KEY POINTS:
Labour will today unveil its second major deal under the Foreshore and Seabed Act that will give an iwi much greater autonomy over its territory, this time with Te Whanau a Apanui around the top of the East Cape.
It follows a similar deal in principle reached with
neighbouring tribe Ngati Porou and signed on Waitangi Day.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen is also expected to announce soon that he will begin talks with two more iwi for a similar territorial agreement.
The deals are a further source of friction between Labour and the Maori Party, which took four of the seven Maori seats from Labour last election.
Labour is hoping the Maori Party's strident criticism of the deals will put it offside with the iwi concerned.
The Maori Party says the iwi are entitled to negotiate the best that they can but that regaining part of something that was taken by the Government in the first place is not justice.
The Maori Party MP for Waiariki, Te Ururoa Flavell, dismissed a suggestion that his party would be squeezed by the settlements.
"I think people can see it for what it is - a belated effort to win back support."
While the territorial deals won't be identical, they will all give iwi greater control of their territory.
In the Ngati Porou case, that goes as far as giving hapu (families) within the iwi the right to veto resource consents in their area and make bylaws under customary fishing regulations.
The deal also establishes a statutory relationship between the tribe and five specific ministers with responsibilities for Energy, Fisheries, Environment, Conservation, and Arts, Culture and Heritage.
The management of the foreshore and seabed by the local regional council must be conducted in accordance with the special status the tribe has with it. There is no financial redress.
Mr Flavell said his party would continue to oppose the deals and defended co-leader Tariana Turia's description of the Ngati Porou deal as "paternalistic".
"If you believe ultimately that that land is yours and the Government takes it off you and then it hands it back to you, I think [calling it] paternalism on the part of the Crown is a fair assessment.
"Let iwi do what they have to do. That's their right. That's their tino rangatiratanga. That has always been our stand. But the main issue for us has always been justice from the start."
But he also revealed that Ngati Porou's legal team sought a meeting with the Maori Party after the criticism of its agreement with the Crown.
"We put our view to them and they put their view, clarified their position, and we left it at that."
The Foreshore and Seabed Act shut down Maori being able to claim freehold title in the foreshore and seabed, a possibility that was raised in the Court of Appeal's contentious Ngati Apa decision, though many regarded it as an unintended consequence of Te Ture Whenua Act 1993.
Instead, the Foreshore and Seabed Act set up a regime whereby iwi that had customary use of the foreshore and seabed can apply to the Maori Land Court for customary rights orders - whether or not the iwi owns the land adjacent to the foreshore.
Only nine hapu or iwi have applied for such rights since the Foreshore and Seabed Act was passed in late 2004.
The first hearing for such an application was held a few weeks ago in Nuhaka.
A Beehive spokesman confirmed last night that the Government was also open to doing deals with tribes that were seeking such customary rights orders - effectively bypassing the Maori Land Court.
The Foreshore and Seabed Act also extinguished the common law right of iwi to claim customary title (not freehold title) through the High Court - a claim that was never tested in New Zealand.
The territorial deals negotiated directly with the Crown are a substitute for having extinguished that right and will be restricted only to iwi that have had continous occupation of the land next to the sea in their rohe (territory) - as would have been the case under a customary title claim.
