Fireworks expected at Maori Party conference

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The Maori Party's support for the Marine and Coastal Area Bill will come under fire from one of the largest tribes when the party's conference opens in Hastings today.

Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana, whose tribe covers Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa, intends to urge the party to withdraw its support for the bill, which would replace the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act.

"This is one of the big issues for Ngati Kahungunu," Mr Tomoana said yesterday.

"We are the ones who called for the hikoi to Parliament [when the Foreshore and Seabed Act was passed] so we feel some responsibility on behalf of the million-plus footsteps that made their way to Wellington.

"I've consulted other iwi leaders to inform them of what we intend to do and there is good support for me taking this position while the Maori Party is here."

Discussions at hui had shown that his tribe backed his stance, Mr Tomoana said.

He is a member of the party, but does not hold office within it.

The move by the ACT Party to add a clause preventing Maori charging for access to the foreshore had increased opposition to the bill, he said.

"We wouldn't do that anyway but this goes past good relations - we think they [the party] are getting sideswiped," Mr Tomoana said.

The bill is also opposed by Maori Party MP Hone Harawira - which led the party to remove him from the select committee that is considering it.

Yesterday another Maori Party MP, Te Ururoa Flavell, issued an open letter defending his party's stance on the bill.

"The legislation is the best negotiated outcome we could have got to," he said. "It has our name on it; it is a Maori Party Bill."

The party could not have achieved repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act if it had not joined with National on the new bill.

If the Maori Party walked away from the proposed legislation, Mr Flavell said, "The same racist bill would still be in place and the confiscation of our land would have remained in place."

- © Fairfax NZ News