Editorial: Beaches must by law stay open to us all

Many a private owner of coastal land would have been nervous of late as the National Party demanded that the Government guarantee public access to the seashore. Private landowners would have quickly seen the implications of Maori customary claims to the foreshore and seabed even if National did not.

One citizenship for all in this area could make life awkward for a good many farmers and others with riparian rights. The Government, naturally, has been happy to underline the difficulties in National's position, producing research to show how much of the coast might be off limits. Now it has received advice from a Land Access Reference Group appointed by the Minister of Rural Affairs, Jim Sutton, which suggests the law falls short of ensuring that everyone has a right to enjoy all our beaches, lakes and rivers.

At least this is one issue on which a national consensus would not be hard to find. Virtually all New Zealanders regard access to the beach as their birthright. The idea of enclosing even part of a beach for private use, as can be observed in some resorts of Europe, is anathema here. That is the reason National was quick to inveigh against Maori customary claims and the Government has been insisting that public recreational rights will be preserved. Indeed, the Maori claimants of customary ownership have stated they are not seeking to exclude the public from ordinary enjoyment of the foreshore and seabed. Maori will be as anxious as anyone else to see that no part of the coast becomes the exclusive property of a local iwi or hapu. When it comes to a resolution of Maori customary ownership, public recreational access to the coastline is likely to be less of an issue than commercial uses of the tidal zone. Marine farming is the claimants' primary interest right now. But if recreational access is to be enshrined everywhere, as it should be, it will present some difficulties for private property adjoining the sea and waterways.

The first problem will be the definition of public space. It should be at least the elusive "Queen's chain" above high water (where it would not involve confiscation of pasture or buildings), plus of course the intertidal zone that is the legal "foreshore", and all of the seabed that is not under licence to a port, marina or other commercial activity.

Then there will be the problem of defining "access". Another consensus should be written into law. While New Zealanders assume a right to use any beach, lakeside or river bank that takes their fancy, they do not generally assume a right to trespass on private property to get there. Those who do assume the right must be corrected. No farmer should have to tolerate strangers driving, or even walking, through his stock or crops without his permission. And where a property owner provides a road to the waterside reserve he has every right to charge for the use of it.

In some parts of the coast there will be no easy way to reach a secluded bay by land except through private property. If the property owners are disinclined to permit access, the bay will remain their own to all intents and purposes. But in law it will not be, and that is important for everyone to know. It means anybody who reaches that bay, by sea or by finding a path around the coast, has a perfect right to be there.

Compensation should not apply, but if granted to private owners, successful Maori customary claimants should be offered the same. It is too early to consider questions of compensation for Maori customary rights to foreshore and seabed. No such rights will be established unless the Maori Land Court upholds a claim. Buying back beaches could be expensive. But however the coastal property conundrum is resolved, there must be no double standard.