Maori victory in radio battle

By Keith Newman and Keith Perry

Maori should be compensated for the Crown's failure to consult them about the sale of the nation's airwaves, says the Waitangi Tribunal.

In a damning report issued last night, the tribunal calls for Maori participation in any future auction of radio waves, whether for data, radio or television.

It also recommends that the Government should pay damages for licences granted in the past.

A key passage of the report says that the Radio Communications Act 1989 breaches the Treaty of Waitangi because it excludes Maori interests.

The report was written in response to a treaty claim which scuttled the auction of mobile communications radio frequencies in March.

Last night Waitangi activist and lawyer Annette Sykes said the Government was warned in 1984 that the Maori language would be extinct before the end of the century unless positive steps were taken to protect it.

"It doesn't surprise me that 15 years down the track they've been forced to concede that they haven't done enough for the language."

Tribunal Judge P. J.Savage of the Maori Land Court said that while he did not accept there was necessarily a case for property rights as radio waves were unknown in 1840, the Crown was guilty of an "aggravated breach" of the treaty.

The Crown failed to respond to repeated warnings from Maori, the courts and the Privy Council. Resulting lack of Maori involvement in radio spectrum allocation was extremely damaging for te reo, the Maori language.

Leo Watson, counsel for the claimants, said the report had "enormous implications" for the Crown's long term spectrum allocation.

The tribunal also seeks compensation for revenue gained from spectrum licences which have already been sold, including the 28GHz lots which raised over $3 million for the Government.

It suggests that Maori may have some claim to that money but this would have to be offset against licences that have already been allocated.

The tribunal also wants to put on ice all future auctions until Maori interests are taken into consideration, adding: "The whole assumption that spectrum is vested in the Crown has to be revised."

The Government had planned to sell 1310 frequency lots in the 2 GHz band, with international telecommunications companies including Telecom, Telstra and Vodaphone expected to bid. An auction of licences enabling broadcasters to move into digital television was also planned for August.

Last night a spokesman for the Minister of Communications, Maurice Williamson, said he was studying the report's findings.