of P. That crap is a scourge and along with alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana is killing our people. But it’s still only a symptom of what the real issues are.

The real issue for Maori is ourselves.

We generally live with this big chip on our shoulders.

I’m Maori, so I have every right to be a victim. Personally, I can’t be bothered.

We can accuse all and sundry of raping and pillaging our land, foreshore ad seabed – but we as Maori have done a helluva a lot to ourselves too. We would do well to hold a mirror up to our own faces, but it’s a helluva lot easier to blame those bloody pakehas.

We have a really simple solution to all our woes. It goes like this – every Maori child born from the start of this new decade (and earlier) be loved, fed and educated so that he or she may go on to become a successful leader, and become extremely wealthy and/ or influential. Then when he or she see an injustice against our people, use that wealth and influence to correct the situation.

That’s what pakeha do. We could learn from them.

Didn’t Sir Apirana Ngata say something along these lines a few years back? If we’d listened then we wouldn’t be in this mess.

By 2040, the 200th year after the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi we could have thousands of wealthy and influential 30 year old Maoris. Imagine that – a generation of Maori capable of leading the world.

By all means keep up the fight to correct injustices – but can we honestly say we’ve put an equal effort into sorting our own crap out?

Feeding, loving and educating our kids is a good start.

Our apprenticeships into the world of wealth and influence need not be by way of drugs, violence, alcohol and court appearances.

Of course we could carry on like we are – and be even dumber, sicker, poorer, more pissed, drugged and pregnant,.

But at least we’ll have our Foreshore and Seabed.

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