April 04, 2017
Claim deadline shows takutai moana mirage
The deadline has passed for Maori to put in applications for customary title to marine and coastal areas.
Iwi have been scrambling to get in the paperwork, but Mana leader Hone Harawira doesn’t rate their chances, given the fact only one claim has been concluded so far.
He says the 2011 Takutai Moana Act has proved to be as bad as the Labour Government’s Foreshore and Seabed Act it replaced.
"It’s one of the main reasons I left the Maori Party. I could not be party to pieces of legislation like this that were clearly lying to our people about what was possible and the reality is I was right, this bill is exactly like the last one, which is 'You're not going to get your foreshore and seabed back,'" Mr Harawira says.
His solution would be to put all the foreshore and seabed into an inalienable Maori title with guarantees of public access.
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