PM confident of unity on foreshore legislation

John Key says the restoration of mana is important for Maori under any new law. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The Prime Minister is optimistic that a cross-party consensus can be achieved on a replacement for the law covering Maori customary rights to the foreshore and seabed without the taxpayer having to fork out hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to iwi.

Making his most substantial comment so far after last week's report by a Government-appointed ministerial panel, John Key said there seemed to be agreement among the parties in Parliament that compensation was unlikely to be part of a final settlement.

"I don't think that is seen as an important part of the process by many parties - including the Maori Party."

National is keen to avoid a Pakeha backlash after the panel's assessment that Maori customary rights can translate into customary title and where such property rights have been extinguished there should be compensation.

The party knows the possibility of large-scale compensation being paid to Maori could inflame an issue which so far it has managed to keep under control.

In particular, National will be wary of Winston Peters' trenchant criticism of the report.

Mr Key noted comments by Maori Party MP Hone Harawira that he didn't really care about the issue of compensation "and I don't think the party does particularly".

Mr Key thought there were other factors motivating Maori, principally the restoration of mana which had been lost with Labour's passing of the Foreshore and Seabed Act in 2004.

But he stressed it was still too soon to be definitive and he was not going to "write policy" when political parties had yet to consult with their own membership.

The ministerial panel's review of the act was a stipulation of the Maori Party's confidence and supply agreement with National.

Mr Key said the Cabinet was deliberately taking its time to work carefully through the report's implications.

It was not going to make the kind of rash "snap reaction" that Labour made following the Ngati Apa judgment by the Court of Appeal in 2003.

Yesterday's Cabinet meeting - attended by Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples - had agreed to Attorney-General Chris Finlayson approaching other parties in Parliament.

Labour's shadow Attorney-General David Parker had already expressed a wish for dialogue on the matter.

Mr Key indicated any solution had to take account of two fundamental principles: That all New Zealanders had a recognised birthright of access to the nation's beaches and there had been no discussion regarding the seeking of rights to freehold title in the foreshore and seabed.

Asked in that light what would be the difference in status between a Pakeha and a Maori lying on a beach, he replied: "None in my view."

But the Prime Minister would not be drawn on what he thought was the best option for settlement suggested by an independent panel, including a "national settlement" or going back to the courts.