DoC accused as foreshore spat continues

By RUTH BERRY political reporter

The Department of Conservation has refused to stand by a 1993 opinion on the foreshore written by one of its lawyers. National is using the opinion to accuse Land Information Minister John Tamihere of sparking a misinformation campaign.

Mr Tamihere, who accused National MP Nick Smith of telling "porkies" over the issue, said DoC's stance vindicated the position he had always taken and said it was National, not the Government, spreading confusion.

But Dr Smith accused DoC of a cover-up. "This has all the hallmarks of a politicised public service that is more concerned with covering for the minister than speaking the truth."

The spat is the latest in a series of parliamentary wrangles over the foreshore and seabed debate, as various political parties vie for centre stage over the issue dogging the Government.

Late on Tuesday Dr Smith released a paper presented to a select committee 10 years ago in which a senior DoC solicitor said the proportion of private title to the foreshore "is probably very small (less than 1 per cent of the coastline)".

Dr Smith said it challenged Mr Tamihere's assertion that significant chunks of the foreshore - the part of the beach covered and uncovered by the tide - were privately owned.

Mr Tamihere was "deliberately spreading misinformation" about the foreshore in a bid to muddy the waters over the foreshore and seabed claims, he said.

But DoC chief legal adviser Jonty Somers said yesterday that a great deal of weight could not be given to the 1993 assertions, made by its former lawyer Timothe Mansfield.

"The opinion was written nearly 10 years ago and the law has moved on," he said.

"It is impossible to know what was the basis of Mrs Mansfield's 1 per cent figure. Land Information is the only agency that would have that information."

Dr Smith said there was no reason for Mrs Mansfield to have provided the committee with wrong information and he doubted title ownership would have changed that much over the decade.

It was still up to Mr Tamihere to provide facts to back up his claim.

Mr Tamihere said that as facts came to light they would be revealed. The work was simply taking time.

He was surprised by Dr Smith's mistake, given he was a former Minister of Conservation and Associate Lands Minister.

National leader Bill English, meanwhile, is holding another public meeting on the subject today, this time in Blenheim - home of the eight top-of-the-South-Island iwi grouped under the Te Tau Ihu banner which took the case to the Court of Appeal.

Dr Smith said he did not plan to attend and although feeling in the area over the issue was strong, he did not expect trouble.

Nearly two weeks ago more than 500 people, led by National and United Future MPs, marched in nearby Nelson over the foreshore and seabed claims.

Te Tau Ihu spokesman John Mitchell said the iwi did not plan to have a presence at the meeting as it was unlikely to be constructive. "There seems to be a lot of angst being generated by politicians and it would probably end in a pointless slanging match."