Maori Party may have another go at seabed bill

ANOTHER GO? Acting Maori Party leader Te Ururoa Flavell says the Marine and Coastal Area Bill was the best the party could negotiate in the circumstances.

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The Maori Party will not rule out using post-election negotiations to try to get a better deal on the foreshore and seabed despite agreeing to support the National Party's new law.

The Government introduced the Marine and Coastal Area Bill this week and Prime Minister John Key said he believed it was a lasting solution to the matter and would not be revisted.

However, acting Maori Party leader Te Ururoa Flavell said the bill was the best the party could negotiate in the circumstances and it was possible there would be "another time for our people to come back and have another go in the future".

"We will certainly be looking at it again, as we will with all other policy positions we have at the moment. What happens after the next election, who knows? Anything can happen and we leave that to iwi to give us a lead on."

The party was "very comfortable" supporting the bill through Parliament because it addressed its two main concerns – repealing the 2004 act and restoring the right for iwi to go to court to seek customary title.

Although Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has objected to aspects of the new regime, such as vesting the coastline as a common area rather than allowing an overarching form of Maori ownership, Mr Flavell said he was confident all five Maori Party MPs would support the legislation "because it's got our name on it".

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson said it was in the public interest for the bill to be durable and he hoped that would be the case. "I don't think people want to be relitigating this every decade. It's in the public interest that we have a durable piece of legislation."

The bill was to receive its first reading tomorrow but that has been postponed until next week to allow the Maori Party co-leaders to be in Parliament. Both Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples are overseas this week. A party spokeswoman said they had expected the bill to be introduced a fortnight ago and had made travel arrangements before it was delayed.

The Labour Party has also promised to support the bill at its first reading, saying that, although it makes little changes in substance from the Foreshore and Seabed Act, the party does not wish to play politics on the matter.

However, the Green Party will oppose it. Co-leader Metiria Turei said it did not address the fundamental injustice of Maori losing ownership rights.

The bill will repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act and allow coastal iwi to seek customary title through the courts or in negotiations with the Government. They have six years to make any claims.