Hikoi hits out at Maori Party

The foreshore and seabed hikoi, of about 300 people, marches on to Parliament grounds yesterday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It was a fraction of the size and dismissed as the trivial protests of a few, but those on yesterday's hikoi against the Government's foreshore and seabed solution were no less passionate than those on its 20,000-strong predecessor in 2004.

The hikoi, which left Cape Reinga on March 14, numbered about 300 people by the time it made its way through a rainy Wellington to Parliament just after midday to place in a makeshift casket a Maori Party flag, a New Zealand flag and the bills that have caused such a stir since 2004.

Weeping amid fiery wero (challenges), the protesters were met by several MPs, including Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson, Greens co-leader Metiria Turei, and independent MP Hone Harawira.

Leading kaumatua Selwyn Murupaenga and Huirangi Waikerepuru challenged Parliaments' Maori MPs, including Mrs Turia, for failing to resolve the vexed issue of the foreshore and seabed and for bringing "pain" on their people.

From behind signs saying "Betrayed by our own people" and "Racist legislation", 15-year-old Te Ara Ripeka Rangihuna launched into a wero, supported by friends from Wainuiomata High School.

In the manner of a funeral procession, the flags and bills were wrapped up together and laid to rest on Parliament's steps, from where National Party MP Tau Henare collected it and took it into Parliament.

The trigger for the hikoi was the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) bill, which should pass its final reading this week and replace the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The bill would place the foreshore and seabed - except what is already in private ownership - into the public domain that could never be sold, and would guarantee free public access.

If Maori could prove exclusive use and occupation since 1840, they would gain customary title and have certain property rights.

Afterwards, Prime Minister John Key said the size of the hikoi was telling. "It just shows you that the issue doesn't have the heat that it did back in 2004 ... I think it's actually a small group."

When asked what he got out of the hikoi, Mr Finlayson said: "I got wet."

Mrs Turia said she shared many of the beliefs of the protesters.

"These people, in fact, don't believe that the Government has any legitimacy to govern over this country, over their lands, over their foreshore and seabed. What we've decided, as a political movement, is that we've come into Parliament because we want to participate in this process to make the changes, incremental though they may be."

She had no answer to the tangi and symbolic death of the Maori Party. "You just have to accept that that's how those people felt.

"There wouldn't be any piece of legislation that goes through this place that doesn't have strong resistance from many people."