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Hone Harawira - Source: ONE News -
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The promised National Party review of the foreshore and seabed has reported back with the review panel recommending the legislation be dumped, pleasing the Maori Party.
Maori Party MP Hone Harawira told Guyon Espiner on TVNZ's Q A programme on Sunday that it is the Maori Party's expectation that the 2004 legislation will be repealed.
One of the preferred options to emerge from the report is for compensation. Harawira says that this "came out of the blue".
"We didn't plan for compensation, it was never part of the Maori Party history, or the Maori Party future."
"I guess when you take something away from people illegally they got to be compensated somewhere down the track," he says.
The Court of Appeal did not rule that the foreshore and seabed was Maori land at all but Harawira says it was stolen.
"The foreshore and seabed was stolen. It is as simple as that. The court didn't say it belonged to the Crown.
"Once the Crown says it does not belong to the Crown and then the crown passes a piece of legislation to assume absolute control of it, that's stealing it, its as simple as that," he says.
Harawira says compensation is not the issue the Maori Party are pursuing.
"All we are after is what our people wanted in the first place; out customary rights to the foreshore and seabed as well as the right for the public to have continued access," he says.
He says those rights are all that was wanted in the first place but those were denied in the passage of the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act.
Harawira says Maori never had the opportunity to contest their rights.
"I guess one of the first things that happened was the crown got to determine exactly who could do what from that point on, we never had the opportunity to contest our rights in court."
He says in terms of a practical change Maori were being forced to try and plead a case for something he says was already theirs.
Harawira says the right to sell in terms of customary rights is completely off the table and that he doesn't believe that having customary rights gives Maori the right to commodify the foreshore and seabed.
"For Maori it isn't so much that we can sell it and make a lot of money, its about recognising the connection historically," he says.
