KEY POINTS:
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says overturning the seabed and foreshore law remains the party's main priority in the next election.
She won't rule out going to the National Party to get it done, saying both the major parties were "as bad as each other".
The Maori Party
begins its annual conference in Hastings tonight after a week in which its four MPs were in the news criticising police raids and arrests of Maori and environmental activists, amid claims of suspected terrorist training camps in the Ureweras.
Ms Turia said the raids would be discussed at the conference, but it was also an important chance to start work on strategy as the Maori Party heads into its second election aiming to make a clean sweep of all seven Maori seats - taking the three remaining seats off Labour.
The conference will be held at Omahu marae - one of the marae the foreshore and seabed hikoi stopped at on the way to Wellington in 2004.
Ms Turia said the major issue of the last election remained the same - the repeal of the 2004 legislation which vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, blocking any Maori claims for title in the Maori Land Court.
"We are very clear that we have been mandated by the people to call for a repeal. We thought the National Party agreed with that because that's what they indicated at the last election. The repeal will still be on the agenda at the next election and I will be very interested to see what they've got in the pipeline."
While some eyebrows have been raised by the prospect of discussions with the National Party, Ms Turia said many understood it was a necessity of MMP.
"There are still those who aren't closely engaged in politics who may still have an emotional tie to Labour. We are saying to them that in many ways [Labour and National] are just as bad as each other, just in different ways."
She said the terrorist raids were one example.
"Even though the Prime Minister and others are trying to distance themselves from what happened to Tuhoe, the fact they gave briefings to the Prime Minister and senior ministers in Labour, they knew about it and they supported it. You can't tell me an arm of the state acts in this way without the Government being involved."
Co-leader Pita Sharples has described the raids as "stormtrooper" tactics reminiscent of 19th century land grabs which put Pakeha and Maori relations back 100 years.
Mr Turia said the conference would focus on strategy for next year's election. The party was unlikely to stand candidates in the general electorate seats next year, despite standing in 35 in the 2005 election, and would instead focus all its attentions on the seven Maori seats and the party vote.
Candidates would be selected before Christmas and a working group was looking at new policies which she expected to roll out from next April.
