Foreshore and seabed legislation back on the table

Controversial issues such as courts recognising customary title to the foreshore and seabed are back on the table, under a pending ministerial review.

Public consultation begins next week on the controversial 2004 act which prompted 25,000 people to march to Wellington in protest. The review was a condition of the confidence and supply agreement between National and the Maori Party.

A discussion document released by panel members Justice Eddie Durie, Professor Richard Boast and Hana O'Regan will ask submitters whether parts of the act - which vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown - should be changed.

The act extinguished any possibility of Maori proving customary title - ownership - in court, but it does provide for protection of customary activities. One of the questions in the document addresses that situation, asking submitters:

"Do you think customary interests in the [foreshore and seabed] should be recognised through the court processes that existed prior to 2004?"

But while "foreshore and seabed" has become a phrase linked to the wet area of sand up to the high-water mark extending to the outer limits of New Zealand's territorial sea, the panel is steering away from using that terminology. Instead it's using the "coastal marine area".

One of the Maori parties which will actively be taking part is Te Runanga o Ngati Porou, which has already negotiated a deal under the act.

That deal gives Ngati Porou hapu real statutory power within their region around the East Cape from Potikirua, south to the Turanganui River in Gisborne.

Its legislation is effectively on hold until after the review - with an assurance that the agreement would not be interfered with.

But runanga chairman Dr Apirana Mahuika said Ngati Porou saw the review as an opportunity.

"We're pragmatic about it because we believe we have gained so much traction in terms of our agreement with the Crown. The review will provide us with an opportunity to pursue the other things that we were unable to achieve in our negotiations with the Labour Government."

One of those improvements centred around not having to go to the High Court for it to "rubber stamp" certain aspects of its deal.

"What we're saying is 'why should we spend heaps of money [in court] when the Crown agrees and Ngati Porou agrees?' That could be done by mutual agreement."

Consultation begins on Monday in Invercargill and finishes next month.