Mahuta stays on as bill goes through

7.15pm

Legislation which cost the Government one of its MPs and has drawn unprecedented protest from Maori passed its first reading in Parliament today on the back of 13 New Zealand First votes.

Labour rebels Tariana Turia and Nanaia Mahuta voted against the Foreshore and Seabed Bill, but Ms Mahuta took some of the pressure off the Government by announcing she was not going to leave the party or resign from Parliament.

Tariana Turia lost her ministerial portfolios for opposing the bill and is going to resign from Parliament on May 17.

Nanaia Mahuta had permission to vote against it, but until today there had been speculation she might follow Mrs Turia out of Parliament.

That would have forced Prime Minister Helen Clark to seek the support of another party to ensure the Government's majority.

The bill went through 65-55, and there will now be six months of public hearings by a special select committee.

The two-hour debate ahead of the vote was unremarkable, and the hikoi protesters who packed the public galleries did not disrupt it.

Turia and Mahuta were politely applauded - but so were some of the Government's loyal Maori MPs.

NZ First leader Winston Peters and Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia made the running on the floor of the House with attacks on National's leader, Don Brash.

Peters, who put his party's support behind the bill in a deal with the Government to ensure it had a majority, accused National of trying to cause chaos.

"Dr Brash either doesn't understand the bill, or he is setting out to pit one race against another," Peters said.

"He defies truth and reality...this legislation ensures the foreshore and the seabed will be in the hands of every New Zealander, for ever."

Dr Brash had earlier delivered National's familiar protests against the bill, saying it would create confusion, damage race relations and give Maori the ability to compromise development.

"It's a mess because the Government has mucked around for nearly a year with five different policies ...it has raised the expectations of Maori and now those expectations have been dashed," he said.

Parekura Horomia's noisy, finger-pointing speech was also directed at the opposition benches.

"You are a disgrace," he yelled at Dr Brash.

"You encourage those who want to leave Maori out...we are creating better lives for our people."

The bill's architect, Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen, launched the debate with a dry analysis of it.

He said the debate about it so far had been sidetracked by extremists and there had been serious misunderstandings about the Court of Appeal ruling which had made it necessary.

"We have delivered four square on our promises to ensure access, ownership and certainty," he said.

More than half the MPs had left the debating chamber before Nanaia Mahuta made the long-awaited announcement about her future.

"This bill is fundamentally flawed," the Tainui MP said.

"It does not reflect what Maori believe our pre-existing property rights to be. The Treaty is not recognised in any way."

However, Mahuta said opportunities existed to "get it right" and that was why she was staying on.

"This bill should not continue. For that reason, to ensure that the Government is accountable, I will not resign," she said.

Ms Mahuta warned the Government would have to work hard to retain the confidence of her electorate and strengthen its relationship with Tainui.

Tariana Turia said the bill stripped Maori of the right to challenge the Crown in the courts.

"The right to justice is compromised, our status as indigenous people is belittled, we do not want to be relegated to second class citizens," she said.

"We can determine our own future and we will. The next hikoi will be to the ballot box."

Turia is expected to lead a new Maori party when she returns to Parliament after a by-election.

VOTE COUNT

How Parliament voted on the first reading of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill:

Votes in favour: Labour 50, New Zealand First 13, Progressive Coalition two. Total 65.

Votes against: National 27, Greens 9, ACT 8, United Future 8, Tariana Turia, Nanaia Mahuta and Donna Awatere Huata. Total 55.

- NZPA